After an additional week of practice between the District 6-AA Tournament, staged all in one weekend this year at the Altoona Fieldhouse, and the Southwest Regional, the five area wrestlers are getting their final workouts before this weekend’s Regional Tournament at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown.
Tyrone’s two district champs, T. J. Albright (112) and Robert Waite (119) and Bellwood-Antis’ three placewinners Eli Colyer (125), Rick Shawley (135) and Josh Ervine (140) will attempt to punch their tickets for the PIAA state championships on March 9-11, 2006, at the Giant Pavilion in Hershey.
With wrestlers coming together from Districts 5, 6 and 7, two of the three district champions will draw a bye in the preliminary round this Friday afternoon.
The opening round of wrestling will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, March, 3. The preliminaries will include 84 bouts. At approximately 5 p.m., the quarterfinals and consolation pigtail (28 bouts) rounds will kick off. Finally at about 8 p.m. the consolation preliminaries (56 bouts) will begin, with an estimated finish at about 10 p.m.
On Saturday, March 4, semifinals and consolation quarterfinals (56 bouts) will start at 12 Noon. Consolation semifinals (28 bouts) will begin at 2:30 p.m. Consolation finals and fifth place matches (28 bouts) will take place at 5:30 p.m. and championship finals (14 bouts) will start at about 7 p.m., with an estimated finish around 9 p.m.
Five wrestlers will advance to Hershey from each weight class.
Albright, a junior, who is 28-3, will wrestle freshman David Burrows (22-13) of Derry Area, the sixth place finisher from District 7, in the preliminary round with the winner advancing against the winner of a bout between senior Dustin Brodmerkel (38-4) the District 7 runner-up from South Side Beaver, and junior Jeremy Broadwater (25-10), of Berlin Brothersvalley, the third place finisher from District 5. Albright (98-29) needs two more wins to reach the 100-victory career mark.
Albright earned an eighth place medal at states as a freshman, but did not qualify for Regionals last year.
Waite, a senior, who is 36-4 (107-45 career), draws a bye through the preliminary round, then will wrestle the winner of a bout matching senior Vasily Ivashchenko (24-3) of South Park, the third place finisher from District 7, and junior Paul Myers (28-3) of Penn Cambria, the fifth place finisher from District 6.
For Waite, this will his third trip to Regionals, after going two and out both as a freshman in 2003 and last year as a junior.
Colyer, a senior, who finished fifth at districts, is 23-5, and will wrestle Highlands’ senior Ed Petrosky (33-5), the second place finisher from District 7, with the winner getting the winner of a bout between junior Josh Switzer (25-12) of Elderton, a fifth place finisher from District 7 and junior Dave Grove (25-12) of Mount Union, the District 6 runner-up. During the season, Colyer edged Grove 12-11 in the dual meet.
Shawley, a junior, who finished fourth at districts, is 23-7, and will face Burrell junior Devon Maloney (35-7), the second place wrestler from District 7. The winner of their match will wrestle the winner of a bout between District 6 runner-up Brandon Stranathan, a senior from Central Cambria, who is 26-12 and junior Vinnie DeStefano (23-22) of Charleroi, the sixth place finisher from District 7.
Ervine, a senior, who finished third at districts is 26-5, and will wrestle Mt. Pleasant senior Joe Geary (31-10), the fourth place medalist from District 7, with the winner facing District 5 champion Brent Willison (29-1), a senior from Hyndman.
