Mt. Lebanon outlines safe techniques for wrestling this season
Is wrestling possible during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mt. Lebanon athletic director John Grogan believes there are arguments to be made for playing the sport this season, especially on the scholastic level.
“Is wrestling any different than boxing out for a rebound in basketball?” Grogan said. “When you look at the periods they are short.”
Wrestling bouts consist of three, two-minute periods. According to Grogan that’s well under the 10-minute limit advised by the experts for exposure to the coronavirus.
Grogan said if any athletes are used to following protocols and knowing how to avoid viruses and other contagions, its wrestlers because they “deal with this on a yearly basis.”
For more than a quarter century, Marc Allemang has handled such issues as a competitor and coach.
Allemang was a four-year starter at Bethel Park, where he has been inducted into the high school’s athletic Hall of Fame. After a four-year stint at Duquesne University, he served two seasons as an assistant coach at Baldwin and eight at Mt. Lebanon before being name head coach in 2015.
Allemang said his Blue Devils are taking the necessary precautions and are following the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Pennsylvania Department of Education and the PIAA.
“Obviously, while wrestling there is physical contact that is going to take place,” Allemang said. “We are taking every precaution that we can to help prevent the spread.
“Our wrestlers are masked. They know how important it is to stay masked outside of school as well,” he added. “We also talk about how we are being given a great opportunity to do what we love. We should not take that for granted.”
Noting, too, that the length of a match is typically six minutes or less, Allemang said when wrestling in a head-to-head match with another school “our wrestlers will only face one other wrestler.”
The Blue Devils opened their 2021 campaign at home Jan. 9, five days after the state-ban on scholastic and amateur athletics as well as other activities was lifted by Gov. Tom Wolf.
Lebo hosted home matches against Bethel Park and Ringgold Jan. 13 and 15, respectively.
On tap next are four away bouts, two of them duals — Seneca Valley and Cavalier — and two of them section match-ups against Upper St. Clair and Central Catholic. In February, Lebo battles Fox Chapel and Moon before entering postseason action.
The temporary pause in training from Dec. 12 to Jan. 4 forced the Blue Devils to shift how they practiced. Allemang met with his wrestlers over Zoom calls, but he said they were basically on their own during that stretch of time. It was foreign territory for Allemang.
“This was the first time in my life I was not either training through the holidays myself or with one of my teams,” he said.
Allemang’s squad is young. Many wrestlers are getting a taste of varsity action for the first time. Nevertheless, the approach to practice is to focus on opportunity.
“Every competition there’s a feeling of gratitude that we can compete,” Allemang said.
Mac Stout is Lebo’s top competitor. The junior was a PIAA runner-up in 2020. His silver-medal showing capped a 42-3 season. Stout, who was a county, sectional, district and regional champion, is 74-13 overall in his two varsity seasons.
“Mac has goals of getting back into the PIAA finals these next two seasons,” said Allemang. “He looks big, strong and ready to get back on the mat.”
With changes to postseason action, it will be harder for wrestlers to qualify for the PIAA championships.
“The wrestlers that are going to be at the state tournament are ones that kept themselves training throughout the duration of the spring, summer, and fall,” Allemang said. “The shortened season makes it challenging for the newer wrestlers that are still learning.”
Nevertheless Allemang see potential in his youthful line-up. Lebo boasts just three seniors, Pat Dunn, Ben Streiff and Alex Tambouratzis. That equals the number of freshmen: Grant Elder, Joe Gamble and Ejiro Montoya.
In addition to Stout, Louie Pietragallo, Sam Mago, Mustafa Ismail, James Duffy, Nick Busalacchi and Sayed Shabir Amin are the other juniors.
Among the sophomores on the roster are Aiden Beinhauer, Kade Capristo, Sean Coffman, Lukas Mariani, Trey Royer and Nathan Sala.
“While it’s too early to tell how things will go, we have a lot of kids that I feel can make noise and wrestle deep into the postseason,” Allemang said. That will play itself out over the next few months. Ultimately though we feel fortunate that we are wrestling and competing.”
Mt. Lebanon is taking these 10 steps to insure its wrestlers can compete this winter.
According to head coach Marc Allemang, the Blue Devils:
1. Self screen before coming to practice.
2. Masks must be worn at all times while in the building, including during practices.
3. At this time, we are required to wear masks during competitions.
4. Each wrestler was provided with a Gatorade water bottle. Wrestlers should only use their water bottle and not share with other wrestlers.
5. We have built in breaks throughout practice to make sure everyone is physically distancing and allowing for additional water breaks.
6. We are leaving all of the doors to the wrestling room open to improve ventilation even more. ?
7. Wrestlers will only practice with a small pod of partners assigned by weight classes. Lighter weights on one side of the wrestling room and heavier weights on the other side of the wrestling room.
8. Wrestlers will have assigned seating on the bus based on those assigned weight classes. One wrestler per seat on the bus.
9. All mats are cleaned and disinfected before and after each practice. ?
10. We will continue to follow the district’s health and safety plan and the district’s athletics and activities health and safety plan.
The WPIAL has adopted a different format for its postseason wrestling tournaments for 2021.
The WPIAL individual championships will start Feb. 16-17 with sub-section rounds.
The Class AAA championships, which double as the Southwest Regional, will be conducted Feb. 27 at Canon-McMillan High School. Only eight wrestlers in each class will compete.
The PIAA has added a Super Regional to its individual championships.
The PIAA individual tournament begins March 13 for AAA wrestlers.
WPIAL section team tournaments will be held Feb. 8 and will include only the champion and runner-up from each sub-division.
The WPIAL team championships are set for Feb. 13 at a site to be determined.
The state tournament will be held after the individual championships.
While dates and sites are yet to be determined, the PIAA is looking at March 29-30 at the Giant Center in Hershey. The state will have held its basketball championships at the venue two days prior.