Restrictions and seeds
The plan was to blog from the WPIAL Class AA Wrestling Championships at Chartiers Valley. The school offers wireless access but restrictions go along with the hookup. One is access to blogs. Ah, well.
The first round of the tournament might have seemd like an upset-filled event because a lot of third- and fourth-seeded wrestlers lost. But that wasn't really the case. The seeding process for this event left wrestlers with some underwhelming records seeded third or fourth. The reason was the WPIAL seeded only the top two wrestlers in each weight, then used a predetermined bracket to fill in the rest.
That made for some bizarre placements. Maybe the strangest was at 145 pounds, easily the weakest of the tournament. Alex Kowalski of Valley was the fourth seed, despite a 13-19 record. Montana Trombetta of Carlynton, who got into the tournament midweek because Rich Trybend of Chartiers-Houston pulled out, made it to the semifinals.
Also, Nick Carr of South Fayette was in the pigtails, despite a 26-4 record. No matter: he made it to the semifinals, outscoring opponents 26-9 in two bouts.
Other underwhelming seeds included Andrew Henkel of Southmoreland, who was fourth at 160 with a 15-11 record; and Anthony Deni of Jeannette, who was third seed with a 19-9 record. He was beaten by Fort Cherry's Corey Garry 7-2 and fell into the consolation round.
The bottom bracket of the heavyweight class had four wrestlers with 25 or more victories. The way it worked out, either Zach Doman (26-8) of Jefferson-Morgan or Tyrone Ezell (25-8) will not advance because they wrestle in an early consolation round.
The fastest pin of the night went to James Miller of Jefferson-Morgan, who disposed of Jeremy Keenan of Steel Valley in 19 seconds.
Nine of the top-seeded wrestlers had pins in the quarterfinals, four of them coming in under a minute.
Best headgear toss of the night went to Jordan McKenzie of Center, who was pinned by Josh Bickerstaff of Mt. Pleasant in 3:56. McKenzie, who led most of the match, fired the headgear into the emergency exit doors at Chartiers Valley.
Top-seed Ryan Watson of Burgettstown stormed into the locker room after his match, unhappy about something. Could it be his wrestling? Doubt it. He took a 17-1 technical fall over Brandon Epps of Summit Academy at 215.
I can't remember the last time the WPIAL used Chartiers Valley for a postseason wrestling tournament. It should be a regular venue for the sport because it's 25 minutes from everywhere.
The first round of the tournament might have seemd like an upset-filled event because a lot of third- and fourth-seeded wrestlers lost. But that wasn't really the case. The seeding process for this event left wrestlers with some underwhelming records seeded third or fourth. The reason was the WPIAL seeded only the top two wrestlers in each weight, then used a predetermined bracket to fill in the rest.
That made for some bizarre placements. Maybe the strangest was at 145 pounds, easily the weakest of the tournament. Alex Kowalski of Valley was the fourth seed, despite a 13-19 record. Montana Trombetta of Carlynton, who got into the tournament midweek because Rich Trybend of Chartiers-Houston pulled out, made it to the semifinals.
Also, Nick Carr of South Fayette was in the pigtails, despite a 26-4 record. No matter: he made it to the semifinals, outscoring opponents 26-9 in two bouts.
Other underwhelming seeds included Andrew Henkel of Southmoreland, who was fourth at 160 with a 15-11 record; and Anthony Deni of Jeannette, who was third seed with a 19-9 record. He was beaten by Fort Cherry's Corey Garry 7-2 and fell into the consolation round.
The bottom bracket of the heavyweight class had four wrestlers with 25 or more victories. The way it worked out, either Zach Doman (26-8) of Jefferson-Morgan or Tyrone Ezell (25-8) will not advance because they wrestle in an early consolation round.
The fastest pin of the night went to James Miller of Jefferson-Morgan, who disposed of Jeremy Keenan of Steel Valley in 19 seconds.
Nine of the top-seeded wrestlers had pins in the quarterfinals, four of them coming in under a minute.
Best headgear toss of the night went to Jordan McKenzie of Center, who was pinned by Josh Bickerstaff of Mt. Pleasant in 3:56. McKenzie, who led most of the match, fired the headgear into the emergency exit doors at Chartiers Valley.
Top-seed Ryan Watson of Burgettstown stormed into the locker room after his match, unhappy about something. Could it be his wrestling? Doubt it. He took a 17-1 technical fall over Brandon Epps of Summit Academy at 215.
I can't remember the last time the WPIAL used Chartiers Valley for a postseason wrestling tournament. It should be a regular venue for the sport because it's 25 minutes from everywhere.
posted by Joe Tuscano at
10:14 PM
2 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe, I agree about using CV as a venue. The WPIALS in AAA have never been the same since they left CV. Robert Morris was OK but still nothing like CV. The other places they have used, I think Norwin and Ringgold, plain stink! Maybe it's me getting old but I don't go anymore partly because of the venue and partly because wrestling just isn't the same anymore. There simply aren't as many good wrestlers as there used to be. The rivalries, the rabid fans, the charged atmosphere just doesn't exist now.
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