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MILL HALL -- Altoona's Braiden Weaver reached the 114-pound finals of the rugged King of the Mountain on Saturday at Central Mountain High School, but he had to settle for second place in high school wrestling.
The second-seeded Weaver dropped a 4-3 decision to Chestnut Ridge's PIAA Class 2A state runner-up Dominic Deputy in the finals. Weaver and Deputy are actually training partners at Orchard Wrestling Club.
Weaver, a returning state fifth-placer, reached the finals with a technical fall, pin in 38 seconds and a 1-0 win in the semifinals.
Fellow 2022-23 Mirror Wrestler of the Year Luke Sipes finished third at 160. Sipes, who was ill, went 5-1 in the tournament. He had a technical fall, major decision and decision before dropping an 8-2 decision to Pottsville's Nick Kunstek in the semifinals.
Sipes responded with a 26-second pin and a 9-2 win over Central York's Carter Davis in the third-place bout.
Altoona's Dom Nardozza finished in seventh at 107 pounds. The Mountain Lions finished 25th in the team standings with 58 points out of 32 teams.
Altoona wins at Shik
SHIKELLAMY -- The Altoona Area junior high wrestling team won the Shikellamy Duals tournament on Saturday.
Altoona won all five duals, beating Shikellamy, 67-12, Central Columbia, 72-15, Mifflinburg, 51-34, Loyalsock, 79-6, and Midd-West, 78-10.
Deklan Barr and Dominic Verticelli each went 5-0 with all five wins by pin. Mikey Nardozza, Dom Picciotti, Brandt Hite, Liam Chirdon and Caleb Darpino were also undefeated.
Altoona is 6-0.