Sipes named OW after winning 3rd title
Lions’ Weaver, Ciampoli also prevail
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Altoona's Luke Sipes certainly didn't have an easy road in wrestling for his third District 6 Class 3A Tournament title on Saturday at the AAHS Fieldhouse.
Sipes ranked third in the state at 152 by PA Power Wrestling, had to face Mifflin County arch-rival and eighth-ranked Parker Kearns in the semifinals and Central Mountain's fourth-ranked Griffin Walizer in the championship finals.
The Mountain Lion junior, who was seeded second, waged two grueling battles and came away with his third title, edging Kearns, 3-2, and the top-seeded Walizer, 3-1.
Sipes was later voted the Class 3A Outstanding Wrestler by the coaches for his wins over top 10 foes.
"I'm really grateful and super excited," Sipes said after accepting the OW trophy. "This was my toughest district bracket so far. I knew if I had a chance it was this year. I went out executed and performed."
Altoona's Braiden Weaver captured his second title, winning the 114-pound title with a pin of Mifflin County's Paxton Shawver in 1:03. Freshman teammate Gavin Ciampoli, a third seed, rolled to a 10-1 major decision of Mifflin County's Blake Aumiller in the 127-pound final.
"I think we did really well tonight," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "I said earlier in the week you have to beat some guys who are seeded above you and win the matches you're supposed to win. I think we did that today.
"(Evan) Boose's upset in the semis of a returning district champ (Mifflin County's Truitt Davis) and Luke Sipes getting Outstanding Wrestler are huge accomplishments."
Three other Blair County wrestlers had to settle for second in Boose (215) and Hollidaysburg's Mitchell Baronner (172) and Wyatt Maines (285).
Sipes had beaten Kearns for both of his previous district titles. This time, Sipes made an escape and takedown within the first 13 seconds of the second period stand up in the win.
Against Walizer, Sipes got the takedown with 49 seconds left in the first period and rode the rest of the period. Sipes escaped 10 seconds into the second to go up 3-0. Walizer escaped in the third, but Sipes avoided any danger to win the title.
"He was very consistent all day long," Gilbert said. "He scored when he got in there. He feels real good at the weight class. He wrestled well in all positions out there. I'm real happy with his performance today."
Gilbert raised both of his arms when it was over and Sipes held up three fingers in celebration toward the Altoona section.
"He was ranked fourth in the state, so I think I wrestled really well," Sipes said. "I did what I had to do to get the win. That's all that matter."
Asked about being seeded second, Sipes said, "It definitely felt a little bit disrespectful, like the Ultimate Warrior tournament. I'm a two-time champ, so how am I the two seed. Seeds are just a number. That's why I wrestle in the tournament."
Weaver (31-4), who had a pin in 2:29 in the semifinals, built a 4-1 lead on Shawver before getting the pin.
"It feels great being a two-time (champion)," Weaver sad. "It's one of my big goals I have. I just have a new mentality going into every tournament now. I don't care who the person is. I'm just going to go out, have fun and let it fly. After that Ultimate Warrior loss (to Reynolds' Waylon Waite), I developed a new mentality to try to be the best wrestler possible."
"Weaver just looked like a machine out there," Gilbert said. "He was scoring a lot of points and looking for falls."
Ciampoli (19-6), who reached the finals with a 15-2 major decision, built a 5-0 lead on Aumiller with a takedown and three nearfall points in the first period. He added a takedown in the second and a late takedown in the third to get the major decision.
"It feels pretty good," Ciampoli said. "I lost to him (11-3) a few weeks ago. I had smarter wrestling (this time), smart in the hand fights and smarter shots."
"He looked real good in the finals, changing the outcome from getting majored in the district duals to major in the finals," Gilbert said. "So, that's a huge, huge change. He really wrestled smart and took advantage of situations."
The second-seeded Baronner reached the finals with a 7-2 decision over Central Mountain's Jacob Weaver in the semifinals. He then dropped a 5-0 decision to Mifflin County's Avery Aurand.
"I think that it's great the way he's wrestling out there when he's going after things," Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr said. "(In the finals) he went out there and competed in some positions that obviously didn't go our way."
Boose was tied 3-3 with Davis when he got the fall in 3:57. Serafini, though, pinned Boose with a second left in the first period.
The third-seeded Maines pinned Central Mountain's Giovanni Tarantella in 3:11 in semis. But State College's second-ranked Nick Pavlechko pinned Maines in 56 seconds for his third title and 100th win.
"That was a big win for Wyatt," Harr said of the semifinal win. "It was probably the biggest win of his career. Wyatt has certainly grown immensely this year as a wrestler and an athlete."
Eleven wrestlers from Altoona and Hollidaysburg qualified for this upcoming weekend's Northwest Regional Tournament at the Fieldhouse. Six wrestlers from Altoona and five from Hollidaysburg placed in the top three at their weights to advance.
Altoona also advanced third-placers Wyatt Young (139) and Hayden Speece (285). Luke Geishauser (145) and Tykear Davis (172) finished in fourth place.
Altoona's Dominic Nardozza (107), Tabor Baker (121), Matthew Riccio (160) and Julian Pringle (189) placed fifth.
Hollidaysburg had three other regional qualifiers in third-placers Landon Krupka (114), Jacob Brua (133) and Tyson Bridenbaugh (189). Brayden Sidney (107), Logan Krupka (121), Mason Schenk (139), Aiden Schenk (160) and Caden Frye (215) finished fourth.
Sidney lost a 2-1 tiebreaker decision to Mifflin County's Andrew Alexander in their third-place bout.
Hollidaysburg's Carson Krupka (127) and James Bialo (145) were fifth.
Four inducted into HOF
Four guys with local connections were inducted into the District 6 Hall of Fame before the final round.
Current Hollidaysburg assistant coach Mitch Johns and former head coach Mike Moore were inducted, as were Altoona 1981 state runner-up Ernie Bonsell and Cambria Heights grad and UPJ national champion John Strittmatter.
"It was a huge deal for Mitch Johns getting that nod this year," Harr said. "He deserves every bit of that for putting his heart and soul into this wrestling program for the past 30-plus years. That's a huge deal for Mike too, not only from an athlete standpoint but what he did for the Hollidaysburg wrestling program."
Altoona's Barr honored
Altoona's Ryan Barr was named District 6 Junior High Coach of the Year. The Mountain Lions went 16-1 and were ranked second in the state.
KEY, TEAM STANDINGS
1. CM--Central Mountain 206; 2. MC--Mifflin County 199.5; 3. SC--State College 195; 4. A--Altoona 159; 5. H--Hollidaysburg 129; 6. GJ--Greater Johnstown 21.
SEMIFINALS
107--Heverly, CM, dec. Sidney, H, 3-1; Young, SC, dec. Alexander, MC, 4-2; 114--Weaver, A, pinned Jo. Whitbred, SC, 2:29; Shawver, MC, dec. La. Krupka, H, 5-3; 121--Kunes, CM, pinned Coates, SC, 2:12; Knable, MC, pinned Lo. Krupka, H, :43; 127--Aumiller, MC, maj. dec. Berrena, SC, 15-2; Ciampoli, A, maj. dec. P. Tarantella, CM, 15-2; 133--Ja. Whitbred, SC, tech. fall Pardoe, CM, 17-0, 4:00; Everly, MC, maj. dec. Brua, H, 12-1; 139--Perry, CM, pinned M. Schenk, H, :36; Campbell, SC, maj. dec. Young, A, 13-2; 145--Simcox, CM, pinned Geishauser, A, :24; Manville, SC, pinned Seiler, MC, 1:09
152--Walizer, CM, pinned Bucher, SC, :40; Sipes, A, dec. Kearns, MC, 3-2; 160--Cunningham, SC, pinned A. Schenk, H, 1:00; Schaeffer, MC, tech. fall Donley, CM, 17-2, 5:04; 172--Aurand, MC, pinned Davis, A, 2:57; Baronner, H, dec. Weaver, CM, 7-2; 189--Mickey, MC, pinned Pringle, A, 1:08; Brungard, CM, pinned Bridenbaugh, H, 4:48; 215--Boose, A, pinned Davis, MC, 3:57; Serafini, CM, pinned Tisinger, GJ, :52; 285--Maines, H, pinned G. Tarantella, CM, 3:11; Pavlechko, SC, pinned Speece, A, :47.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
107--Heverly, CM, pinned Young, SC, 5:42; 114--Weaver, A, pinned Shawver, MC, 1:03; 121--Kunes, CM, maj. dec. Knable, MC, 12-2; 127--Ciampoli, A, maj. dec. Aumiller, MC, 10-1; 133--Ja. Whitbred, SC, dec. Everly, MC, 5-1; 139--Perry, CM, pinned Campbell, SC, 2:14; 145--Manville, SC, won by injury default over Simcox, CM, :01
152--Sipes, A, dec. Walizer, CM, 3-1; 160--Cunningham, SC, tech. fall Schaeffer, MC, 23-8, 5:27; 172--Aurand, MC, dec. Baronner, H, 5-0; 189--Mickey, MC, dec. Brungard, CM, 6-4; 215--Serafini, CM, pinned Boose, A, 1:59; 285--Pavlechko, SC, pinned Maines, H, :56.
Outstanding Wrestler: Luke Sipes, Altoona
THIRD PLACE
107--Alexander, MC, dec. Sidney, H, 2-1 TB; 114--La. Krupka, H, dec. Jo. Whitbred, SC, 6-4; 121--Coates, SC, dec. Lo. Krupka, H, 5-2; 127--P. Tarantella, CM, dec. Berrena, SC, 6-3; 133--Brua, H, pinned Pardoe, CM, 2:46; 139--Young, A, dec. M. Schenk, H, 8-1; 145--Seiler, MC, pinned Geishauser, A, 1:28
152--Kearns, MC, pinned Bucher, SC, 1:14; 160--Donley, CM, pinned A. Schenk, H, 2:21; 172--Weaver, CM, pinned Davis, A, 2:43; 189--Bridenbaugh, H, pinned Dillon, SC, 4:00; 215--Davis, MC, pinned Frye, H, :57; 285--Speece, A, pinneed Pietzsch, MC, 4:41.
FIFTH PLACE
121--Baker, A, dec. Toranto, GJ, 4-2; 172--Zeruth, SC, pinned Berrett, GJ, 1:08; 189--Pringle, A, dec. Rivas, GJ, 7-4; 215--Anderson, SC, pinned Tisinger, GJ, 2:20.