Last weekend, the Tyrone wrestlers traveled to Lock Haven University for the Central Mountain King of the Mountain wrestling tournament. An offshoot of the former Lock Haven Classic and Bald Eagle Nittany Invitational, two of the more prestigious holiday wrestling tournaments and in the case of the BEN tourney, one of the oldest in the state of Pennsylvania, the tournament invited 16 teams and was held at Central Mountain High School for the first three years of it’s history. In 2002, the tournament was changed to invite 33 teams and was held at Lock Haven University’s Thomas Field House to accommodate the extra wrestlers.
Tyrone sophomore Terry Tate wrestled his way into the championship round. Tate drew a bye through the opening round, then pinned his way to the finals. Terry decked Andrew Bourgoine of Forest Hills in 3:19, stacked Corey Frey of Penns Manor in 3:42 and pinned Jay Richards from Mifflinburg at the 3:57 mark, just beating the buzzer at the end of the second period. In the finals, Tate edged Frank Cremonese of Wellsboro by an 8-6 count to earn his first place trophy.
Thad Westley (125), David Miller (135) and Brice Mertiff (145) also claimed places in the tournament. Westley went 4-2 for a fifth place finish, Miler was 3-3 to finish eighth and Mertiff was 4-2 to finish seventh, for the Golden Eagles, who finished 12th among the 33 teams at the Tournament with 97.5 points. Forest Hills won the tournament with 183 points and Tyrone was the number four Class-AA team in the event with the rest of the schools in front belonging in Class-AAA.
Thad Westley opened the tournament with a 17-4 major decision over Justin McCloskey of Jersey Shore, pinned Judson Brooker of Penns Valley in 3:22 and won by an 18-3 technical fall over Joe Hadfield of Octorara before dropping a 10-4 semifinal decision to Joe Luizza of Hughesville. Luizza was pinned by Altoona’s Joe Ciampoli in the finals at 125. Thad lost to Chris Reynolds of Downingtown in the consolation semifinals 3-1 before wrestling Hadfield again for fifth place. This time Westley won a 12-1 major decision to secure fifth.
David Miller pinned Andy Lang of Franklin in 3:04 to jumpstart his tournament, then shut out Penns Valley’s Preston Shawver 6-0. In the semis, Dave lost by tech fall to Nathan Kennedy of McGuffey 15-0. Miller came back in the consis with to knock off Jeremy Brooks of Jersey Shore 12-4, but then lost a 9-4 decision to Dave Rathfon of Downingtown. In the consi final for seventh place, Miller was pinned in a rematch with Shawver in 2:46 to settle for eighth place.
Brice Mertiff dropped a 9-6 verdict to Mike Wise of Penns Valley in the opening round, then cam all the way back through the consi bracket to place seventh. Mertiff drew a bye to begin the journey, then majored Cory Raupers of Athens 13-2, pinned Jake Weltermyer of Susquehannock in 0:58 and decisioned Clayton Desmond of Central Mountain 7-5. In the consi-semis. Mertiff then dropped a 4-0 match to Jason Coyne of Penn Trafford to put the Eagle sophomore in the seventh place consifinals where he pinned Bryan Galloway of McGuffey in overtime. The match had been tied at the end of regulation 3-3.
At 119, Dane McCloskey (2-2) pinned Chris Parker of West Liberty Salem from Ohio in 3:00 and decked Gary Paronish of Penn Cambria at the 5:41 mark before losing to Derrek Bosso of Penns Manor. In his first consolation match. McCloskey was edged by Athen’s Barry Thrush 6-4 to drop from the double-elimination tournament.
Adam Swayne (2-2) was pined at 140 in his opening match by Daniel Thompson of Greater Latrobe in 5:35 then won a pair in the consolation brackets. Swayne showed Brandon Lagerman of Line Mountain the lights for a fall in 3:58 and edged Josh Lewis of West Liberty Salem 13-12 before losing by fall to Boyd Toner of Jersey Shore in 1:20.
J. D. Shaw (2-2) lost his first match at 152, by fall to Cody Gallaher of Forest Hills in 4:39. Shaw decked James Churchill of Bucktail in 0:53 and Wes Bly of Wellsboro in 0:21 before having his tournament terminated by Canton’s Jordan Stiner 6-0.
Blake Cowfer (2-2) pinned Brandon Keck of Wellsboro in 4:35 at 171, before getting pinned by Andy Wendle of Avon Grove. In the consolation rounds, Blake pinned John Balliet of Altoona in 2:44 then lost by fall to Mike Murkens of Franklin.
At 103, Robert Waite (1-2) was pined by Paul Hallowell of Greenville in the first round, decisioned Noah Gladfelter of Susquehannock 10-4 and then dropped 10-2 major decision to Josh Hartman of Red Lion.
Brett Harris (1-2) received a first-round bye then pinned Phil Kuhns of Penn Cambria in 4:10. In the quarterfinals, Harris dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Garrett Desmond of host Central Mountain to depart the tournament.
Richard Klapper (112), Chris Tremmel (160) and Justin Clark (189) went 0-2 and Tyrone had no entry at 215.
