MALVERN >> Amidst all the chaos — frantic scrambles, emotional coaches’ corners, a passionate crowd — there rose Malvern Prep’s Dalton Harkins, quietly and calmly.
In arguably the most tense finals of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools wrestling tournament at Malvern, Saturday, it was Harkins’ cool, collected demeanor that led him to a dramatic victory, and an underwhelming reaction.
“My cousin (Mike McCorkle) told me people who celebrate didn’t expect to win,” Harkins said. “I expected to win the whole match and kept my head in the game and it ended up working out my way.”
Harkins (138 pounds) was one of six Friars to reach the finals, as Malvern finished second to Wyoming Seminary in the team standings, but the junior was the lone champion.
Against Miers, who is ranked No. 10 in the country on flowrestling.org, Harkins fended off the former Easton star’s shots and countered one for a takedown in sudden victory, but it was ruled after the buzzer.
They went to tiebreaker, and after Harkins escaped in the first 30-second period, he was able to ride out Miers to survive, 2-1. For his efforts, Harkins was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
Malvern Prep’s Dalton Harkins (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
“It’s all about the mat returns,” Harkins said. “When you get them returned, it breaks them. I’m not sure if it broke (Miers), but it definitely set him back a little bit.”
Harkins and the other top-six finishers qualified to the National Prep tournament at Lehigh University next Friday and Saturday.
“After losing in the semifinals last year, I set a goal to be a national prep champ,” Harkins said. “I’ve been working towards that all year.”
A dozen Friars reached nationals with top four finishes, while Westtown School sent four and Phelps School advanced one.
Dayton DelViscio (113) was the first from Malvern to reach finals, but he was on the wrong side of a pair of takedowns against Sem’s Troy Spratley, who’s ranked No. 14 on flo, 5-2.
Freshman Jack Wehmeyer (132) knocked off second-seeded Mark Fasciocco of Germantown Academy, 7-1, in the semifinals, but ran into the No. 5 (flo) kid in the country, Beau Bartlett of Sem, who cruised, 18-5.
“It was a great experience,” Wehmeyer said. “(Bartlett) is a really good wrestler, and I’ll try to take what he does and input it into my gameplay and style.”
Malvern Prep’s Dayton DelViscio (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
A month ago, freshman Andrew Connolly (152) was a backup, but due to an injury to senior Henry Hague, Connolly ended up pinning his way to the finals. There he got a taste of his own medicine against Sem’s Benny Baker, but like Wehmeyer, it was a building block for the future.
“I started off the year as a JV wrestler, so to end up in the state finals is really cool,” Connolly said. “It’s a great experience for me. Unfortunately it happened because of an injury.”
Malvern Prep’s Jack Wehmeyer (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Senior Nick Florschutz earned his fourth state medal after finishing runner-up at 195. After wrestling 182 all season, the Coatesville native bumped up for the postseason in an effort to help the Friars fare better at nationals.
“I’m happy with (second) because I wrestled hard, but it’s not what I came here for,” Florschutz said. “It gave me some things to work on and get ready for next week.”
Florschutz is one of two seniors who will head to Lehigh, along with fellow runner-up Harry Stinger (220). As the elder statesman of the team, Florschutz will cap a very successful career at Malvern.
“I never thought about it much until now,” Florschutz said. “This will be the last time I get to roll around with my team and my buddies, so I’m just going to let it fly.”
Malvern Prep’s Nick Florschutz (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Placing third for Malvern was Kyle Matheus (106), James Toal (126), Caden Rogers (145), Nick Feldman (160) and Owen Vietmeier (170), while Jake Kroger (120) took fourth.
Westtown had three fourth-place finishers — Ethan Kisiel (106), Mohammad Mustafa (113) and JP Lisi (152) — and Griffin Hankin took sixth at 126.
For Mustafa, it’s been a long journey, literally and figuratively, in his run to nationals as a senior.
“For me, I couldn’t believe it,” Mustafa said. “I’m from Saudi Arabia and started boarding (at Westtown) last year. I didn’t really even know what wrestling was. I was 0-2 at states last year, so to come back and place fourth, I didn’t realize how much I’ve grown over the last year. I was in shock.”
Westtown’s Mohammad Mustafa (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Lisi, a fellow senior, knocked off two opponents who beat him earlier in the season to clinch his first trip to nationals.
“To get fourth is huge,” Lisi said. “I came in thinking maybe I’d take sixth and hopefully punch my ticket to natties, but to climb the podium and take fourth is huge. When I started wrestling in eighth grade, getting to nationals by my senior year was the end goal, and to finally punch that ticket, I was so happy.”
Earning a trip to Lehigh for Phelps was Scott Gilman, who was sixth at 145.
Starting the finals off at 106, was Hill School’s Jacob Craig, who shook off an early takedown to claim gold over Wyoming Seminary’s Nick Fea, 8-3.
Hill School’s Jacob Craig (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
“I thought before the match, it didn’t matter if (Fea) got one or two takedowns, I was still going to win,” Craig said. “When he got the first one it fueled me more. I wanted to get out and win this and that’s what happened.”
Sam Beckett (fourth at 138), William Henricksen (sixth at 220) and Luke Cawley (sixth at 285) will be joining Craig at nationals next week with top-six finishes. Craig is hoping he will find his way to the top of the podium at Lehigh University, as well.
“I looking forward to it,” Craig said. “I love the competition. I find the competition fun and I think that’s what allows me to wrestle so well. I want to win a national title and that is my mindset, to win.”
Hill School’s Sam Beckett (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Team Standings
- Wyoming Seminary, 371.5; 2. Malvern Prep, 250.5; 3. Germantown Academy, 180.5; 4. Penn Charter, 126.5; 5. Episcopal Academy, 105.5; 6. Springside-Chestnut Hill Academy, 95.5; 7. Westtown, 93.5; 8. Western Reserve Academy, 93; 9. Friends’ Central, 87.5; 10. The Hill School, 76; 18. Phelps School, 15.
Championship Finals
106- Craig (Hill School) dec. Fea (Wyoming Seminary), 8-3
113- Spratley (Wyoming Seminary) dec. DelViscio (Malvern Prep), 5-2
120- Kim (Germantown Academy) inj. def. McNeil (Wyoming Seminary)
126- Munch (Wyoming Seminary) tech. fall Colman (Germantown Academy), 4:00
132- Bartlett (Wyoming Seminary) maj. dec. Wehmeyer (Malvern Prep), 18-5
138- Harkins (Malvern Prep) dec. Miers (Wyoming Seminary), 2-1 TB
145- Kievman (Wyoming Seminary) dec. Bryant (Wester Reserve), 6-5
152- Baker (Wyoming Seminary) pinned Connolly (Malvern Prep), 4:16
160- Stefanowicz (Wyoming Seminary) dec. Dunbar (Mercersburg), 3-0
170- Rees (Wyoming Seminary) maj. dec. Barnes (Mercersburg), 11-1
182- Roberts (Wyoming Seminary) pinned Hare (Germantown Academy), :58
195- Cooley (Wyoming Seminary) dec. Florschutz (Malvern Prep), 3-1
220- Kaminski (Wyoming Seminary) pinned Stinger (Malvern Prep), 4:44
285- Leyland (Wyoming Seminary) pinned Dybalski (Academy of the New Church), 3:13
Consolation Finals
106- K. Mathues (Malvern Prep) tech. fall Kisiel (Westtown), 4:33
113- McGrath (Germantown Academy) pinned Mustafa (Westtown), 5:12
120- Anderson (Penn Charter) maj. dec. Kroger (Malvern Prep), 13-0
126- Toal (Malvern Prep) dec. Kioko (Germantown Academy), 10-3
132- Fasciocco (Germantown Academy) dec. Purcell (Chestnut Hill), 3-0
138- Duthie (Germantown Academy) dec. Beckett (Hill School), 2-1
145- Rogers (Malvern Prep) inj. def. Allen (Germantown Academy)
152- Snider (Friends’ Central) maj. dec. Lisi (Westtown), 16-6
160- Feldman (Malvern Prep) tech. fall Giuffrida (Penn Charter), 4:10
170- Vietmeier (Malvern Prep) dec. Ressler (Western Reserve), 5-4
182- Neveroski (Chesnut Hill) dec. Rosenberger (Haverford), 4-3
195- Levans (Germantown Academy) pinned Derkotch (Penn Charter), 2:59
220- LaBrosse (Western Reserve) dec. McGlinchey (Penn Charter), 5-3
285- Adubofour (Haverford) dec. McLaughlin (Episcopal), 7-3
