Chartiers Valley, Bethel Park wrestlers win sectionals
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Mason Kernan of Bethel Park captured a section title when he decisioned Nick Jones of West Allegheny, 5-1, in the 133-pound finals.
Mason Kernan (third from right) led a list of eight Bethel Park High School wrestlers into the WPIAL Class AAA tournament. The junior was the sole champion at the section qualifier, winning the 133-pound weight class, while the others pictured managed to grab one of the top seven spots on the podium in their weight classes to gain their district berths.
Mt. Lebanon had four place winners during the Southern Sectional meet including Cole Gibbons, Franco Busalacchi, Ben Lloyd and Ejiro Montoya.
Peters Township wrestlers performed well even at sectionals to advance to the WPIAL championships.
Dylan Evans continues to have a successful wrestling season at Chartiers Valley. He recently broke the school record for career wins (132) and captured the Southern Sectional title before earning the top seed at 160 in the WPIAL Class AAA tournament.
Dylan Evans of Chartiers Valley and Mason Kernan from Bethel Park were crowned champions during the Southern Sectional wrestling tournament held Feb. 24-25 at South Fayette.
They were among the favorites to captured WPIAL titles during the Class AAA finals held March 3-4 at Canon-McMillan. Evans (29-3) entered the district championships seeded No. 1 at 160 while Kernan (30-2) was seeded No. 1 at 133.
Evans, who is the defending state champion, took the first step toward retaining that title with an impressive showing during the sectional. After recording two technical falls in his opening matches, Evans edged West Allegheny’s Shawn Taylor, 3-2, in the 160-pound championship bout.
In the process of winning the Southern Sectional, Evans also broke the school record for career wins with 132 victories. CV alum Mark McKnight held the previous mark.
Kernan also picked up back-to-back tech falls to reach the finals in the 133-pound weight class. The junior dispatched West A’s Nick Jones, 5-1, to secure his place at the top of the podium.
Kernan led a parade of eight wrestlers into the district tournament. Ethan Higgins was the 139-pound runner-up. Bronze medalists were: Hunter Goelz and Landon Hartman at 189 and 215 respectively. Aden Stout finished fourth at 127. Maksim Miller and Jaden Palomino finished sixth at 145 and 107. Aiden Bench also qualified at 121.
In addition to Evans, Brad Joling finished fourth at 121. In the consolation match, he defaulted because of an injury.
Other top CV finishers included: fifth-place finishers Michael Lawrence (139), Anthony Trout (145) and Tyler Glover (215) and sixth-place winner Tamerlan Kapitonov.
Zack Stromock garnered runner-up honors at heavyweight. The Peters Township sophomore fell in the finals to Trinity’s Ty Banco.
Third-place medalists for the Indians included: Darius McMillan (133) and Christ Cibrone (145). Finishing fourth were A.J. McGarrity (139) and Parker Nave (172). Fifth-place medalists included: John Radnor (127), Eliot Schratz (152) and Giovanni DeChicchis (160). Issac Meyers secured sixth place at 114 to complete PT’s parade to the podium.
Mt. Lebanon advanced four grapplers to the district championships, including Ejiro Montoya. The junior finished as the 107-pound runner-up after dropping a 7-0 decision to Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko in the finals.
Heavyweight Ben Lloyd took third after pinning West A’s Dom Vennare in the consolation match.
Also for Lebo, Cole Gibbons finished fourth at 145 while Franco Busalacchi secured sixth at 133.
For South Fayette, Brock Dennison (107) and Jacob Potts (133) finished fourth. Jonathan Baiano used a pin to place fifth at 121.
Upper St. Clair advanced two wrestlers to the WPIAL tournament.
Ben Cedar won by technical fall in his consolation match to take the bronze at 152 while Tyler Shields pinned his opponent and finished fifth at 189.