Final Act
JACKSON TWP — Liam Volk-Klos was a good wrestler in his first three years on Seneca Valley’s varsity team, but saved his best effort for his senior campaign.
Competing at 215 pounds, Volk-Klos opened the season with 20 straight victories and finished the year with a record of 25-4 while placing fifth in the state in Class AAA.
“Being a senior, a state championship is always the goal,” he said. “It was disappointing that I fell short of that, but I’m pretty happy with how I wrestled overall.
“I’m just grateful I was able to wrestle at all.”
That’s because he underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee prior to the start of the season.
“I wrestled in a match in late December, but wasn’t fully back until the first week of January,” said Volk-Klos, who set out to improve on the 72-47 record he compiled through his junior year.
After winning a Section 3 championship, he suffered a sprained big toe that limited his mobility in the WPIAL tournament, but still placed fourth and carried 21-2 record to Hershey for the state tournament.
Victories against McDowell’s Troy Peterson, Nazareth’s Chase Levey and Kennett’s John Pardo sent Volk-Klos to the state semifinals, where his dream of a PIAA crown ended with a loss to eventual state champion Brian Finnerty of Thomas Jefferson.
SV coach Kevin Wildrick lauded Volk-Klos’ effort.
“He worked hard in the weight room, but his mat awareness and mat IQ improved every year,” he said. “This season, he was a better technical wrestler than almost every guy he faced.
“It showed what he could accomplish by continuing to work hard every day.”
Volk-Klos, who finished his scholastic career with 97 wins, had finished runner-up in the Section 3 tournament as a sophomore (170 pounds) and junior (189), but failed to make it out of the WPIAL bracket in both cases.
“The bigger guys were harder to move, but it was just a matter of transferring the right technique to the heavier weight classes,” he said.
Volk-Klos began wrestling when he was seven years old.
“I didn’t always love it,” he admitted, “but really got into it in seventh grade, started watching a lot of college wrestling.
“It wasn’t until after my freshman season that I really started lifting weights and paying attention to my diet. I was able to gain a lot of muscle.”
He said he relished being part of three straight WPIAL runner-up teams (2019-21) and making the state team tournament as a freshman and sophomore.
“I’m grateful for everything my coaches did for me, how much they cared and how much they pushed us,” he said.
Volk-Klos earned perfect scores on both the SAT and ACT last year. His college choices have been narrowed down to several schools, including three Ivy League institutions — Columbia, Cornell and Penn.
“Wherever I go, I definitely plan to wrestle,” he said.
