Abington Heights junior 133-pounder Mason Whitney placed second in his weight class in the 57-team Coal Cracker Invitational, which was conducted Jan. 23-24 at Lehighton High School.
Whitney led the way as Abington Heights finished sixth in the tournament with 139½ points. Faith Christian Academy ran away from second-place Germantown Academy 265½-166½ for the team title.
The Comets had four wrestlers finish in the top six of their weight classes.
Whitney, who has the team’s best record at 40-4, was defeated 4-0 by Faith Christian’s Freddy Bachmann in the championship round. The two-time state medalist pinned his first two opponents in less than a minute, followed it up with two straight technical falls, then won a major decision over Drew Scherer from Boiling Springs 14-2 in the semifinals.
Brady Full decisioned Dominic Lucian from Salesianum School in Delaware 5-1 in the consolation final to take third place at 127.
Full used two pins and two technical falls to reach the semifinals, where he suffered his only loss of the tournament to C.J. Caines of Hanover Area in the ultimate tiebreaker.
Lucas Drake, at 152, and Frank Scialpi, at 215, each finished sixth.
Mid-Winter Mayhem
Whitney was also the top Abington Heights finisher Jan. 9-10 in the Mid-Winter Mayhem at the Kovalchick Convention Complex on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Abington Heights was 20th out of 57 teams with the help of Whitney placing third at 133.
Whitney reached the semifinals with four straight technical falls, the first three of which took 2:37 or less for him to score opponents by a total of 57-6. After a 1-0 loss to Trinity’s William Detar in the semifinals, Whitney won two straight decisions. He won by a major decision of 12-2 over Hickory’s Brady Slicker in the third-place match.
Dakota Sandy decisioned West Allegheny’s Lucas Carson 11-5 in the bout to decide seventh place at 114.
Abington Heights finished with 81½ points. Bishop McCort won the team title with 201½ while Chestnut Ridge was second with 162½.
Southern Tier Memorial
Lackawanna Trail finished 22nd and Scranton Prep was 25th out of 38 teams in the tournament at the LECOM Event Center in Elmira, N.Y. Jan. 9-10.
Bellefonte won the tournament with 208 points, 20½ ahead of second-place Penns Valley. Lackawanna Trail had 56½ points and Scranton Prep had 43½.
Mark Rebmann finished third at 144 and Riley Borruso was seventh at 132 for Lackawanna Trail.
Rebmann won a major decision over Chambersburg’s Justin Deneen 19-7 in the third-place bout. Borruso defeated Rocco Franchi from Thomas A. Edison in New York 9-6 for seventh place.
Rebmann got to the semifinals with three straight pins, then recovered from his only loss with two straight major decisions.
Jake Barrett, at 138, and Jordan Henning, at 285, placed sixth to lead Scranton Prep.
