Governor Mifflin took second place and Exeter was fifth at the Berks Individual Wrestling Tournament that took place Jan. 10 and 11 at Reading High School. Daniel Boone finished in 10th place.
Individually local schools garnered six gold medals at the tournament. Winning gold were: Brett Kulp, Exeter; Zack Scheetz, Governor Mifflin; Ethan Stever, Exeter; Christian Fernandez, Daniel Boone; Jan Johnson, Governor Mifflin; and Keith Miller, Governor Mifflin.
Exeter head coach Jonathan Rugg was pleased with his team’s performance, and the fact that they improved on last year’s seventh place finish.
“I was very happy about the way our younger upper weights wrestled,’ said Rugg. “Unfortunately, as most coaches, I tend to look at what we could have done better. Fifth place is nice, but in the consi round right before the medal rounds, we had 10 kids wrestling, and only four of them won. Of the six matches we lost, four of them were by a single point. That was a very frustrating round for us as a team, and I hope that we learn what we need to do to pull out those close matches as we get closer to the post-season. If this round had gone better, we could have found ourselves in third or fourth place. We were also missing Austin DeSanto at 113, as he works back from an injury. He would have earned us a lot of points as well.’
The following are the local results from the tournament.106 pounds: Exeter’s Brett Kulp earned gold at this weight class, with Alex Centeno of Governor Mifflin taking third place.
After a first round bye, Kulp pinned Justin Heffner of Oley Valley in the quarterfinals in 42 seconds. In the semifinals, Kulp needed just 1:32 to pin Trevor Gimbor of Brandywine Heights. In the championship bout, Kulp earned a technical fall in 5:22 over Wilson’s Tyler Wilkies.
Centeno started his tournament with a first round bye. He then earned a 17-6 decision over Joel Orlando of Schuylkill Valley, before losing a 9-3 decision to Wilkes in the semifinals.
In the conso semifinals, Centeno decisioned Heffner, 14-6, then in the third place bout, defeated Gimbor, 10-9.
Daniel Boone’s Connor Spalding lost his first two bouts of the tournament.113 pounds: Zach Scheetz of Governor Mifflin took gold at 113. He began with a first round bye, then pinned Exeter’s Jake Hinkle in the quarterfinals in 3:55. In the semifinals, Scheetz defeated Jethro Solomon of Schuylkill Valley, 6-1, then in the championship bout, earned a 7-3 decision over Conrad Weiser’s Dylan Schoemaker.
Hinkle lost his first two bouts of his tournament.120 pounds: Owen Powell of Daniel Boone captured fourth place at this weight class, while Governor Mifflin’s Robbie Karmonick was sixth.
Powell got a bye to the first round, then earned a 6-5 victory over Tyler Bagoly of Exeter in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Powell dropped an 8-3 decision to Aaron Wildonger of Twin Valley.
In the conso semifinals, Powell pinned Karmonick in 1:53, the lost to Sean Stanish of Hamburg, 1-0 in the third place bout.
Kamonick decisioned Nick Ronco of Oley Valley in the first round, 7-1. He then lost a 5-0 decision to Stanish, sending Kamonick to the consolation bracket. There he pinned Nasir Combs of Wyomissing in 1:42, the defeated Wilson’s Francesca Giorgio of Wilson, 7-0.
After losing to Powell in the consolation semifinals, Kamonick lost the fifth place bout to Mason Shuman of Schuylkill Valley, 5-0.
Exeter’s Tyler Bagoly pinned his first round opponent, Combs, in 1:00, before losing to Powell in the quarterfinals. He then pinned Ronco in 59 seconds of his first consolation bracket bout, then lost to Shuman, 3-1.126 pounds: Tristan Watts of Exeter led the locals at 126 with a fourth place finish. Watts started by pinning Daniel Boone’s Zach Zumo in 3:43 of their first round bout. He then earned a 3-2 decision over Kerry mega of Hamburg, then lost to Daniel Grant of Twin Valley in the semifinals, 3-2.
In the conso semifinals, Watts downed Austin Weller of Brandywine Heights, 4-1, then lost the third place bout to Connor Moyer of Wilson, 4-1.
Governor Mifflin’s Allen Arentz earned a technical fall over Jason Kuskierz of Wyomissing in the first round, then was pinned in 1:19 by Grant in the quarterfinals. Arentz earned a 10-7 victory in his first consolation round bout over Danny Garcia of Reading, then lost a 6-2 decision to Mega.
After losing to Watts in the first round, Zumo pinned Alex Poposcu of Muhlenberg in 2:54 of their consolation round bout. He then lost a 4-0 decision to Dillon Kramer of Conrad Weiser.132 pounds: Governor Mifflin’s Colin Johnson was the only area place winner at this weight class, finishing in fifth place.
He began with a 4-3 decision over Lucas Reichard of Brandywine Heights, then lost to eventual champion Joey Fick of Oley Valley in the quarterfinals, 5-0. Then after gaining a forfeit in his first consolation bracket bout, Johnson earned a 4-2 decision over Morgan Quinn of Conrad Weiser. He followed that with a 3-1 loss to GAvin Arrendondo of Wyomissing, then defeated Tommy O’Brien of Wilson, 4-3 in the fifth place bout.
Exeter’s James Harkness pinned his first round opponent, Justin Wanner of Muhlenberg, in 2:49. He then lost a 12-2 decision to Chris Kummerer of Hamburg, before losing to O’Brien in his first consolation round bout, 5-0.138 pounds: Schott Baker of Exeter led the locals in this weight class with a sixth place finish. He began by pinning Nathan Bowman of Kutztown in 4:05 of their first round bout. He then lost to Angel Canala of Wyomissing in the quarterfinals, 5-3, sending Baker to the consolation round.
There he earned a 2-1 decision over Jake Horst of Schuylkill Valley, and a 4-2 decision over Tyler Davis of Reading. In the conso semifinals, Baker was pinned by Hamburg’s Nick Oswald in 4:15, then was pinned by Tulpehocken’s Colton Kessler in the fifth place bout.
Daniel Boone’s Joey Yohn won his first round bout, a 4-0 decision over Robert Foreman of Governor Mifflin. But in the quarterfinals, Yohn was pinned in 1:13 by Oswald. In the consolation bracket, Yohn pinned Eryk Janus of Conrad Weiser in 1:22, then was pinned by Kessler in 4:29 to end his tournament.
After losing to Yohn in the first round, Forman lost an 8-5 decision to Davis in his first consolation round bout.145 pounds: Ethan Stever of Exeter was a champion in this weight class, with Governor Mifflin’s Dillon James a fifth place winner.
After getting a bye in the first round, Stever pinned Oley Valley’s Jordan Randazzo in 4:51, then pinned Andrew Kochel of Hamburg in 1:19 in the semifinals. In the championship bout, Stever earned an 8-3 decision over Gage Griffith of Reading.
For James, he started with a first round 4-3 loss to Randazzo. But he fought his way back in the consolation round, winning 7-2 over Robbie Delong of Brandywine Heights, and 4-3 over Elijah Zimmerman of Schuylkill Valley.
He then lost a 5-1 decision to Kochel, sending him to the fifth place bout where he won by a forfeit.152 pounds: Governor Mifflin’s Dylan Harr was a fifth place finisher at this weight class. He opened with a first round by, then pinned Angel Arroyo of Reading in 2:31 of their quarterfinal round bout. In the semfinals, Haar lost to Parker Eidle of Wilson.
In the conso semifinals, Haar was defeated by Matt James of Hamburg, 6-2, sending him to the fifth place bout where he pinned Wyomissing’s Peter Bonino in 58 seconds.
Exeter’s Connor Wilinsky lost his first two bouts.160 pounds: Daniel Boone’s Christian Fernandez came away as the weight class champion, winning all three of his bouts. He started with a 25 second pin of Exeter’s Andrew Bennett in the quarterfinals. He then earned an 8-3 decision over Anthony Rivera of Reading in the semifinals. In the championship bout, Fernandez pinned Ben Maack of Governor Mifflin in 3:48.
Mack opened his tournament with a first round bye, then pinned Teddy Limberliou of Schuylkill Valley in 1:16. In the semfinals, Maack earned a 3-1 victory over Wilson’s Jake Yancey, before losing to Fernandez in the finals.
Bennett earned an 8-2 decision over Ronnie Lavigne of Hamburg in the first round, then lost to Fernandez in the quarterfinals. Bennett then pinned Cody Delong of Tulpehocken in the consolation round, before losing to Jarred Hardinger of Wyomissing, 2-1.170 pounds: Shayne Bookwalter of Daniel Boone finished in fourth place an Governor Mifflin’s Wilson Fontanex took fifth place.
Bookwalter began his tournament with a 13-1 quarterfinal round victory over Tyler Herber of Hamburg. But in the semifinals, Bookwalter was defeated, 6-2 by Shawn Kilhefner of Wyomissing.
That sent Bookwalter to the consolation semifinals where he defeated Fontanez, 19-8. In the third place bout, Bookwalter was pinned in 4:03 by David Abbadusky of Twin Valley.
Fontanez was a 9-3 loser to Adam Brown of Wilson in the quarterfinals, then opened the consolation round with a forfeit victory. Next was a pin in 4:41 of Evan McGarry of Exeter before losing to Bookwalter in the conso semifinals. In the fifth place bout, Fontanez earned an 8-7 victory over Tyler Herber of Hamburg.
McGarry pinned Joey Runkle of Schuylkill Valley in his opening round bout, but he was then pinned in 57 seconds by Abbadusky, sending him to the consolation bracket. There he needed just 52 seconds to pin Gabe Yerger of Kutztown, then lost to Fontanez.182 pounds: Exeter’s Scott Schaeffer took their place in this weight class, beginning with a 6-3 loss to Keaton Eidle of Wilson in the first round. In his first consolation round bout, Schaeffer won a 4-2 overtime victory over Colby Geisinger of Schuylkill Valley. He followed that with a 17-3 decision over Carlos Conde of Governor Mifflin, then he earned a 5-4 victory over Preston Hopkins of Twin Valley. That sent him to the third place bout where he defeated Reading’s Darren Pringle, 7-5.
After losing his first round bout to Pringle, Governor Mifflin’s Carlos Conde pinned Chris Eaton of Wyomissing in 2:28 in his first consolation round bout. He was then defeated by Schaeffer to end his tournament.
Daniel Boone’s Jeff Yohn lost his first two bouts of the tournament195 pounds: Jan Johnson of Governor Mifflin continued his dominance of the weight class by taking home a gold medal. Exeter’s Jon Greenleaf finished in sixth place.
Johnson’s first bout was a 39 second pin of Nate Fritz of Tulpehocken. In the semifinals, Johnson pinned Jonathan Tindall of Schuylkill Valley in just 48 seconds. In the championship bout, he earned an 11-3 decision over Austin Bashore of Hamburg.
Greenleaf was pinned in 2:47 by Kody Reichert of Kutztown in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, he pulled off a 1-0 victory over Steven Ortiz of Reading, then lost to Tindall in the conso semifinals. In the fifth place bout, Greenleaf lost a 6-5 decition to Reichert.
Carl Levengood of Daniel Boone lost his first two bouts of the tournament.220 pounds: Nolan Buck of Exeter led the local contingent at 220 with a fourth place finish. She started with a 5:16 pin of Michael Hubble of Brandywine Heights. In the quarterfinals, Schuylkill Valley’s Nick Scheidt defeated Buck, 7-6.
In the consolation bracket, Nolan started with a 2-0 victory over Tyler Moore of Conrad Weiser. Next was a 4-1 decision over Muhlenberg’s R.J. Walker. In the conso semifinals, Buck defeated Max Elliot of Twin Valley, 2-1, before losing a 4-3 decision to Scheidt in the third place bout.
Daniel Boone’s Mason Hoffman pinned his first round opponent, Todd Delong of Kutztown, in 3:56. He was then defeated by Max Elliot of Twin Valley, 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
In the consolation bracket, Hoffman won by a forfeit, then lost to Luke Kamp of Hamburg, 2-1.285 pounds: Governor Mifflin’s Keith Miller was the champion of this weight class. He pinned Kurt Gheer of Daniel Boone in 18 seconds of their quarterfinal round bout. Miller then defeated Madison Woodward of Wilson, 5-2, and defeated Robert Dunbar of Wyomissing in the championship bout, 2-1.
Exeter’s Oscar Daniels lost his first round bout, 3-2 to Robert Dunbar of Wyomissing. He came back in the consolation bracket to pin Gheer in 2:24, before losing a 6-0 decision to Blake Roberts of Hamburg.
Gheer earned a 3-2 victory over Sal Hatfield of Twin Valley in the first round, before losing to Miller and Daniels to end his tournament.
