Stout finishes fourth at PIAA wrestling championships
8. Mat matters
Luke Stout dominated the national and local wrestling scene. Wrestling for Team Pennsylvania, he won the 170-pound weight class in the Cadet Division during the Marines Cadet/Junior National Championships held July 12-20 in Fargo, N.D. He racked up a 6-0 record. He defeated his opponents by impressive scores of 10-0, 10-0, 8-2, 13-1, 10-0, 12-2.
The Mt. Lebanon junior also finished fourth in the PIAA and WPIAL championships and improved to 69-14 in his scholastic career.
Stout's teammate, Nathan Hoaglund, also competed in the national championships. The senior, who was an Eastern Regional champion, posted a 30-8 record in 2018 and was 25 wins from entering the Century Club with a 75-33 career mark heading into this season.
Finally, the wrestling world mourned the passing of Michael Wandrisco, 53, on March 27; Frank Vulcano, Sr., 89, on May 28 and Ralph Jelic, 84, on May 28. Wandrisco was an official; Vulcano was an icon, inducted into seven Hall of Fames and the founder of the Powerade Tournament while Jelic, Pitt football standout, had sons, Jeff and Chris, that competed at Mt. Lebanon.
Luke Stout (center) poses with his coaches Chris Kolling and Marc Allemang after finishing fourth in the PIAA wrestling championships
Since last March, Luke Stout had one thing on his mind. Reverse last year’s 1-2 showing at the PIAA wrestling championships. Last weekend, the Mt. Lebanon sophomore did just that. While he finished fourth and medaled in the 160-pound weight class, the 16-year-old now has higher expectations.
“It’s pretty cool to get a medal and get pictured on the big Jumbotron,” Stout said of the medal ceremony for the top eight placewinners. “It’s neat to finally be one of those people but I wish I was a step up. On the top. Definitely, I am happy with my performance but obviously I’d like to see myself do better. Definitely, win it. That’s the goal next year.”
Marc Allemang doesn’t doubt the expectations are out of Stout’s reach. He anticipated he would set his goals high.
“Luke is fully capable of winning the tournament and he will work hard to put himself in a position to do that. He loves the sport, loves to compete and loves to get better. Everything else will take care of itself in the process,” said the Lebo mat boss.
Almost immediately, once he reached the Giant Center in Hershey, Stout took care of the competition. As a fourth-place finisher out of the WPIAL, Stout had to wrestle a preliminary bout. He dispatched Ray Martin of West Chester Henderson, 9-3.
“Maybe it was first-match nerves but I felt a little sluggish,” Stout said of the battle. “I pushed through it and got it done. Not in a spectacular way but a win is a win,” he noted.
Allemang added that having to wrestle in a preliminary match adds another challenge to the competition and a grappler’s objectives but he noted that it gave Stout an opportunity to get “his body warmed up” and “his mind” prepared for the next opponent. “And sometimes you wrestle better as the tournament goes on,” he added.
Stout did exactly that. He outlasted A.J. Wilson from Solanco and Jacob Burgette from Scranton, 9-7, to reach the semifinals and assure himself a medal.
Stout and Allemang both noted that conditioning played a factor in the outcome of those matches. In fact, against Burgette, Stout scored three takedowns in the third period to take the lead and win the match.
“Luke’s conditioning played a factor and helped him win those matches,” Allemang said. “The thing that impressed me most was Luke’s ability to remain calm and collected in some of the matches that were tight.”
“I think my training paid off and that I was the fitter of the two wrestlers. The most in shape,” he said. “I know we were dead tired and the matches were mental for both of us but I persisted. I felt in control and confident and when I beat (Burgette) I was pumped. It was a huge match for me because I knew then I was placing. I was excited.”
Zach Hartman dashed Stout’s enthusiasm. The Belle Vernon senior dispatched Stout, 6-0, on the way to a runner-up finish against Carter Starocci from Cathedral Prep.
“I knew he was a tough opponent because he had been ranked second in the state all year,” Stout explained. “He wrestled me very well and he exhausted me. He made some good adjustments and the changes worked. I couldn’t get in my offense and do what I do best.”
For some reason, Stout wrestles best against Wilson. Stout beat the Solanco grappler last year and he again beat him for the second time in this year’s state tournament when the two met again in the consolation match. Stout won, 9-0.
“Luke did a great job of forcing the action,” Allemang said. “Knowing you have been beaten by someone twice before can really break you mentally.”
Coming off the defeat to Hartman motivated Stout.
“Losing definitely motivates me,” Stout said. “I wanted to get back in it and prove to myself that I was a good wrestler and deserved to be here.”
In the battle for the bronze medal, Stout faced another familiar foe. As he did in the WPIAL semifinals, Stout again lost to Gerrit Nijenhuis from Canon-McMillan, 3-0, and finished fourth. In each of the pair’s three meetings, Nijenhuis put Stout behind the eight ball by scoring first-period takedowns.
As they both are sophomores, Stout agreed a rivalry is developing between him and Nijenhuis.
“We are both in the same grade and the same size so I assume I’ll see him more often so I have to keep working hard and believing in what I do,” he said.
What Stout has already done is unusual for a Mt. Lebanon wrestler. While three other sophomores: Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle (1985), Kellan Stout (2013) and Bill Perri (1982) have competed in the PIAA championships in the past, Stout is the first Blue Devil to medal at states as a 10th-grader.
“Luke had a great tournament,” Allemang said. “He was prepared going in because he has been thinking about getting back to states since last year. Placing fourth in the state of Pennsylvania as a sophomore is not an easy thing to do. Luke should be very pleased with his wrestling.”
Pleased yes. Satisfied, no.
“States is quite the experience. The crowds. The surroundings,” said Stout. “It’s hard to ignore sometimes but at the end of the day it’s just another tournament and I was there to wrestle. I put it all out there. I felt good about my performance but I’m definitely going to go a little harder and work more during the off season because I want to come back and win this.”
Notes: Jake Slinger from Upper St. Clair finished seventh in the 220-pound weight class. The junior lost in the quarterfinals before wrestling back to gain a spot on the podium. Mike Cusick from South Fayette also secured seventh place at 145 in the Class AA competition. The senior wrestled back after falling in the quarterfinals.
Jason Montgomery of Bethel Park as well as the Chartiers Valley duo of Zachary Macy and Shamil Znullaev participated in the tournament but did not place.
Thanks to Chris Kolling, Luke Stout has a fan club. They are the students at Howe Elementary School.
Since Kolling, the varsity assistant wrestling coach, is a health and physical education teacher at the grade school he keeps his students apprised of their famous alumnus. When they learned that Stout was headed for Hershey to compete in the PIAA wrestling championships last week at the Giant Center, they designed good-luck crafts and cards for the 160-pound grappler.
Kolling delivered them all to Stout, including a Hershey bar.
“I ate that before my match,” he said. “That was awesome,” said Stout, who went on to become the first Lebo wrestler to medal as a sophomore at the state championships.
“I am so grateful to those students and all the people who got behind me,” he continued. “It makes you appreciate them and all the hard work you put into this. I’m proud to be part of this great community.”