Stout, Slinger win WPIAL titles
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Mt. Lebanon’s Luke Stout wins by decision over Belle Vernon’s Scott Joll 9-2 at 182 pounds in the WPIAL AAA Championships at Canon-McMillan.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jake Slinger continued to rake in the hardware this wrestling season. The Upper St. Clair senior set the school record for career victories on his way to winning the 285-pound weight class at the WPIAL and Southwest Regional championships last weekend. He competed for a PIAA title this weekend in Hershey.
Jake Slinger of Upper St. Clair and Luke Stout of Mt. Lebanon captured WPIAL championships and earned top berths for the PIAA Class AAA wrestling tournament held March 6-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
On his way to the heavyweight title, Slinger set several standards.
In the opening rounds of action at Canon-McMillan on March 1, the senior tied then broke the school’s record for career wins with pins against Seneca Harvey of Moon and Zack Cypher of Norwin.
After beating Quentin Franklin of South Fayette, 4-0, in the semifinals, Slinger clinched the 285-pound title with a 9-2 decision against Mt. Lebanon’s Nathan Hoagland.
With the wins, Slinger improved to 36-0 on the year. The George Mason recruit owns a 135-25 career mark, which tops the record of 132-11 set by Mackenzie McGuire in 2012.
According to Slinger, his feat means little unless he could duplicate McGuire’s feat at states. Before this weekend’s championships, Slinger’s highest finish was seventh while McGuire won a state crown.
“The (school record) is nice but it doesn’t come with much if I don’t have a state championship to go with it,” Slinger said.
“Mac is the best wrestler in school history because he was a state champion and runner-up,” added Slinger, who hoped to join him in the winner’s circle in his second PIAA appearance at states this weekend.
Meanwhile, Stout made his third trip to Hershey after winning his first WPIAL crown. He had finished fourth in his two previous district tournaments.
Stout decisioned Scott Joll from Belle Vernon, 9-2, for the 182-pound title. After picking up pins in the first two rounds of action, the junior defeated Brandon Matthews (34-4) from Peters Township, 10-4, to advance to the championship match against Joll (32-7).
“Luke worked really hard to achieve a WPIAL title,” said Lebo mat boss Marc Allemang. “He had a great tournament and was pretty dominate throughout each of his matches.”
Slinger, Stout, Hoagland, Franklin and Matthews were joined at states by fellow area grapplers Luke Montgomery from Bethel Park as well as Peters Township’s Coltin Jezioro and Jeff Markert.
Montgomery was the WPIAL runner-up at 195. He lost his bid for the 195-pound championship when he was pinned by Thomas Jefferson’s Max Shaw in 2:27.
Jezioro took third at 152 when he won his consolation match against Waynesburg’s Luca Augustine, 7-2.
Markert finished fourth at 170. In the consolation bout, Kiski’s Nick Delp scored a 3-2 decision against Markert.