Sirianni
Senior 107-pounder Luke Sirianni wrapped up his Abington Heights wrestling career in the state championship match March 11 at The Giant Center in Hershey.
Sirianni brought home a silver medal in Class 3A from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Championships, the best finish by a District 2 wrestler in the large school classification this season.
Teammate Caleb Marzolino added a state medal for placing eighth at 189 pounds.
Sirianni reached the final by winning three decisions in the three-day tournament. He posted a 15-5 major decision over Hickory’s Brody Bishop before getting past Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko, 4-3, in the quarterfinals and Pennridge’s Colby Martinelli, 10-5, in the semifinals.
Connor Dillard from team champion Bethlehem Catholic defeated Sirianni, 7-1, in the final.
Sirianni got a head start toward the final by earning a preliminary round bye with his Northeast Regional performance.
Marzolino took the long route to the state medal.
Following a 10-5 loss to Chambersburg’s Aiden Hight in the preliminary round, Marzolino won three straight bouts in the consolation rounds to clinch a top-eight finish.
Marzolino pinned Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion in 2:28, defeated Strath Haven’s Sam Milligan, 6-4, then beat Whitehall’s Melquan Warren, 8-4. He then lost by pin and a 3-0 shutout to finish eighth.
Austin Smith, at 139 pounds, and Brian Heard, at 152, each went 1-2 and were eliminated before reaching the top eight in the 20-man brackets.
Smith lost one- and three-point decisions.
Heard lost a pair of two-point decisions, one of them in overtime.
Abington Heights wound up 18th in the team scoring of the 111 teams that qualified at least one Class 3A wrestler for the state tournament.
Bethlehem Catholic won with 139 points. Abington Heights scored 32.
Sirianni finished 43-4 on the season. He was 132-27 in a career that produced three state medals, three district titles and three regional runner-up finishes.
NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Sirianni placed second at 107 pounds to lead Abington Heights to fifth place in the Northeast Regional at Bethlehem Liberty March 3-4.
Dillard shut out Sirianni, 8-0, in the regional final in a preview of their state final a week later.
Sirianni made it to the championship match with a quarterfinal technical fall and a 51-second pin in the semifinals.
Abington Heights wrestlers went 5-1 in the last two rounds of consolations with the only loss coming in overtime.
Marzolino posted pins in both to finish third at 189 pounds.
Heard had back-to-back shutouts to also take third.
Smith had a 30-second pin in the consolation semifinals before taking fourth with the overtime loss in the final.
Brady Kareha (114), Luke Evans (127) and Sam Stevens (145) all won by falls before being eliminated. Kareha and Evans had pins in the first round and Kareha also won by pin in consolations. Stevens won by technical fall in his first consolation bout.
