Last season the Tyrone wrestling team usually jumped out to a fast start in the lightweights and finished with many a sure win at heavyweight. The Eagles finished only 5-8 in dual meets, however, because they couldn\u2019t field enough warm bodies in between and were forced to forfeit three or four weight classes in every dual meet.
\nFor the new campaign, Eagles coach Blair Packer, who coached Tyrone to their 400th overall victory during his first season at the helm and his 200th personal win during last season, has no farther to look for team leaders both on and off the mat in a strong group of returning lettermen from last season.
\n\u201cWe just adopt the attitude that our \u201ckiller\u201d schedule prepares the guys for the postseason tournaments,\u201d said coach Packer. \u201cThe predominantly Triple-A Class teams that we wrestle during the season like Philipsburg-Osceola, State College and Bald Eagle Area, help us when we get to the Districts and Regionals. Preparation is the key and we have by the time the post season comes around, already wrestled many of the best wrestlers in the state.\u201d
\nThe philosophy worked to perfection last season, when Tyrone sent five wrestlers through Districts to the Southwest Regionals at UPJ. Senior Dan Miller and sophomore Thad Westley each advanced to Regionals for the second time and senior Derrick Moore and freshmen Terry Tate and Dave Miller made their initial trips.
\n\u201cWe have nine returning lettermen,\u201d explained Packer. \u201cWhen you get that many returning lettermen, you get a nucleus that should be able to pull the other weight classes along.\u201d
\nWestley (29-6) paved the way in 2001-02 leading the team in wins, reversals, two- and three-point nearfalls and team points, tied for first in major decisions and was in the top three in tech falls, match points, takedowns and pins. Just a junior, Westley already can claim credit for 50 wins, was third at Districts and was one win short of going to the State Tournament at Hershey last year.
\nDavid Miller compiled a 23-11 mark as a freshman, and was in the top three in team stats in eight different categories. David finished second at Districts, the highest finish for Tyrone and won two matches in his first try at Regionals.
\nTerry Tate was a light heavyweight who had to wrestle people two or three years older and 20-50 pounds heavier and still was able to compile a 21-12 record, in addition to placing at three inseason tournaments and earn a berth to Regionals with a third place finish at Districts.
\nDane McCloskey got the Golden Eagles off to many fast starts last season at 103 during his first season on the varsity. McCloskey (21-11) was second in falls and major decisions so the start was often a big one with added bonus points. Dane won the Blair County Tournament, the only returning wrestler to earn a tournament crown last year and with a sixth place, was one win away at Districts from becoming the sixth Eagle to qualify for a spot at Regionals.
\nBrett Harris, a Regional qualifier in 2001, also returns for his senior season. Out of the lineup for various causes, Brett managed to make the most of opportunities to post a 15-6 mark in 2001-02 in a season that ended prior to the District Tournament.
\nFigure in seniors J. D. Shaw and Blake Cowfer, junior Tom Crowl, sophomore Brice Mertiff who were starters for all or parts of last season with a good crop of kids coming up from the junior high and it should be an interesting season.
\n\u201cWhen you get Dane McCloskey at 119, and Thad Westley at 125, and Brett Harris and Dave Miler, those four have proven over and over to be formidable opponents,\u201d said Packer. \u201cI expect them to hold that lower-middle area, along with J. D. Shaw, a three-year starter at 140, then a new kid in Adam Swayne at 145. At 152, you can never count Brice Mertiff out. He was in matches last year where I though he was going to be beaten and he kept coming back on kids to beat them. Tom Crowl at 160 is another kid who was proving himself towards the end of last season be a game wrestler who will just come at you constantly. What can you say about Blake Cowfer, he is a leader. He is a leader by example, nobody drills harder than Blake. He is a team wrestler all the way around. He will move to any weight you ask him to. You ask him if he wants to move and he replies, \u2018wherever you want me to go, coach\u2019. At 275, in Terry Tate, we\u2019ve got an anchor up there, I wouldn\u2019t trade him for any other anchor in the district. Some have placed higher, but I wouldn\u2019t trade him for anyone.\u201d
\nTyrone graduated just three seniors from last year\u2019s squad and one of the three was lost due to injury during a Christmas Tournament and was out for the rest of the year. While Dan Miller and Derrick More will definitely be missed, their absence will be helped by the return of the young wrestlers, who proved their mettle on the mat last year and will be the leaders by example this year.
\nDane McCloskey (103), Thad Westley (112) and David Miller (119) were selected to the Central Wrestling Conference First Team All-stars and Brett Harris (125), and Terry Tate were named to the CWC Second Team. Westley and Harris made the All-Mountain League First Team and Tate and Miller were chosen for the All-Mountain Second Team.
\n\u201cAs a group of coaches, we have high expectations for this season,\u201d said coach Packer. \u201cAnd I can see it in the kids that they have high expectations also. They have a great attitude and a good work ethic. They seem to enjoy going through the drills. That is always a great sign.\u201d
\nThe Golden Eagle wrestling team opens their 2002-03 season tonight at home against Moshannon Valley. Junior High action begins at 6 p.m., followed by any junior varsity wrestling and the varsity dual will get underway at at 7:30 p.m.
\nTyrone’s Wrestling Line-up
\n\t103\t Robert Waite (fresh.)
\n\t112\t Richard Klapper(soph.)
\n\t119\t Dane McCloskey (jun.)
\n\t125 \t Thad Westley (jun.)
\n\t130\t Brett Harris (sen.)
\n\t135\t David Miller (soph.)
\n\t140\t J. D. Shaw (sen.)
\n\t145\t Adam Swayne (soph.)
\n\t152\t Brice Mertiff (soph.)
\n\t160\t Tom Crowl (jun.)
\n\t171\t Crowl or Blake Cowfer (sen.)
\n\t189\t Cowfer or Justin Clark (jun.)
\n\t215\t Justin Clark
\n\t275\t Terry Tate (soph.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last season the Tyrone wrestling team usually jumped out to a fast start in the lightweights and finished with many a sure win at heavyweight. The Eagles finished only 5-8 in dual meets, however, because they couldn\u2019t field enough warm bodies in between and were forced to forfeit three or four weight classes in every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}