RALPH WILSON/For The Express Central Mountain's Aiden Kunes competes at the PHAC Championships on Saturday.

Through the first few tournaments of his sophomore campaign, Central Mountain wrestler Aiden Kunes flashed what many would consider to be PIAA podium potential. He defeated multiple returning state medalists, opened by earning gold at a tough Top Hat tournament and climbed as high as No. 4 in the state at 127 pounds by February.

It was potential that wasn’t fully realized come March of 2025, as he fell in the blood round at states to close out the season. But as broken-record claims would indicate, that wasn’t because that promise vanished from thin air.

Speculation surrounding how much a knee injury impacted the last month of his campaign carried from late last season to the start of this one. And without a knee brace through the first six weeks of the 2025-26 season, it’s clear that speculation was valid.

Since falling to returning PIAA bronze medalist Kai Vielma (Connellsville) a win away from back-to-back Top Hat titles to open the season, Kunes hasn’t dropped a single match. As it stands, his win streak has spanned five weeks, 19 matches and three tournaments, with the junior most recently bulldozing his way to a PHAC title on Saturday.

His goal since before the season even began has been clear. The two-time PIAA qualifier has dreams of closing out his junior season at the top of the podium at states as a junior. And so far, not much has shown that goal being outside the ballpark of realism.

“It’s really just been one goal, a state title at the end of the year. That’s really just what I’m looking forward to,” said Kunes when discussing his goals after earning PHAC gold on Saturday. “I’ve just got to keep getting better every day.”

Prior to the start of the 2025-26 season, Kunes was already putting the pieces in place to best help his chances of realizing that goal. On top of continued work on the mat and in the weight room over the offseason, the Air Force commit opted to switch to home schooling with a focus on his health in mind.

“I’m homeschooled this year, which helps a lot,” said Kunes at King of the Mountain when asked about what’s changed in the approach to his health. “I’m able to stay at home a little longer, get more sleep and just take care of my body when I need to recover.”

Once the season began, it was just a matter of working hard in practice, listening to his storied cast of coaches and embodying a mentality of continuous improvement.

Just because he’s put together a streak of gold since the second week of December doesn’t mean he’s satisfied, as he strives to get better every week all the way to February and March. When asked about his biggest focus to start the new year, offensive consistency came up, an aspect of his game that was ever-present over a weekend that saw him rack up takedown after takedown.

“Coach Krause is always pushing me. If I get a takedown in practice, he’s making me get another one back-to-back-to-back,” said Kunes on Saturday, referring to assistant coach Steve Krause. “I feel like that helps with the dominance out on the mat in a real live match. If you do it in practice, you’re going to do it during a match.”

While Saturday’s PHAC 145-pound bracket was lacking in state-ranked talent, Kunes faced tremendous challenges through his first three tournaments and prospered amidst them.

At Top Hat, the junior beat returning PIAA Class AA medalist Matthew Santoro by 11-3 major decision to advance to the 145-pound final. His next tournament, the 41-team Penn Manor Holiday Tournament, featured three controlled decision wins over No. 13 Nathan Klingensmith (Norwin), No. 12 Bryce Boyer (Kennett) and returning Maryland state (MIAA) runner-up Tyler Stephens.

And at King of the Mountain, Kunes weathered a tough 145-pound bracket, allowing just two points against three state-ranked wrestlers through Day 2 en route to gold. His most notable win there came against Canon-McMillan’s Collier Hartman, who took fourth at states last season.

“This was just a great showing of what I can do,” said Kunes after earning his first King of the Mountain gold. “It feels great to prove to everybody that I can beat the best in the state.”

There’s still a lot of season left to go but as it stands, just one wrestler has had enough in the tank to hand Kunes a loss, a testament to Kunes’s current ranking at No. 2 and Vielma’s at No. 1. In that defeat, Kunes fell by just a takedown, as Vielma won by 5-2 decision.

Considering that loss occurred over a month ago and the Central Mountain junior’s constant strives to improve, future matchups between the pair should be interesting and certainly aren’t a given. Wrestling is rarely predictable, but if both wrestlers maintain their current consistency, at least two rematches are likely: at regionals and states.

“It’s obviously going to be a hard match to win, but I can definitely win those matches if I just critique the little things,” said Kunes on a potential rematch against Vielma at Top Hat. “He’s long; he’s No. 1 in the state. I just needed to close the distance a little bit.”