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Tom Elling on wrestling: CM wrestling heads to Powerade Tournament to face remarkable competition

Luke Simcox of Central Mountain takes a shot on Evan Petrovich during their match at 145 pounds during the Top Hat Tournament Saturday night Dec. 2, 2023 at Williamsport High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Luke Simcox (Central Mountain Hs) 46-4, Sr. over Evan Petrovich (Connellsville Area

I trust all of my readers had a nice Christmas and enjoyed family and friends.

I do know wrestlers (and coaches) have been back at practice getting ready for some grueling tournament action. As my old friend and former Bellefonte coach used to say: Good wrestling (not good luck).

Central Mountain is heading to the Southwest corner of Pennsylvania to take part in the 57th annual Powerade on Friday and Saturday. Seventy schools from several different states will compete highlighted by 11 returning Powerade champs, 10 returning Powerade runners-up, 75 returning Powerade placers, 46 individual state champions, 42 national prep tourney qualifiers, 73 individual PIAA tournament qualifiers, 49 New Jersey state tournament qualifiers and 24 Ohio state tournament qualifiers.

This is, without a doubt, the toughest tournament in Pennsylvania and one of the toughest in the entire nation.

Bald Eagle Area heads more southeast to Chambersburg for the Trojan Wars Tournament. There are 29 teams competing, including Central Mountain’s January 4 opponent Selinsgrove, Warrior Run, West Perry and West Branch.

Bellefonte and Jersey Shore are participating in the Neil Turner Memorial at Conestoga Valley, which has a field of 33 teams. Mifflin County, Montgomery, Central Dauphin, Central York, and former King of the Mountain participant Phillipsburg, New Jersey, will provide stiff competition. The good news for the Bulldogs is Brock Weiss is back in the line-up and could be at 139 or 145 pounds.

Sugar Valley is off until January 4 when the Phoenix will have a short trip to a much-improved South Williamsport team. Two days later they make the same trip as a part of the South tournament.

AREA RANKINGS

The Wildcats of Biff Walizer lead the area in number of state-ranked grapplers. Nine of the 13 weights are in the top 25. Luke Simcox (No. 1 at 139), Dalton Perry (No. 3 at 145), Griffin Walizer (No. 3 at 152), Rocco Serafini (No. 7 at 215) and Aiden Kunes (No. 10 at 127) are in the top 10. Gavin Heverly (No. 17 at 107), Jake Weaver (No. 18 at 172), Bryce Brungard (No. 25 at 189) and Giovanni Tarantella (No. 16 at 285) are the others.

BEA claims six spots in Class AA. Those include Lucas Fye (No.3 at 127), Caleb Close (No. 3 at 189), Tanner Guenot (No. 4 at 107), Caden Judice (No. 12 at 121), Cameron Dubbs (No. 17 at 189) and Gage Gardner (No. 21 at 215).

Jersey Shore has Weiss ranked No. 4 at 145. Bellefonte has three: Wyatt Long (No. 11 at 107), Ezra Swisher (No. 18 at 139) and Noah Weaver (No. 22 at 145).

As a team, CM is ranked third in Class AAA. BEA is ranked No. 11, right behind Warrior Run (No. 9) and Clearfield (No. 10).

On the girls side, Central Mountain has two in the top 15 as Kendall Wagner sits ranked No. 2 at 170 and Austynn Falls is ranked No. 9 at 136. BEA also has two ranked as Grace Crestani is No. 8 at 170 and Eden Eveleth is No. 8 at 106. LHU-bound Marissa Rumsey of Williamsport is ranked No. 3 at 148. Her sister Lillian is also ranked No. 3, but at 118. And LHU women’s coach Matt Lackey’s daughter Anna is ranked No. 9 at 112 for State College.

OVERTIME

• Luke Simcox has switched his commitment from Penn to North Carolina. NC is coached by Rob Koll, who had been at Cornell and Stanford. Koll is the son of the late, great Bill Koll, who coached at Penn State.

• Kendall Wagner is also a starter for the Bucktail girls’ basketball team. She has missed some recent contests nursing an ankle injury.

• Happy New Year’s to all. Remember you never know how much light you have inside you until you shine it on others.

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