By BILL ALBRIGHT

Express Sports Writer

MILL HALL — The 2019 King of the Mountain wrestling tournament is in the books, and for the three teams in the Express coverage area, there were mixed feelings and some bittersweet moments that took place.

Leading the way for the regional teams was Bellefonte as the Red Raiders claimed a champion in Ethan Richner at 160 and a runner-up in Ethan Rossman at 182. Jude Swisher finished third at 126, Lane Aikey was fourth at 120, Alex Coppolo wound up fifth at 132 and Aiden O’Shea finished sixth at 106.

“We come to this tournament to prepare for the post-season,” said Bellefonte head coach Mike Maney. “We knew it was going to be a meat-grinder, but we wound up with six placewinners which is the most we ever had. Five of the six will be back so it is a good experience for all of them.”

Happy with his team’s overall tournament, Maney was especially proud of his grapplers for their second-day efforts.

“I am especially proud of the guys for their efforts today,” he said. “It was a long day yesterday and then you have to turn around and come right back which makes it as much mentally as it is physically. The guys battled all day long and got us into the top four in the team race so I am just proud of their efforts and attitudes. If they can carry this effort over through the year, it will set them up nicely for the post-season.”

For his title, Richner decked Taylor Wise of Warrior Run, majored Landon Caldwell of Saegertown 10-0, pinned Riley Heim of Line Mountain in 1:38, was a 16-0 technical fall winner in 4:47 over Ryan Weyandt of Forest Hills in the semis before capturing his gold medal with a solid 8-3 win over Connor Quinn of Owen J. Roberts.

Just coming up short of a title Rossman advanced with a pair of technical falls and a pin in his first three bouts before settling for a regular decision in the semis. In the finals, he was pinned in 1:43 by Gerrit Njenhuis of Canon McMillan.

Swisher went 6-1 in the tournament, his only loss to Killian Delaney of West Chester Henderson in the championship quarterfinals. In his bout for third, Swisher reversed the earlier decision as he defeated Delaney 6-2.

Aikey won his first three bouts in the championship bracket before dropping a 7-1 decision to Carter Dibert of Franklin Regional. Following the loss to Dibert, Aikey majored Eric Weaver of State College before falling to Kai Burkett of Chestnut Ridge in the place match.

Coppolo went 5-2 including a medical forfeit in his medal match over Cal Schoffstall for his fifth-place effort, while O’Shea completed the half dozen medalists for the Raiders, going 5-3 including a 4-0 shutout at the hands of Hunter Robison of General McLane.

“So far everything is going as planned,” said Richner. “I decided not to play football this year because I wanted to focus on wrestling more. I think that further on in my career I will be doing some wrestling so that is why I made the decision to focus on this. I missed being around my buddies in football a little bit, but for me, I think it was the best decision for me.”

“He is a gamer,” Maney said of Richner. “He is good in all three positions and he really wrestles hard. When you do these three things you are going to win a lot of matches. This obviously is his best finish here so now he has to stay humble, get back to work tomorrow and hopefully that effort and momentum will have him wind up in Hershey.”

For host Central Mountain, the Wildcats finished with four placewinners, amassing 95.5 points in the two-day affair.

After a solid first day in the tournament, the Wildcats ran into some tough sledding on Day 2 and that began with the championship quarterfinals. After advancing five wrestlers through the first two championship rounds, the ‘Cats could only show one winner in five tries in the quarterfinals in Gino Serafini at 106.

Serafini won his first three bouts of the tourney before falling into the consolations with a loss to eventual champion Nik Allison of Mifflin County. Down but not out, Serafini bounced back from the defeat with two impressive wins over Aiden O’Shea of Bellefonte and Cael Nasdeo of Williamsport to finish third.

Derek Keen also fell in his quarterfinal effort after posting a pair of falls in a total time of 1:40 in the first two rounds. After dropping back to the wrestlebacks with a loss to Gunner Gage of General McLane, Keen bounced back strong with three straight wins before settling for fourth with a 6-4 loss in the third-place match to Calan Bollman of Chestnut Ridge.

Taylor Weaver also got off to a fast start with a major decision and a fall in his first two bouts, but like his two previous teammates, Weaver dropped his quarterfinal bout and dropped back into the consolation bracket.

In the wrestlebacks, Weaver went 1-2, including a 7-3 loss to Chestnut Ridge’s Ross Dull to finish eighth at 126

Central Mountain’s fourth quarterfinalist, Lane Porter, followed suit with a pair of wins in the championship bracket before dropping back into the consis with a loss to Tanner Rohaley of Canon McMillan in the quarters.

In the wrestlebacks, Porter went 2-1, including a 9-5 win over Harrison Hoopes of State College to finish seventh.

“Of the four guys who placed for us, none of them received any awards here last year,” said Central Mountain head coach Biff Walizer. “With Gino Serafini coming in as a freshman and taking third was huge and he gave (Nik) Allison a great match in the semifinals but just came up a little short. I am very impressed with his effort for the first time here in the King of the Mountain. As for the other three, they were able to bounce back after tough losses and get themselves into the placing matches. They all wrestled here last year and came up short of placing so they seem to be moving in the right direction.”

As for what the young ‘Cats can gain from the tournament, it is knowing where they are and where they have to get to.

“They got to see the level of competition that is out there in the state and they obviously will know they have things to work on,” said Walizer. “It is a lot for them to get over, but hopefully they will continue to keep moving in the right direction as the season goes on.”

Bald Eagle finished 21st in the team race, the Eagles featuring three medalists including one champion.

Winning a title for BEA was Gage McClenahan at 145 as he followed a first-round bye with four impressive wins.

McClenahan dominated in his first three wins with a pair of falls and a major decision before getting pushed to the limit to survive with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Kenny Kiser of Saegertown for the gold.

“I have only had a week-and-a-half of practice, but I am feeling good,” said McClenahan. “I got a late start in wrestling because our football team went pretty far in states. Even though we have only been working for about a week-and-a-half, we came out here to see what would happen and it came out in my favor.”

Battling through injuries, surgery, and rehab, McClenahan says that the thoughts of something going wrong don’t enter his mind.

“Coming back from the injury this can be a real confidence booster for me,” he said. “At first in football season I was a little tentative about it (another injury), but I was able to go through a whole football season without anything happening. I have been in the weight room about five days a week so at this point, I don’t even think about anything more happening.”

Joining McClenahan as medalists for the Eagles were Coen Bainey at 106 and Cooper Gilham at 120.

Bainey won his first two bouts on Friday before being blanked 6-0 by eventual champion Allison.

The young Eagle bounced back from the loss to Allison to register a 30-second fall in his first consi bout before dropping a 9-3 decision to Williamsport’s Cael Nasdeo.

In the medal round, Bainey showed his resilience again as he doubled up on Council Rock South’s Cavan Kinne 4-2 to finish seventh.

Gilham took a slightly different route for his seventh-place finish than did Bainey, Gilham going 1-1 on the first day to begin Saturday in the wrestlebacks.

Not to be denied a place on the medal stand, Gilham reeled off three straight wins before dropping his final two on narrow decisions (1-0 and 5-2) to finish 7th. His second loss in Saturday’s competition was to the same wrestler, Matt Ross of Pottsville Area, who defeated him in the second championship round on Friday.