WPIAL AA advanced 11 wrestlers to the quarterfinals with another 10 still alive in the consolation rounds as the PIAA Wrestling Championships moves to day two. AAA wrestlers from the area delivered a spectacular effort, losing only one of the 56 entries, 34 of them alive in the championship half of the brackets.
AA action begins Friday morning at 9 am with quarterfinals and two consolation rounds, then resumes Friday evening at 7:30 pm with semifinals and two additional rounds of consolations. AAA wrestlers take the mats at 2:15 pm with their quarterfinals and consolation rounds. You can follow all the action on WJPA-AM (1450) or online through our High School Wrestling hub Click Here.
Riley Kemper (Burgettstown), the only Washington/Greene wrestler to make the AA quarterfinals lost in that round, then came back to win his first consolation bout. Kemper’s brother Shane and McGuffey’s Garrett Boone stayed alive with two consolation wins each. All three will bring home medals. Nate Yagle and Ethan Barr of McGuffey and Fort Cherry’s Robbie West lost consolation bouts and have been eliminated. Two local wrestlers were eliminated Thursday: Joey Sentipal (Burgettstown) and Jonathan Wolfe (Jeff-Morgan). WPIAL AA wrestlers claimed seven spots in the semifinals, seven more will medal from the consolation brackets.
Waynesburg advanced all five of its wrestlers to Friday’s quarterfinals, including Cole Homet who had to win a preliminary bout, then rallied off his back to top the Northwest Region champion in the first round. Homet is joined by Raiders teammates Mac Church, Rocco Welsh, Wyatt Henson and Luca Augustine. Gerrit Nijenhuis (Canon-McMillan) and Donovan McMillon (Peters Township) are also in the quarterfinals. WPIAL AAA wrestlers were 23-1 in the preliminary round, 34-21 in the first round.