Abington Heights junior Mason Whitney captured his third state medal, placing a career-best third in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Championships March 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Whitney recovered from a 1-0 loss to Altoona’s Braiden Weaver in the tournament opener to win six straight bouts, including avenging that loss. The third-place finish at 133 improves upon his seventh-place finish as a freshman and eighth-place finish as a sophomore.
The two-time District 2 champion and three-time district finalist finished the season 54-7, pushing his career mark to 137-22.
Whitney’s first four wins were two technical falls and a pair of major decisions as he outscored his opponents by a combined 53-4.
After winning the rematch with Weaver 3-2, Whitney defeated Nazareth’s Caleb Kosko 4-3 in the consolation final.
Abington Heights teammate Brady Full lost two close decisions and was eliminated.
Full fell to Trinity’s Dominick Canali 4-0 and Altoona’s Dekland Barr 2-1 at 127 pounds.
Abington Heights finished 42nd out of 121 teams with state qualifiers with 19 points.
Nazareth won the team title 84-68 over Notre Dame-Green Pond. The top four teams were all from the Northeast Region.
Girls
The first season of Abington Heights girls wrestling resulted in an individual state runner-up.
Freshman Hayden Manning reached the final and settled for second place at 155 pounds in the PIAA Championships in Hershey.
Manning finished the season at 34-3 with 23 pins and six technical falls.
The District 2 champion and Central Region third-place finisher, started with a pin then reached the final with two straight mamor decisions.
Violette Lasure from Chestnut Ridge pinned Manning in 4:48 of the final.
Manning scored 22 team points, leaving Abington Heights in 26th place out of 129 teams that qualified at least one wrestler for the state tournament.
Quakertown won the team title 76-68 over Mount Lebanon.
Lackawanna Trail tied for 76th with seven points as it also had a freshman, and its only entry, earn a state medal.
Cidney Schaffer took eighth at 100 pounds despite suffering her only three losses of the year in 16 bouts against girls competition.
Schaffer lost to Neshaminy’s Mia Nesbitt by pin in 3:06.
In the consolation bracket, Schaffer won her first two bouts by pin. The district and regional champion stopped Big Spring’s Charlotte Barrick in 2:38 and Central Dauphin’s Kate Hollinger in 3:40.
Kristen Walzer from Montour needed overtime to defeat Schaffer 3-0, dropping her into the seventh-place match where she was pinned.
