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By Todd Irwin
sports@altoonamirror.com
After waging three tight battles en route to a 152-pound title at last year's Northwest Regional Class 3A Tournament, Altoona's Luke Sipes knows what it's going to take to repeat this weekend.
The Mountain Lion sophomore is coming off of another District 6 title and another close 3-1 win over Mifflin County's Parker Kearns in the championship finals.
Battle tested, the fourth-ranked Sipes (35-3) could face Kearns or even McDowell's 16th-ranked Artis Simmons. Sipes beat Simmons, 3-1, in the regional quarterfinals last season, but they're on opposite sides of 152 this year.
"I'm super excited (about the regional tournament)," Sipes said after his district title. "I'm going to bring my A game. I'm ready to compete. (Wrestling Kearns again) could be the regional final. I'm ready for it."
The tournament begins at 4:30 p.m. today at the Altoona Fieldhouse with the first round. The quarterfinals and the first round of consolations will follow. The tournament resumes at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with the second round of consolations.
The consolation finals and championship finals are scheduled for 5:15 p.m.
The top three wrestlers at every weight qualify for the PIAA Championships in less than two weeks at Hershey's Giant Center.
This week in 14-man weight classes, the top three District 6 wrestlers at every weight, are being joined by the top five from District 4/9, the top three from District 10 and the top three from District 8.
Blair County will have seven wrestlers in the field, including five from Altoona and two from Hollidaysburg.
Altoona's District 6 champion Braiden Weaver (107), runners-up Phillip Sarbo (121) and Caleb Fasick (127) and third-placer Michael Riccio (215) will join Sipes in the their own gymnasium.
Weaver (32-4), ranked fifth at 107 by PA Power Wrestling, appears to be the favorite to claim a regional gold medal.
"Regionals will be tougher than (the district tournament)," Weaver said after his pin in the district finals. "There are a couple new kids in my bracket that will kind of put up more a fight. I think I'll win regionals."
Hollidaysburg District 6 champion Carson Krupka (114) and third-placer Mitchell Baronner (160) are going to take their shot at qualifying for Hershey. Both wrestled in the tournament last season. Krupka is riding momentum after his finals pin.
"Carson's got a really good draw," Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr said. "He has the ability to get out to the semis. The better guy on that half of the bracket (Shikellamy's Alex Reed), he wrestled earlier this year.
"He hung in there until late in the match. Right about toward the end of the match, he ended up getting stuck. But, like I said, his confidence level is up."
As far as the other wrestlers in the field, expect another finals clash between returning state champions in State College's Pierson Manville, who was the District 6 Outstanding Wrestler, and Central Mountain's Dalton Perry at 139. Manville won, 1-0, last week. Both are returning regional champs.
State College's Asher Cunningham and Nick Pavelechko, Central Mountain's Luke Simcox (133) and Williamsport's Cael Nasdeo (113) are also returning champions.
The intensity will likely increase this weekend with a trip to Hershey on the line.
"We're looking forward to it a lot," Harr said. "Postseason is what you look forward to every year. I would argue we have one of the toughest schedules in our district or region. We hit a lot of big tournaments to get those kids as most exposure as possible.
"We don't like to look ahead a whole lot. We certainly focus on the things we need to focus on. Our conditioning is top notch right now, so we're peaking at the right time. The guys built confidence coming off of last weekend into this weekend. We're just going to go out there and compete and let the cards fall where they fall."