The annual Pittsburgh Wrestling has once again delivered an incredibly successful event. Not only did The Classic showcase some of the most talented high school seniors in the nation on Friday night, but the event was also able to raise some money for charity in the process for the local Boys and Girls Clubs. From fans to charity to the competitors themselves, everybody wins.
It was a clean sweep for Pennsylvania. The Keystone State wrestlers won both team duals and the individual women's match as well.
During the undercard, Team WPIAL demolished Team Maryland, taking ten of the 12 individual bouts, winning 41-6.
In the marquee women's matchup, No. 2 Montana DeLawder (Gettysburg, PA) dominated the No. 1 Adrienna Turner (Davis, CA) through the first three minutes before earing the fall midway through the second frame.
In the main event, Team Pennsylvania narrowly edged out Team USA, 27-23, in a dual that came down to the final match. With that, Team Pennsylvania earned its first win against Team USA since the 2011 Classic. Team Pennsylvania won six of the 12 individual bouts.
Here are some takeaways from the night of all-star high school wrestling action.
- Notre Dame-Green Pound 120-pounder Brett Ungar is on fire. Over the last three weeks alone, he has taken out Gary Steen of Reynolds via a 3-1 decision at the state meet before winning by fall and stunning freshman phenom Mason Gibson of Bishop McCort in the PIAA state finals at the Giant Center Hershey, Pennsylvania. At The Classic, Ungar kept rolling, dethroning the nation's top 120-pound prospect in Richard Figueroa, who is a three-time champ out of California. A testament to Ungar's abilities, he now has state crowns in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two of the most challenging states for high school wrestling in the country. The lightweight appears to be hitting his stride when it matters most. The Cornell Big Red program is getting a good one in Ungar.
- It's no secret that the state of Pennsylvania is known to have the deepest pool of talent as far as high school wrestling talent is concerned. At PWC 47, the Pennsylvania teams and individual competitors did not leave any doubt of this aforementioned lofty assertion, earning a clean sweep when matched with other all-stars. Additionally, the WPIAL likely further cemented its standing as the best district within the Keystone State. Not only did Team WPIAL trounce a talented Team Maryland, winning ten of the 12 bouts, but Team Pennsylvania had six of its 12 competitors from PIAA's District 7 (WPIAL) hotbed. In the end, it was a massive showcase for the WPIAL as a whole. While the score may not show it, Team Maryland deserves credit for competing hard during a challenging season where it was hard to log both matches and time on the mats in the Maryland across the board.
- I hope the committee does not double-book any wrestlers at future PWC's as they did with Kyonte Hamilton. The big man from Maryland was the heavyweight for both Team Maryland and Team USA. However, he sustained an injury in the Team WPIAL vs. Team USA dual (it started at heavyweight). Any injury is unfortunate. But Team Pennsylvania heavyweight Nate Schon was negatively impacted by this. Due to the injury, Schon received a forfeit in his match during the main event. An exhibition match between Nate Schon (Team Pennsylvania) and Isiah Vance (Team WPIAL) was discussed but never materialled. Thus, Schon never took the mat at PWC. In the future, I would personally like to see no athlete be able to compete for two teams at this event. Another alternative option would be to bring at least one alternate per weight for when injuries arise.
- Let us give a round of applause to those who dethroned a No. 1 nationally-ranked foe on Friday. At 120, Ungar beat Figueroa. At 152, Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Team Pennsylvania) beat Victor Voinovich, the weight's top-rated wrestler out of Brecksville, Ohio (Team USA). The pair have likely not seen the last of each other either. Both Herrera-Rondon (committed to Oklahoma) and Voinovich (committed to Oklahoma State). Both wrestlers will be part of the Bedlam rivalry in the seasons to come. at 127, Montana DeLawder, who became the PIAAA's winningest female wrestler earlier this year for Gettysburg, took down the nation's top 127-pounder Adrienna Turner from Davis, CA, in what was one of the most dominant showings in the entire event. DeLawder's win avenges an earlier season defeat at the hands of Turner as well. DeLawder also made history by being the first woman to score points for Team Pennsylvania at the storied event.
- You have to give credit to the duo of future Iowa Hawkeye signees who wrestled one another in the final match of the Team Pennsylvania vs. Team USA dual when the meet was up for grabs. The matchup does make for some awkwardness, given that they are both just months away from sharing a wrestling room (and possibly being training partners) in Iowa City. With that, their willingness to scrap shows that wrestling against the best completion is their primary focus. With the win for Henson, he clinched the dual for Team Pennsylvania, which hasn't occurred since 2011. Wyatt and his father Sammie became the fifth father and son duo to win as competitors at The Classic.
- These are some of the most coveted wrestlers in the country. With that, they hold scholarship offers from the best wrestling programs and academic institutions in the country. Twenty-eight different colleges made the list of commitments, including three to the national champion Iowa Hawkeyes and a handful to other blueblood programs like Penn State, Oklahoma State, Arizona State. While it is no shocker to see some recruits flock to these historical programs, it is great to see a sizeable number of elite recruits heading to the Ivy League and Service Academy institutions. Brown had the most PWC commitments in the entire field with four. Numerous other Ivy's had future stars in action as well. At least three Service Academy's made the list as well. These competitors are the true definition of student-athletes. Also, it shows that it's not just the blue-chip programs that are trusted to produce NCAA and Olympic champs.
Once again, the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic produced another stellar all-star event. If history is any indication, there could have been as many as six or seven NCAA gold medalists in the field, plus numerous other future All-Americans. It will be fascinating to watch and see which of these participants go on to such high accolades at the next levels.
Event Results
Team WPIAL 41, Team Maryland 6
120: Cooper Flynn (MD) DEC Ethan Berginc (WPIAL), 3-1 SV
126: Carter Dibert (WPIAL) F Jabari Pickney (MD), 1:21
132: Ian Oswalt (WPIAL) DEC Nico D’amico (MD), 6-3
138: Kenny Duschek (WPIAL) DEC Matt Lawrence (MD), 2-1 TB2
145: John Altieri (WPIAL) DEC Damon Mcgee (MD), 3-0
152: Ty Linsenbigler (WPIAL) TF Michael Emerick (MD), 16-0 4:42
160: Cole Spencer (WPIAL) F Harrison Trahan (MD), 1:29
170: Sammy Starr (WPIAL) DEC James Conway (MD), 5-2
182: Trent Schultheis (WPIAL) DEC Gene Quodala (MD), 5-0
195: Liam Kammar (MD) DEC Justin Hart PA (WPIAL), 6-1
220: Logan Harmon (WPIAL) DEC Grant Warner (MD), 5-2
285: Isaiah Vance (WPIAL) F Kyonte Hamilton (MD), 3:41
Girls Card
127: Montana Delawder (PA) F Adrienna Turner (USA), 3:08
Team Pennsylvania 27, Team USA 23
120: Brett Ungar (PA) DEC Richard Figueroa II (USA), 5-2
126: Drake Ayala Fort Dodge, IA (USA) DEC Joey Fischer (PA), 7-3
132: Chance Lamer (USA) MD Dylan Chappell (PA), 12-4
138: Carter Young (USA) DEC Brock Mcmillen (PA), 3-1
145: Wyatt Henson (PA) DEC Caleb Rathjen Ankeny, IA (USA), 3-2
152: Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (PA) DEC Victor Voinovich (USA), 6-4
160: Enrique Munguia (USA) DEF Aj Corrado (PA), 9-1 3:11
170: Luca Augustine (PA) DEC Dillon Walker (USA), 5-3 SV
182: Peyton Craft Urbana, OH (USA) DEC Cael Crebs (PA), 7-2
195: Jaxon Smith (USA) MD Justin Hart PA (PA), 13-5
220: Jake Lucas (PA) DEC Emmanuel Skillings (USA), 11-4
285: Nate Schon (PA) DEF Kyonte Hamilton (USA), 0-0 0:00
Back to articles