Mix-up could hurt Cougar wrestlers

[NS grad]

From the Somerset Daily American

By JEFF MAURER
Daily American Sports Writer

The District 5 Class AA Wrestling Tournament seedings were announced on Sunday and a misinterpretation of a PIAA weight loss rule could prove costly for three North Star wrestlers.
According to the PIAA Web site, all wrestlers had to meet their minimum weight requirements by Feb. 15. No further descent in weight could occur after that deadline.
North Star senior John Mort and sophomores Joe Lascari and Richard Baker did not meet that requirement, which meant the Cougars had to unexpectedly adjust their lineup prior to the start of the postseason tournament.
Each wrestler had to move up in weight, which will affect them for districts as well as regionals and states, if they qualify. Mort went from weighing in at 119 pounds to 125, Lascari went from 112 to 119 and Baker went from 119 to 130.
The mix-up is disappointing news for the Cougars. Mort is currently ranked No. 8 in Pennsylvania at 119 pounds in Class AA by Off The Mat Rankings while Lascari is sixth in the state at 112. Neither wrestler will be able to compete at those weight classes.
“There was a lack of clarity on my part concerning the PIAA rule,” North Star coach Pat Berzonski said. “It came as quite a surprise. I’d been looking at their weight plans thinking they had plenty of time. As long as they were down to their weights prior to the start of the district tournament, I thought they’d be okay.”
“It takes the choice out of those kids hands,” he added. “They don’t get to make that choice now because of my misinterpretation.”
The District 5-AA tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Windber Area High School.
Top seeds in each weight class are:
Bedford’s Trey Easter (103 pounds), Bedford’s Cory Thomas (112), North Star’s Lascari (119), Northern Bedford’s Tyler Chesney (125), North Star’s Sam Zimmerman (130), Hyndman’s Logan Sheldon (135), Chest Ridge’s Gary Pfahler (140), Chestnut Ridge’s Cameron Corle (145), Northern Bedford’s Ethan Boyd (152), Northern Bedford’s Ben Sollenberger (160), North Star’s Aaron Delano (171), North Star’s Logan Fleegle (189), Chestnut Ridge’s Josh McDannell (215) and Bedford’s Josh Krupa (285).
The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the PIAA Southwest Regional Feb. 29-March 1 at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown.
(Jeff Maurer can be reached at [email protected])

PIAA District 5 Class AA Wrestling Tournament Pairings
Team Key
B-Bedford; BB-Berlin; CR-Chestnut Ridge; CT-Conemaugh Township; E-Everett; H-Hyndman; M-Meyersdale; NB-Northern Bedford; NS-North Star; S-Shade; TM-Tussey Mountain.
(weight class, seed, wrestler, school, grade, record)
Quarterfinals
103 — (1) Trey Easter, B, 10, 26-7 vs. Ryan Claycomb, CR, 11, 7-16; (5) Brandon Mihelcic, S, 9, 23-17 vs. (4) Tyler Crites, BB, 9, 21-9; (3) Matt Reasy, NB, 12, 18-12 vs. Levi Diehl, H, 10, 9-12; Keegan Love, NS, 10, 14-18 vs. B.J. Heinrich, CT, 10, 21-3.
112 — (1) Cory Thomas, B, 10, 23-4 receives a bye; Brian Blocher, H, 11, 8-11 vs. (4) John Valentine, NS, 10, 15-8; (3) Brandon Berkey, CR, 11, 16-8, receives a bye; (2) Collin Troxell, E, 12, 14-6.
119 — (1) Joe Lascari, NS, 10, 27-5 vs. winner of Ryan Rummel, S, 9, 7-18 vs. Chuck Mosher, H, 9, 7-18; (5) Philip Shawley, BB, 10, 16-11 vs. Willie Sollenberger, NB, 9, 18-12. (3) Andy Tomovich, CR, 11, 14-9 vs. (6) Christian Diamond, TM, 10, 15-10; Eric Jordan, CT, 11, 6-17 vs. Devin Cook, B, 11, 19-7.
125 — (1) Tyler Chesney, NB, 11, 26-2, receives a bye; (5) Zach Sirbaugh, S, 10, 13-3, vs. (4) Zach Maust, B, 10, 18-11. (3) Josh Neatrour, CR, 12, 26-6 vs. (6) Mark Lyons, M, 11, 16-11; Kevin Claycomb, E, 11, 6-8 vs. John Mort, NS, 10, 29-5.
130 — (1) Sam Zimmerman, NS, 12, 22-5, receives a bye; Levi Miller, B, 11, 12-16, vs. (4) D.J. Brown, TM, 11, 8-4. (3) Andy Sollenberger, NB, 11, 23-7 vs. (6) Glen Hetz, M, 12, 8-12; Josh Golob, S, 9, 5-17 vs, (2) Josh Shane, CR, 19, 28-7.
135 — (1) Logan Sheldon, H, 11, 27-1, receives a bye; (5) Brian Faust, E, 12, 16-7 vs. (4) Kyle Holderbaum, CR, 12, 8-1. (3) Richard Baker, NS, 10, 27-7 vs. (6) Shawn McMenzie, M, 10, 11-10; Mark Lizenberger, NB, 10, 1-11 vs. (2) Tanner Ripple, B, 10, 24-7.
140 — (1) Gary Pfahler, CR, 12, 27-0 vs. winner of Sean Chaney, BB, 12, 7-22 vs. Taylor Fleegle, NS, 10, 6-11; (5) Zach Logsdon, H, 10, 14-13 vs. (4) Neil Stevenson, TM, 12, 13-11. (3) Cody Grace, NB, 11, 17-14 vs. (6) Mike Feathers, E, 12, 14-11; (2) Brian Gibbons, B, 9, 22-10 vs. winner of (7) Lester Shiffer, M, 12, 11-8 vs. Dan Platt, CT, 10, 4-14.
145 — (1) Cameron Corle, CR, 12, 24-6 vs. Evan Bridges, H, 11, 3-17; (5) Keith Dick, NB, 10, 18-10, vs. (4) Kevin Dudek, B, 12, 14-10. (3) Ian Mitchell, TM, 12, 18-8 vs. Dylan Bowman, E, 11, 7-15; Greg Aimes, S, 10, 5-12 vs. (2) Andy Darr, NS, 11, 17-7.
152 — (1) Ethan Boyd, NB, 12, 22-8 receives a bye; Josh Kuncher, NS, 10, 10-15 vs. Sam Aikey, S, 10, 12-13. (3) Tyler Rush, CR, 10, 10-7 vs. Luke Hoover, E, 10, 6-10; Kyle Walker, M, 11, 3-13 vs. Tyler Gould, B, 11, 22-11.
160 — (1) Ben Sollenberger, NB, 12, 25-5 vs. winner of Josh Thompson, NS, 10, 4-22 vs. Aaron Shoemaker, H, 12, 3-17; Nick Croyle, CT, 11, 12-13 vs. Josh Wilt, E, 12, 1-10; (3) Cody McDonald, S, 10, 20-5 vs. Ryan Hocker, B, 11, 8-13; (2) Brennan Corle, CR, 11, 18-10, vs. winner of Darian Ervin, M, 12, 3-6 vs. Bill Hall, TM, 11-0-11.
171 — (1) Aaron Delano, NS, 12, 26-5 vs. Kyle Landis, BB, 10, 8-18; (5) Joe Benny, S, 12, 8-6 vs. (4) Kris Musselman, TM, 12, 15-9. (3) P.J. Brett, B, 11, 5-4 vs. Myles Crawford, NB, 12, 2-3; Justin Norris, M, 12, 10-11 vs. (2) Jase Deffibaugh, CR, 11, 24-11.
189 — (1) Logan Fleegle, NS, 12, 24-6 vs. winner of Kevin Weaver, S, 11, 7-18 vs. Levi Grimes, E, 10, 7-15; (5) Clay Harshbarger, TM, 12, 18-5 vs. (4) Nick Stultz, CR, 12, 17-10; (3) Tyler Cogan, NB, 12, 17-11 vs. Justin Ohler, M, 11, 12-11; (2) Tyler Baker, BB, 12, 27-3 vs. Cody Buterbaugh, B, 11, 14-20.
215 — (1) Josh McDannell, CR, 11, 18-0 vs. winner of Matt Stanton, E, 10, 3-15 vs. Brett Custer, S, 12, 5-17; (5) David Green, H, 12, 17-13 vs. (4) Dustin Reighard, NB, 12, 19-10. (3) Kyle Dunmeyer, M, 9, 20-5 vs. (6) Travis Moyer, CT, 12, 14-13; Greg Strauss, TM, 11, 9-10 vs. (2) Cod7 Shippey, B, 11, 25-7.
285 — (1) Josh Krupa, B, 11, 30-3 vs. Brandon Devroy, S, 11, 14-15; (5) Craig Tresnicky, CT, 12, 17-8 vs. Jake Beers, CR, 11, 15-9. (3) Will Grace, NB, 12, 21-6 vs. (6) Tyler Ulery, NS, 11, 5-5; Sean Foster, TM, 11, 5-5 vs. Cody Weaverling, H, 12, 17-6.

[#1_plumber_coach]

What a shame for Mort. He was almost a shoe-in for a state medal at 119, he might not make it out of regionals at 125.....

[chunky_2425]

what a screw up by the coach!!! Sad thing is the kids are the ones hurt by this situation, because the coach didn't do part of his job- KNOW THE RULE BOOK!!!!!! He should know that thing inside out and if something is not clear to him, he should have made some phone calls to get everything clarified.

[4him]

In Pat's defense, the rule book is no where near clear on ANYTHING! I have already ran into some issues with refs on certain situations this year. Perhaps he should have called somewhere for clarification, but probably all he would be able to get a hold of would be someone who would just give their interpretation as well and not someone with authority.

[Dep]

I do agree, the rule was vague and the wording open to interpretation. But other coaches seemed to understand. It did hurt Lascari for sure. May have cost him a state medal.

[cougarmats]

Well, I will have to say that Districts proved to all that the mix-up did hurt the 3 boys that got bumped up. I would still like to know how 1 coach did not know this and all the others did.

[4him]

I don't believe every other coach did know the situation. It just so happened that NS had a match on the cut-off date and they were also weighing kids in at a higher weight to win the dual meet. No one was very clear on this, in fact, Shade encountered the same situation. The only difference was that their wrestler was an 8 or 9 seed and not a potential state medalist.

[Sneakers]

The weigh-in on the cut-off date had no bearing on those gentlemen's post season weight. I am still under the belief that the website had a weight calculated on the 15th which had to be the minimum weight for the post season. The site "shut down" once the projected was given for the 15th, the final date to get down. Nothing was recalculated as a result of NS & NB weigh-ins on the 15th and Bed & CR weigh-ins on the 16th.
But then I was one who believed that consecutive day pound allowances were not to be used to drop weight if the weight loss plan was over the "normal" 2-pound allowance weight.

[4him]

Either way, it was an issue of not realizing that the weights were "locked in" on Feb 15 and the week of our district tournament could not be used to drop weight. I can understand a coach not realizing there would be a cut-off date until after the fact. When else is the day of the weigh in not the cut-off day? I realize that the cut-off is Feb 15 because that is when the post-season officially starts around the state, but I can understand why a D5 coach would not immediately realize this.

[RidgeDad]

Just curious on this, not trying to start anything.

Should Mort have been called for a slam late in the 3rd?