Three Tyrone wrestlers were rewarded for their season-long performances at the District VI-AA seeding meeting held at Tyrone on Tuesday night.
T. J. Albright (103), Thad Westley (135) and Terry Tate (275) were all awarded the top seed at their respective weight class.
Heath Walk is seeded second at 171. Dane McCloskey (130) and Brice Mertiff (152) are deeded fourth. David Miller is seeded fifth at 140. Sam McCloskey is seeded eighth at 125, to give the Golden Eagles nine wrestlers in the top eight seeds in the Double-A class of 24 schools.
Five Tyrone wrestlers qualified for the Regional Tournament at UPJ in 2003. Westley became the first Eagle to claim a district championship since 1993, Tate finished third, Miller was fourth and Mertiff and Waite finished fifth.
“We kind of knew that this would be coming,” explained Tyrone coach Blair Packer. “We had that kind of a year. The kids have bumped everything up a notch in terms of intensity and earned the spot that they are in. Our goal then, other than our three first seeds is to do better than the seed in the weight classes that we can.”
Tyrone has gone in search of the best competition this wrestling season. The Golden Eagles wrestle their usual tough schedule of dual meets, plus attending the Sheetz Tournament at Penn Cambria High School (26 teams), the King of the Mountain Tournament at Central Mountain High School (32 teams) and the Eastern States Tournament in New York (37 teams) featuring schools from six different states, as well as the local 10-team Zeigler Chevrolet Tournament composed of teams from schools in Blair and Huntingdon counties.
“I think that is the whole idea about what the season is all about,” said Packer. “This is when it counts. The post season tournament is what we prepare for. You try to hunt the best competition, and hopefully you get it which will prepare us for this post season.”
Albright (30-9) will open his first district tournament wrestling the winner of a Kelley Strouse (Penns Valley)/Eric Wheeler (Somerset) pigtail match. Strouse (6-18) is the 16th seed and Wheeler (5-16) is the 17th seed. The Eagle ninth grader has wrestled Strouse twice, pinning him in 0:46 of the opening round of the Sheetz Holiday Tournament at the beginning of the season and then decking him at the 5:27 mark during the dual meet after building up a 9-0 lead.
“T. J. has been a pleasant, although I can’t say a big surprise,” emphasized Packer. “He has done his homework and paid his dues. Fortunately he is young, but he has come through for us this year. You just couldn’t ask for anything more out of him.”
Westley (29-4), a number one seed for the second straight year will get the winner of the pigtail involving John Lidwell (Penn Cambria) and Jaime Laing of Glendale. Lidwell (7-18) is the 17th seed and Laing (3-4) is the 16th seed. Westley along with Terry Tate qualified for the PIAA state Tournament in 2003 after falling one win short at regionals as a sophomore. Thad enters the district tournament with 117 career wins, increasing the Tyrone career record with every victory after passing two-time PIAA state champion Bruce Wallace (111) during the State Team Dual competition at the end of January.
“What can you say about Thad, that hasn’t already been said,” questioned Packer? “He has been a leader all along on an outstanding team. He is an outstanding wrestler on an outstanding team. Right now it’s just a matter of him fulfilling some of the goals he has put down for himself that are upcoming here in these post season tournaments.”
Terry Tate (33-1) is the top seed for the district tournament and is also ranked number one in the state in Class-AA according to Off the Mat rankings. Tate who was a number three seed last year and who finished third, qualified for states in 2003 and won a match in Hershey. Terry, a junior, will wrestle the winner of the 275-pound pigtail bout matching Rob Flecker (Richland) and Brian Burket (Central). Flecker (7-14) is the 17th seed and Burket (7-14) is the 16th seed.
“Being a junior, he has a tale to tell,” said Packer. “He’s just getting started. He went to states last year and won a match. This year it looks like it’s going to take someone really tough to beat him this year.”
Sophomore Heath Walk (17-5) picks up a number two seed in his first experience as a varsity wrestler. Walk will wrestle the winner of the 171-pound pigtail involving John Starr of Mount Union and Rich Oslosky of Ligonier Valley. Starr is 7-5 as the number 15 seed, while Oslosky is 5-13 and is seeded 18th. Walk has faced Starr twice, winning by a 14-2 major decision at the Zeigler Tournament and edging the Trojan senior 5-3 in the dual meet.
“Heath is another one who has come off the junior high program that has really filled in a weight class aptly,” said Packer. “With his seed and weight class, if he holds up, it looks like he should be able to pull a spot into the regionals.”
Dane McCloskey (27-6) is the number four seed at 130. The Tyrone senior was also seeded fourth in 2003, but did not place. McCloskey will wrestle the winner of the pigtail between Arnold Bernard of Forest Hills and Matt Kemock of Central Cambria. Bernard (8-10) is the 13th seed and Kemock (6-17) is the 20th seed. Dane already owns a win over Kemock in the recent District Team Dual Tournament pinning the Red Devil senior in 0:54.
“He didn’t make it out of districts last year, but I think this year is Dane’s year,” said Packer. “He has some goals he wants to fulfill as a senior.”
Junior Brice Mertiff (13-5) got a late start to his 2003-04 wrestling season, spending all of December and the early part of January recovering from a football injury suffered in the Eagles PIAA Western quarterfinal game against Slippery Rock. Mertiff was a second seed as a sophomore in 2003, but had to fight for his life, winning a fifth place consolation match to take the final qualifying spot for regionals. Brice will wrestle the winner of the John Fiorilli (Blairsville)/Ben Lenhart (Ligonier Valley) pigtail. Fiorilli (5-18) is the 13th seed and Lenhart (4-14) is the 20th seed.
Sophomore Robert Waite (23-12) is the number six seed. He will wrestle Brandon Lefort (14-8) of West Branch, the 11th seed at 112. Like Mertiff, Waite had to win a fifth-place consolation final in the 2003 district tournament to qualify for states after being an eighth seed a year ago.
Junior David Miller (20-7) is a fifth seed, who will wrestle the winner of a pigtail involving Liam Flynn (1-13), a 10th seed from Bellwood-Antis and 11th seed Glenn Werner (10-8) from Southern Huntingdon. Miller hasn’t wrestled a match in a month and Packer is a bit worried about his stamina. Miller was a third seed last year, who qualified for regionals with a fourth place finish.
“Those three guys are hard workers, underclassmen two juniors and a sophomore,” said Packer. “I know that they have been to the regionals and with that experience, I have every reason to believe that will get back to regionals this year.
Sam McCloskey (17-12) , the eighth seed at 125, will wrestle Claysburg-Kimmel’s Aaron Dorobo (16-11), the ninth seed, in the first round. A sophomore wrestling varsity for the first time, Sam pinned Doroba in 0:55 in the district team dual finals. McCloskey started slowly, going below .500, before winning 11 of his final 13 regular matches to earn a spot on Tyrone’s Murderers’ Row from 125 through 152 in the lineup.
“Lately Sam been stepping it up,” explained Packer. “At the beginning of the season, he was questioning himself whether he would able to fill in the spot on varsity. Somewhere along the line he made a turn and decided he was going to prepare himself. That’s what he has been doing. He’s been working hard, Sam is one of our harder workers. He doesn’t complain. He does what he has to do knowing full well that’s what is going to get him where he wants to go.”
In addition to the high seeds, the Eagles also are represented at 119, where number 15 seed sophomore Josh Hunter (9-17) will wrestle a pigtail match against number 18 seed Andy Ritchey (7-17) of Claysburg-Kimmel, 145, with Tyrone sophomore Matt Lauder (1-25) the 20th seed will face United sophomore Zach Stefanko (11-17), the 13th seed, 160 where Tyler Updike (0-5), a number 20 seed sophomore will battle Richland sophomore Matt Houck (7-5), a number 13 seed and at 215, senior Justin Clark (8-19) the 19th seed will wrestle Juniata Valley sophomore Matt Morrison (9-5) the number 14 seed.
