Mt. Lebanon’s Stout repeats as County Champion
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Luke Stout
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jake Slinger
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jason Montgomery
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Upper St. Clair’s Jake Slinger puts the finishing touches on his pin against Fox Chapel’s Donovan Cutchember to claim the 220-pound weight class during the Allegheny County championships.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jason Montgomery turns Connor Sidoruk of Baldwin on his head on his way toward a fall during 170-pound action in the Allegheny County tournament. With his pin, the Bethel Park senior captured the weight class.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Luke Stout lifts Vincenzo Rauso and takes him down to the mat during 160-pound championship action in the Allegheny County Tournament. In capturing his second straight county championship, the Mt. Lebanon grappler won by decision, 3-0.
Luke Stout looked up from the mats at Fox Chapel High School and the Mt. Lebanon sophomore glimpsed the inspiration he needed to polish off Vincenzo Rauso and capture his second straight Allegheny County championship.
After seeing his older brother, Kellan, who currently wrestles at Pitt, in the bleachers, Stout dispatched the Central Catholic senior, 3-0, in the finals of the 170-pound weight class.
“It was cool seeing him in the stands,” Stout said of his sibling. “I didn’t know he would be here. It was great. Kellan is definitely a big role model for me. He helps me out a lot. I work with him as much as I can.”
Working with a former PIAA champion such as Kellan, has enabled Luke to rise to the top. He ranks third in his weight class with a 21-2 record.
After recording three falls and a major decision to reach the finals, Stout captured his weight class against the crafty Rauso, who used his size deficit to his advantage.
“I have trouble with short guys,” Stout said, “but I used a low single and strong hand fighting throughout the tournament to win. I think I wrestled well and dominated everybody. It was a good test for states and WPIALs. Anything that is off, we can fix now.”
By mid-February, Stout expects to be in prime shape to challenge the likes of Zachary Hartman from Belle Vernon and Gerrit Nijenjuis from Canon-McMillan for the WPIAL title. The two wrestlers are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the 160-pound division.
Luke was 34-7 his freshman season. He finished fourth in the 2017 WPIAL championships and went 1-2 in the PIAA tournament held in Hershey.
“I’d love to win a WPIAL championship but it’s a tough weight class with Zach and Gerrit,” Stout said. “I definitely want to place at states and be on the podium.”
For the two other Allegheny County champions, those are similar objectives. Bethel Park’s Jason Montgomery and Upper St. Clair’s Jake Slinger both used the tournament as a tune-up for upcoming events such as the sectionals on Feb. 24, the WPIAL championships on March 2-3 and the state tournament from March 8-10 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Montgomery convincing
In convincing fashion, Montgomery captured the 170-pound title. He pinned Baldwin’s Connor Sidoruk in 2:36 in the championship bout. On his way to his crown, Montgomery registered two first-period falls and a technical fall.
Of his 17 bouts this winter, all but six have been by pins or tech falls.
“Every match, I try to win as many points as I can. Break them and then go for the fall,” said the senior.
“While I did want it,” he said of the outstanding wrestler honor awarded to Sam Hillegas of North Hills, however, “I had a great time. The tournament was a lot of fun. I wrestled well. I was really strong, big and fast. And, I think this will be good practice. I’m looking forward to all my tougher matches down the road.”
For Montgomery those would hopefully include rematches with Waynesburg’s Kyle Hormet and Belle Vernon’s Scott Joll. Neither participated in the Allegheny County Tournament since they are from other counties. The two are responsible for two of Montgomery’s three defeats this season. The other loss came against Jared McGill from Chestnut Ridge in the King of the Mountain Tournament.
Slinger dominates
Slinger, like Stout and Motgomery, dominated his weight division, winning all of his matches by falls. The Upper St. Clair junior needed 3:54 to pin Donovan Curchember of Fox Chapel for the 220-pound title.
The championship was redemption for last year’s disappointing bronze medal performance said Slinger.
“I was hoping to come out here this time and show my stuff,” he said. “The goal was to win it because of last year. I mostly used my athleticism and carried them down for takedowns. I was confident,” added Slinger, who is also a standout lineman on the football team.
Slinger feels the county title is a good step in the right direction as he slowly creeps up on his 100th victory. He sat at 87 career wins after the fall against Curchember. Slinger hopes to improve upon last year’s bronze-medal showing at sectionals and fourth-place finish at WPIALs. He was a state qualifier.
“It was good to get some hard competition under my belt and this was good for my confidence,” he added. “I hope to do better at sections and win a WPIAL and state championships. I would like to bring home something to put up on my mantle.”
Teams place
Bethel Park and USC brought home fourth- and fifth-place honors in the team standings with 175 and 160 total points respectively. North Allegheny won the team title with a 207.5 score followed by Thomas Jefferson (183) and Hampton (177). Mt. Lebanon finished 11th overall with a 103 score.
In addition to Montgomery, top finishers for the Hawks also included: Hunter Kernan (152) and Noah Seeberger (182) both third; Luke Montgomery (160) and Ben Yantek (132) both fourth; Riley O’Mara (195), fifth; Parker Loera (138), sixth; and Vinny Reipole (126), seventh.
In addition to Slinger, Tom Kyle and Grant Walnoha were runners-up at 138 and 145. Other place winners included: Harvey Rauch (fourth at 195), Jack Burton (sixth at 285); Sean Martin (sixth, 152); Dan Kyle (seventh, 120) and Ryan Dawson (eighth at132)
Other top finishers for Lebo included: Jackson Gray at 145 and Nathan Hoaglund at heavyweight. Both took third.
Former Mt. Lebanon wrestler Shamil Zaynulaev won the 195-pound weight division. The Chartiers Valley senior defeated Baldwin’s Gehrig Hutchinson, 9-3, in the championship match.