Claysburg-Kimmel's Dylan Weyant burst on the scene last year as a junior with some big early-season wins.
In fact, it will be a year Wednesday when he was named the Mirror's Athlete of the Week for wins over Bedford's Tanner Williams and Northern Bedford's Daniel Brallier, both of whom were ranked in the top five of the Mirror rankings.
But he was absent from the Bulldogs' lineup in December.
It's not that the former Hollidaysburg wrestler couldn't make the lineup. It was because he was still recovering from an automobile accident from May of last year.
Weyant, who injuring his back in a wreck on his dirt bike in 2010, broke his vertebra in the automobile accident. After some time, he was able to walk out of the hospital.
"It was pretty bad," Weyant said.
Weyant hasn't been able to practice much. He returned to C-K's lineup last week and went 2-1 at 170 pounds against Bellwood-Antis Tuesday, Northern Bedford Thursday and Bedford Saturday. He didn't actually have a full practice until Wednesday.
He re-injured his hip flexor muscle in the first practice this season, further delaying his return to the lineup.
After the accident, Weyant didn't know what his future on the mats would be.
"I was real worried," he said. "I didn't even think I was going to wrestle this year. It's still bad. It hurts right now. You can't really do anything about it."
His injuries were so serious that his doctor didn't recommend that he wrestle this year. That didn't sit well with Weyant.
"I told him I've been wrestling since third grade," he said, "and it's my senior year."
He's looking forward to the rest of the season, going to practice and competing in dual meets.
"I'm excited to be back in there," Weyant said. "I just need to work on getting in shape, and then I'll get the rust knocked off and I'll be good to go."
Congrats to Caslow
Congratulations to former Philipsburg-Osceola coach Dave Caslow, retired Centre Daily Times wrestling writer/sports editor Ron Bracken and former longtime District 6 historian Bob Hower, who were among those elected to the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Their election is well deserved, especially for Caslow, who has the most career coaching wins in District 6 history with a record of 405-171-4. He's also a member of the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the District 6 Hall of Fame, the Clearfield County HOF and the Clarion University HOF.
Caslow, who coached at P-O for 34 years and stepped down in 2005, is still very active in wrestling as a coach, clinician and a member of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
Former Penn State coach John Fritz, Lloyd Rhoades Jr., Wayne Smythe and former historian and district president Joseph Humphreys will also be inducted into the HOF on April 15 at the Hilton in Harrisburg.
Todd Irwin can be reached at 946-7464 or at tirwin@altoonamirror.com. He can be followed on Twitter at ToddIrwin1.
