Franklin Regional heavyweight John Montgomery having successful offseason
Franklin Regional junior John Montgomery is looking to be the best heavyweight wrestler in the state. According to his high school coach, Matt Lebe, Montgomery’s love of wrestling drives him to work hard. That hard work is, obviously, paying off this offseason. He recently represented Pennsylvania on the 16U team...
Team PA enjoys historic success at freestyle national duals under Norwin coach Kyle Martin
For the first time, Pennsylvania swept the USA Wrestling Freestyle National Duals and Kyle Martin oversaw the whole thing. Jumping airplanes and bouncing from city to city made it a wild ride, but a worthwhile one. Martin, the Norwin head coach and PA Men’s Director of Freestyle and Greco Roman...
Fox Chapel notebook: Waller wrestling camp scheduled
Fox Chapel Area High School will host Rob Waller’s All-American Wrestling Club & Camp on June 15-19. The event, which will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday, is open to wrestlers from all school programs for all age and experience levels. The camp will feature coaches...
Penn-Trafford hires new wrestling, field hockey coaches
Penn-Trafford on Monday night hired new head coaches in wrestling and field hockey. Nate Smith was promoted from assistant to head wrestling coach, replacing Travis McKillop, who resigned after four seasons. Karlee Rubright, meantime, was named head field hockey coach. She takes the reins from accomplished veteran coach Cindy Dutt,...
Canon-McMillan’s Marlee Solomon headlines 2026 Trib HSSN girls wrestling all-star team
Girls Wrestler of the Year Marlee Solomon Canon-McMillan, jr., 118 pounds 2025-26 record: 38-0 Career record: 78-3 Canon-McMillan’s Marlee Solomon won her second consecutive PIAA and WPIAL titles this season. She dominated all four of her opponents in the 118-pound weight class at Hershey, including a 16-1 win over Shippensburg’s...
U.S. wins Pittsburgh Classic again, but WPIAL, Pennsylvania girls dominate
The United States All-Stars have dominated the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic since 2000. Including Saturday, the USA squad is 22-3. The last time Pennsylvania won was a 27-23 victory in 2021. This could have been a win for the Pennsylvania Stars at Peters Township’s AHN Arena if it had some of...
Dylan Barrett wraps up Penn-Trafford wrestling career with state medal
Dylan Barrett’s goal was to win a PIAA wrestling title. He came up a little short, but he finished fourth, his best result at the state tournament. He went 5-2 and finished his senior year 34-11 and his career with a 140-43 record. He finished seventh in 2025. Now he’s...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun leads 2026 Trib HSSN wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the Year Landon Sidun Norwin, jr., 121 pounds 2025-26 record: 51-1. Career record: 124-3. When Norwin junior Landon Sidun lost in the finals of the PIAA Class 3A West Regional, he did not pout. He addressed the media and talked about what he needed to do the next...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun leads 2026 TribLive Westmoreland County boys wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the Year Landon Sidun Norwin, jr., 121 pounds 2025-26 record: 51-1. Career record: 124-3. When Norwin junior Landon Sidun lost in the finals of the PIAA Class 3A West Regional, he did not pout. He addressed the media and talked about what he needed to do the next...
Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson headlines 2026 Valley News Dispatch boys wrestling all-stars
Wrestler of the year Mario Hutcherson Kiski Area, so., 189 pounds 2025-26 record: 48-1. Career record: 91-8. It didn’t take too long for sophomore Mario Hutcherson to be named the Valley News Dispatch’s wrestler of the year. Given his track record, his rise to stardom at the high school level...
Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown to represent WPIAL on Pennsylvania team at Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic
Two-time PIAA Class 3A 215-pound champion Elijah Brown was the only WPIAL wrestler named to the Pennsylvania team for the 52nd annual Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. The Pennsylvania squad will tangle with a talented United States squad at 6 p.m. March 28 at Peters Township’s AHN Arena. A team of WPIAL...
North Allegheny wrestler Bradyn McConneha caps ‘amazing’ run to state finals
“Big B” got an “A” this postseason. North Allegheny senior heavyweight Bradyn McConneha won sectional and regional titles and reached the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championship match — the first Tiger to advance that far in nearly a decade — to cap a stellar season. The 6-foot, 260-pound McConneha, called...
New Kensington grad Billy Clarke never planned on wrestling, but he made school history
Billy Clarke was caught off-guard when a coach asked him to join the New Kensington High School wrestling team as a sophomore. “At the time, I didn’t realize we even had a wrestling team,” said Clarke, a 1966 Ken High graduate. “I was walking through the hall, and Leonard Hoak,...
Sewickley Herald notebook: 3 Quaker Valley wrestlers make it to states
Three Quaker Valley wrestlers qualified for the PIAA Class 2A tournament off their performances at the Southwest Regional at Altoona. “Survive and advance. That’s the mindset we’ve been taking week by week,” QV coach Austin Heinl said. “We lost some tough matches and won some tough matches. It’s just another...
Norwin’s Landon Sidun, Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown win 2nd titles; Kiski Area, Connellsville wrestlers also take PIAA 3A gold
HERSHEY — There can be a lot of pressure on a wrestler going after a second PIAA wrestling title. There is a bull’s-eye on their chest, and they expect to get their opponent’s best. Norwin junior Landon Sidun and Belle Vernon senior Elijah Brown did not seem bothered by the...
Only WPIAL 2A finalist, Derry’s Mason Horwat, captures PIAA wrestling silver
HERSHEY — Mason Horwat’s dream of becoming Derry’s next PIAA champion will have to wait for another season. Horwat gave up a takedown in the second period and another in the third and dropped an 11-2 decision to Montoursville senior Gage Wentzel (49-2 this season, 188-32 all time), who was...
Canon-McMillan’s Marlee Solomon repeats, Mt. Lebanon, Moon wrestlers also claim PIAA girls gold
HERSHEY — Having one state gold medal in her collection already, there was only so much Marlee Solomon could do to top her previous achievements. But moving up a weight class, going undefeated and grabbing another state championship did just that. Solomon, a junior from Canon-McMillan, won the PIAA girls...
6 WPIAL wrestlers to go for gold at PIAA girls championships
HERSHEY — Six WPIAL wrestlers will be in the championship round of the PIAA girls wrestling tournament Saturday afternoon after recording victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals Friday at Giant Center. Of the semifinal wins, Ava Golding’s 18-0 tech fall victory over Laila Colon of Manheim Township in the 142-pound...
Connellsville’s Tommy Gretz spoils potential marquee rematch with upset win in PIAA Class 3A wrestling
HERSHEY — For those who were hoping for a Landon Sidun-Mateo Gallegos rematch in the 121-pound PIAA Class 3A wrestling championship finals, Connellsville junior Tommy Gretz ruined it. Gretz used a takedown in the first period and added another in the second period in an 8-6 shocker against Gallegos in...
Elijah Brown breaks Belle Vernon record; 10 from WPIAL reach PIAA Class 3A semifinals
HERSHEY – Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown has hardly broken a sweat in his two matches at the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships. He had a pin in 34 seconds Thursday and a 44-second technical fall Friday in the quarterfinals at a chilly Giant Center. Those two victories gave him the...
Derry sends 3 wrestlers to PIAA Class 2A semifinals
HERSHEY — It has been quite a season for the Derry wrestling program. And that trend continued Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 2A wrestling tournament at the Giant Center. Freshman Patrick Bulger (114 pounds) and juniors Mason Horwat (172) and Brady Brown (189) advanced to Friday...
Hempfield’s Nico Kapusta has eventful Day 1 at PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships
HERSHEY — Hempfield senior Nico Kapusta left the Giant Center on a stretcher Thursday during the opening day of the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships. He also got his first ambulance ride after being slammed in his first-round match. Kapusta was taken to Hershey Medical Center, where he was checked...
Patrick Bulger’s comeback win highlights strong Derry showing at PIAA wrestling championships
HERSHEY — Things did not look good for Derry freshman Patrick Bulger in his debut match at the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships Thursday. He trailed after one period, but he never lost confidence. He chipped away at the lead against Trinity (District 3) sophomore Cameron Smith. Once Bulger got...
20 WPIAL wrestlers march into quarterfinals at PIAA girls championships
HERSHEY — There’s a song that says the waiting is the hardest part. Tom Petty did not have the PIAA girls wrestling tournament in mind when he sang it, but it is nevertheless true for Moon’s Haley Smarsh. Smarsh had no problem recording her 13th consecutive pin Thursday afternoon at...
Plum’s Owen Campbell among A-K Valley wrestlers looking to go for gold at PIAAs
Owen Campbell checked a box on his senior-year goals list when he won his 100th match at the North Hills Duals in December. Another goal the Plum senior targeted was the 130-win mark, which would put him in even more select company on the Plum all-time wins list. He earned...
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