Haverford School’s Barlow cruises to semifinals

For the second year in a row, Haverford School’s L.J. Barlow is two wins from winning a championship at the National Prep School wrestling tournament at Lehigh University.

Barlow, the top seed at 195 pounds, won three matches Friday, all by fall, to advance to Saturday’s semifinals against fourth-seeded Mike Rogers of Wyoming Seminary. Barlow beat Rogers, 3-2, last week to win the PAISAA 195-pound title.

Barlow pinned Evan Lewis of Episcopal High School in Texas in 1:25 in his opening bout. He decked Mark Lisitano of Trinity-Pawling High School in New England in 36 seconds, and then dropped eighth-seeded Cannon Long of Metrolina Christian Academy in 5:22 in the quarterfinals.

While Barlow was the only Delco wrestler to advance to the second day of competition, he wasn’t the only one to enjoy success. Teammate Chauncey Simmons went 2-2 at 285 pounds. Fred Corradetti of The Haverford School was 2-2 at 120.

Julio delPeon and Anthony Cutrufello of Episcopal Academy both went 2-2, delPeon at 126 pounds and Cutrufello at 170.

If Barlow gets past Rogers, he will face the winner of the match between second-seeded Daniel Hawkins of Mount St. Joseph High School and unseeded Garrett Pfeiffer of the Gilman School. Barlow is going for his third straight top-four finish at national preps. He was fourth at 195 pounds last year and was third at 182 as a sophomore.