Austin Smith captured his fourth Class 3A gold medal while Abington Heights teammates Brian Heard and Caleb Marzolino each won their third in the District 2 Individual Wrestling Championships Feb. 23-24 at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
All three repeated by decisively handling their championship round opponents while leading the Comets to second place in the team standings just behind Wallenpaupack 206-204 in the 12-team field.
Smith rolled through the 152-pound bracket with two first-period pins, a second-period pin and then a technical fall over Delaware Valley’s Travis Walton 21-6 in 3:29.
Heard, a junior, has a chance to match that accomplishment next year after taking the 172-pound title with a 13-0 shutout of Colby Celuck. He made it to the final with two first-period pins.
Marzolino needed less than three minutes to pin his three opponents at 215, including just 57 seconds to beat Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler in the final.
Mason Whitney also reached the final for the Comets. He finished second at 121 after losing to West Scranton’s Tyson Cook 7-0. Whitney got to the final with two first-period pins and a technical fa4ll.
The Comets qualified eight wrestlers for the Northeast Regional with top-four district finishes.
John Gorrick pinned Wallenpaupack’s George Rafferty in 2:16 of the consolation final at 285 for third place.
Colin Price, at 160, also placed third when he beat West Scranton’s Mason Bennett 8-3.
Mark Lynett and Keith Yusinski placed fourth at 145 and 189.
Connor Beck and Luke Evans finished fifth at 107 and 133.
CLASS 2A
Scranton Prep and Lackawanna Trail finished fourth and fifth out of 16 teams in Class 2A.
Honesdale beat out Berwick 205-204 for the team title. Western Wayne was third with 186½. Scranton Prep finished fourth with 107 points, one-half point in front of Lackawanna Trail.
Lackawanna Trail had three runner-up finishes while Scranton Prep had two.
Garet Fowler (145), Isaac Ryon (160) and Demetrius Douglas (172) were Trail’s second-place finishers. Fowler lost in overtime in the final and Douglas also dropped a two-point decision.
Scranton Prep’s Louis Paris and Max Shnipes finished second in the two heaviest weight classes, 215 and 285.
The top four in each weight class advanced to the Northeast Regional.
Scranton Prep’s Jake Barrett was third at 127.
Brayden Clarke (121) and Kaylix Douglas (215) advanced for the Lions with fourth-place finishes.
Lackawanna Trail’s Matthew Shafer (107) and Scranton Prep’s Jack Doughton (160) finished fifth while Scranton Prep’s Aidan Busacco (152) and David Geyfman (189) were sixth.