Weaver

Altoona senior Braiden Weaver has dominated in the District 6 Class 3A Tournament since his freshman year.

Weaver is 6-0 and has five pins and a technical fall en route to winning three District 6 titles at 107, 114 and 121 pounds. On Saturday at the tournament, Weaver will be looking to continue that domination and make some history at the Altoona Fieldhouse.

Weaver is aiming to become only the fifth Mountain Lion to win four District 6 Class 3A titles, joining neighbor and longtime friend Luke Sipes (2025), Matt Sarbo (2021), Cole Manley (2017) and T.J. Brandt (2013) on that exclusive list of Altoona four-time winners.

“I’m super excited for districts,” Weaver said. “Hopefully I can make it a fourth time in the finals and win it and maybe take home an OW (Outstanding Wrestler) as well. Finishing my senior year as a four-time district champ in my own gym would be pretty awesome to me.”

The top-seeded Weaver (30-5) could end up facing Central Mountain’s returning district champion Patrick Tarantella (33-8) in the 133-pound finals.

“Braiden Weaver has been a consistent point getter here at Altoona,” Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said, “especially in the postseason. Braiden is a tough kid, hard-nosed. He puts the pedal down and he’s looking to score points right away. He’s just an elite competitor and one of the best we’ve ever had here at Altoona.

“I know he’ll be ready to go and he’s fired up for his last show here at the Fieldhouse. He wants to put an exclamation point at the end of his career at Altoona.”

The District 6 Class 3A Tournament begins at 10 a.m. on Friday.

The Class 3A boys and the District 5-6-9 girls will share the Fieldhouse for the first time on Saturday. The girls begin wrestling at 9 a.m. Saturday. Wrestling for both boys and girls, including the fifth-place girls bouts, will continue throughout the morning and afternoon.

The championship finals and third-place bouts for both boys and girls will all be wrestled in the final session, which starts after the 5:30 p.m. District 6 Hall of Fame ceremony and parade of champions.

The top three boys at every weight class will advance to the Western Regional at Canon-McMillan High School on Feb. 27-28 again this season.

“I’m kind of excited for our guys to go out and compete,” Gilbert said. “We had a great (regular) season and I think they’re excited also to get ready to go and score some points.”

“We’re always looking forward to the postseason,” Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr said. “It’s what we train for all year.”

The Mountain Lions captured the team title in 2025 for the first time since 1981 in a team race that came down to Mike Colyer’s district title at 215. Deklan Barr was named the Outstanding Wrestler, while Gilbert was voted Class 3A Coach of the Year and Sipes won his fourth title.

On paper, the team race could come down to the very end with District 6 Duals champ State College, runner-up Altoona and Central Mountain contending.

“Last year was pretty awesome because, of course, we hadn’t done it awhile,” Gilbert said. “Luke Sipes is hard to replace, but for the most part it’s the same, exact team coming back. They’re looking to get some bonus points out there and try to help the team win.

“It really comes down to are you going to be able to exceed your seed? If you’re a fifth seed your goal is to be able to be a fourth-place finisher, a third-place finisher or whatever. It’s going to come down to that.”

While Weaver is going for his fourth title, junior teammate Gavin Ciampoli (28-6) is aiming for his third title. The top seed at 160, Ciampoli is a heavy favorite to claim the title. Hollidaysburg’s Tyler Rodgers is a third seed at 160.

Barr (27-5) will look to defend his 127-pound title, but it won by easy with State College’s returning district champ Kael Davis (23-6) as the second seed and Central Mountain’s 2024 district and regional champ Gavin Heverly (29-9) as the third seed. Barr beat Davis, 4-0, at King of the Mountain.

“Deklan Barr is a bonus point machine also,” Gilbert said. “He’s probably going to get a pretty good kid in the finals, whether he gets Kael Davis or the Heverly boy. He has his work cut out for him, that’s for sure. I’m excited to see him compete.”

There was a question as to whether Colyer (16-10) would be able to wrestle in the postseason due to a knee injury. He was cleared late in the season and is the third seed at 215 behind Bellefonte’s top-seeded Luke Hockenberry (36-7) and Central Mountain’s Todd Caris (31-10).

“I would say Mike’s probably around 90 percent (healthy),” Gilbert said. “He’s doing well in the room. We expect Mike to go out there and put forth his best effort.”

Altoona’s Reese Hite (145) is seeded second, while teammate Phillip Sarbo (152) is seeded third at 152.

Hollidaysburg’s returning tournament runner-up Landon Krupka (29-8) is a second seed at 114. Altoona’s returning second-placer Dominic Nardozza is a fourth seed at 114.

“Landon has been very solid all year,” Harr said. “He’s beaten a lot of good kids. Hopefully he can go out there and perform, score points and keep doing what he’s been doing all year.”

One subplot to look out for is Altoona’s top-seeded Dominic Picciotti (27-9) potentially wrestling Hollidaysburg’s second-seeded Connor Sidney (23-12) in the finals for the first time this season.

“Connor was sick (for the Altoona match),” Harr said. “It was a match we were kind of looking forward to, and obviously it didn’t happen. We’re looking forward to the matchup. Certainly we can’t look past (Colin) Harter from Bellefonte.”

Hollidaysburg’s Brayden Sidney (121) and sophomore Scott Payne (285) are second seeds.

Both teams will be trying to be well represented at the regional tournament.

“I’d like to see eight kids get out,” Gilbert said. “It would be one of our best numbers here at Altoona. I have faith in my guys.”

“In all honesty, I think we have a really good opportunity to get seven of those guys out – if not more,” Harr said.