7 county wrestlers snare section crowns
FOX CHAPEL — Seven section champions and a whole lot of promise.
That's what Butler County high school wrestling programs took away from the Section 3-AAA Individual Championships Saturday at Fox Chapel.
Seneca Valley had four individual champions — Alejandro Herrera at 106 pounds, Louis Newell at 120, Drew Vlasnik at 138 and Tyler Gross at 170. Herrera, a freshman, needs only one more win for 40 this year.
“It's a lot of wins, but I've had a lot of chances to get wins,” Herrera said, referring to the Raiders' deep run in the PIAA team dual match tournament.
Newell scored his 150th career win — against only 23 losses — when the Pitt-bound 120-pounder decisioned Nathan Lukez of Pine-Richland 15-5 in the title match.
“I didn't know that was my 150th ... It's a nice time for that to happen,” the soft-spoken Newell said. “That's a good career accomplishment.”
Butler's Christian Sequete (29-3) won the 182-pound section title by decisioning Justin Hart (34-2) 6-3 in the finals. Sequete pinned his first two opponents Saturday.
He was victimized by a pair of head butts against Hart in the title match.
“Their heads just came together when Hart rushed at him ... That stuff happens,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “Christian had to gut it out after that.”
The match was stopped twice to allow Sequete some recovery time. A third stoppage would have ended the bout and he would have lost by default.
“I don't think it was intentional,” Sequete said of the head butts. “Things happen during a match. I got through it.”
Mars had four finalists in Noah Hunkele at 106 pounds, Alex Hornfeck at 145, Jake Richardson at 170 and Sean Mcelhinney at 182. Hornfeck (30-2) and Richardson (28-3) won section titles.
To learn more about this story, read Monday's Butler Eagle.
