Every matman for himself
The team season is over. It’s time to survive.
Such is the mindset 29 wrestlers from Butler, Seneca Valley and Mars will take Saturday as the Section 3-AAA individual tournament takes place at North Allegheny. The top five placers in each weight class will advance to the WPIAL Championships the following weekend at Canon-McMillan.
“Some weight classes only have six kids or so,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “But that can be deceiving. At 106 pounds, for example, there’s only six wrestlers in this tournament, but it’s a strong group.”
The Golden Tornado have 12 wrestlers in the section tourney. Dom Vivirito (23-9) is seeded No. 1 at 138 pounds, Landon Christie (22-10) No. 1 at 189 and Jake Pomykata (23-4) No. 1 at heavyweight. No. 2 seeds for Butler are Levi Donnel (29-2) at 145 and Mickey Kreinbucher (27-7) at 172.
Butler’s other seven wrestlers are Ana Malovich (22-8) at 106, Kelley Schaukowitsch (20-11) at 113, Gavin Rush (22-13) at 120, Kase Chopp (21-10) at 126, Legend Wilkinson (5-11) at 132, Cade Savochka (18-15) at 152 and Matt Zinkhann (24-10) at 160.
“I’d love to get them all through,” Stoner said. “Ten would be a solid number ... I don’t know. At this time of year, a lot of this comes down to desire, how badly you want to move on and extend your season. Everyone’s been going hard for two hours a day since before Thanksgiving. How badly do kids still want to go out there and get after it for themselves?
“Dom’s run to a section title is very doable. Jake will likely have a tough match in the finals. Landon has been quite a story at 189. He got a lot more varsity time this season with Cooper (Baxter) being out and he’s taken advantage of it.”
Donnel is a No. 2 seed despite his 29-2 record because he lost during the season to West Allegheny’s Ty Watters, who sports a 26-2 record.
Stoner lauded the improvement of Zinkhann and Kreinbucher this year.
“Matt didn’t get a varsity win last season and he’s got 24 wins this year,” the Butler coach said. “Mickey has become one of the best in his weight class. I’m anxious to see how things go for us.”
Seneca Valley’s 10 wrestlers in the tournament include No. 1 seeds Connor Smith (24-6) at 106 pounds, Tyler Chappell (27-4) at 113 and Liam Volk-Klos (16-0) at 215. Other Raiders competing Saturday are Jack Tofanelli at 113, Angel Kristo at 126, Teagan Leighty at 132, Jacob Eubanks at 138, Manuel Santos at 172, John Mallery at 189 and Roman Royal at heavyweight.
“The injury bug hurt us a lot this year,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said. “We didn’t have the depth to fill in for wrestlers when they got hurt.”
Volk-Klos is undefeated, including a narrow win over Pomykata during the regular season, but missed the first portion of the campaign due to injury.
“We didn’t get him back until after Christmas,” Wildrick said. “But Liam’s putting together a strong season now that he’s healthy. I feel like we can six or seven kids through this tournament, maybe more.
“This section usually has a lot of top-level talent. Section 3 is always well represented among the wrestlers competing for WPIAL titles. We have good numbers in our weight classes. It takes hard work on the mat to get through.”
Mars has seven wrestlers in the sectuion tourney, including top-seeded Christian Scheller (16-3) at 172 pounds. The Planets have been battling injuries all season as well.
Two of the Planets’ stronger wrestlers missed the entire season after undergoing surgery.
“It’s been that kind of year,” Mars coach Bob Jox said. “Even the wrestlers we have in this tournament haven’t had a whole lot of matches. But this is Christian’s senior year. Our goal is to get him to the state tournament and standing on that podium in a couple of weeks.”
The Planets’ other wrestlers in the tourney include Liam Heim at 126 pounds, Rocco Darocy at 132, Jaden Fotta at 145, Cooper Courson at 152, Mason Childress at 160 and Riley Lefcakis at heavyweight.
“Hein and Childress are freshmen and they’ve been improving all year,” Jox said. “I’m anxious to see how they fare this weekend. Rocco is 8-3 and has been wrestling well. He placed third last year (at section), but they only took the top two.”
Wrestling gets underway at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and runs straight through the second round of consolations. After an hour break, the finals are expected to begin between 3:30 and 4 p.m.
