Ranked No. 10 nationally, Canon-McMillan, Pa., entered this past weekend's Class AAA WPIAL tournament the clear favorites to earn a fourth consecutive title -- even without the presence of Solomon Chishko, one of the nation's best juniors who has been out all season due to injury sustained in the Super 32 Challenge final. However, their finals match against Franklin Regional, Pa., would be a nail-biter.
With the dual meet starting at 126 pounds, it was right in the Franklin Regional wheelhouse. No. 5 Michael Kemerer opened the proceedings for the Panthers with a 20-5 technical fall, which was replicated by Connor Schram for the Big Macs at 132 pounds. Shifting their other three middle-weight stars up a weight class, Franklin Regional opened up a 17-5 lead after 152 pounds with a 15-0 technical fall from senior Tyler Smith, 6-0 decision from sophomore Josh Maruca, and 13-4 major decision from No. 13 (at 145) Josh Shields.
Canon-McMillan would respond back with victories in four of the next five matches to tie the dual meet at 20-20, which included some interesting lineup shifts from the Big Macs. No. 2 (at 170) Cody Wiercioch weighed in at 182 for the match, but would wrestle in the 195-pound weight class and secure bonus points. They also flipped their normal 285-pound wrestler Angelo Broglia, and he was able to get a 6-3 victory at 220 pounds.
However, the hopeful Big Macs' residual for that would have been for No. 15 (at 220) Alex Campbell to compliment the win at 220 with a win of his own. That plan was derailed by Super 32 runner-up Luke Fleck, who in his first major week of competition since missing the bulk of the season with injury, upended Campbell by 3-2 decision to give the Panthers a 23-20 lead. Brendan Price gave Canon-McMillan their first lead of the dual meet with a 15-0 technical fall at 106 pounds.
The next match saw Franklin Regional regain the lead at 26-25 after Kyle Berk's 10-8 decision victory over Josh Minor to set up the last match heroics of No. 12 Dalton Macri, who earned a fall at the minute mark to give the Big Macs the 31-26 victory.
Friday night's semifinal rounds saw Canon-McMillan outlast Kiski Area for a 36-24 victory, and Franklin Regional upend North Allegheny 28-27 for their victory and first-ever appearance in the WPIAL team finals. The Panthers' performance this weekend, in conjunction with the return of Luke Fleck to the lineup and performance of their four stars in the middle, see them jump back into the Fab 50 team rankings at No. 35.
The week ahead in state championships
Individual bracket championship tournaments will be held in Arizona, Montana, and Nevada. Dual meet events will be held in Maryland, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
The Oklahoma dual meet championships will be held at Cushing High School for Class 3A and 4A (smaller-schools), and at Claremore High School for Class 5A and 6A (bigger-schools). Both tournaments will be on Saturday, and start with preliminary rounds being held at 10 a.m. and noon CT; semifinals at 2 p.m., followed by championship bouts at 6:30 p.m.
In the 6A tournament, No. 25 Broken Arrow and No. 30 Edmond North are the top squads in each half of the draw. 6A Bracket
No. 12 Collinsville is the favorite in the Class 5A Bracket.
No. 41 Tuttle is the favorite in the Class 4A Bracket.
Class 3A Bracket
A preview for the Pennsylvania Class AAA and Class AA dual meet tournaments is being posted today, while a preview for the Ohio state dual meet tournaments (Divisions I, II, and III) will be posted on Friday.
No. 45 CBHS ends team season with Tennessee dual meet title
Christian Brothers, Tenn., ranked No. 45 in the Fab 50 team rankings ended the dual meet regular season with a TSSAA Division II state championship. The tournament was held this past weekend at the Williamson County Expo Center in Franklin, Tenn. The Brothers won their three matches by the following scores: 45-25 over Montgomery Bell Academy (9 matches to 5), 39-24 over The Baylor School (8-6), and 42-23 over Father Ryan (9-5). Going 3-0 for CBHS were John Santi (120), No. 15 Kaleb Baker (152), and Barrett Walthall (170).
Division II results
Division II brackets
Carl Sandburg moves onto team state tournament after outlasting Marist in individual regional
This past Saturday marked the start of the individual state tournament series in the Land of Lincoln for all three classifications -- AAA, AA, and A. However, the first layer tournament, also serves as the qualifier for the dual meet state tournament. The sixteen individual regional team champions advance to dual team sectional to be held Tuesday, February 19, with the final eight to be held on Saturday, February 23.
In one of those things that can be described as the nature of quirky assignments inherent to interscholastic athletics, two of the four best teams in Class AAA were stuck in the same individual regional at Marist for a second straight year. As a result, one of those teams would be precluded from the team state tournament. For the second straight year, it was No. 14 Carl Sandburg -- the defending dual meet state champions -- withstanding the challenge of No. 21 Marist.
The margin was narrow last year, 12-1/2 points, and even narrower this year. The Eagles out-pointed the Redhawks 244 to 238. Key to the Eagles victory was a 7-3 record in championship matches, including 5-3 in those involving a Marist opponent; while Marist was 3-5 against Carl Sandburg in title matches, and 4-7 overall. Winning titles for Carl Sandburg were Sebastian Pique (120), Jake Vales (126), John Pellegrino (138), Mitch Cook (152), C.J. Brucki (160), No. 11 Colin Holler (170), and No. 5 Ricky Robertson (195); while Marist collected titles from Mark Duda (113), Mario Leveille (132), Jakada Hull (152), and Tom Howell (220).
Last weekend highlights
Like Canon McMillan in District 7 (aka, the WPIAL), it was Easton, Pa., earning a four-peat in Class AAA as District 11 dual meet champions. This time, it was a 28-26 victory over Parkland, Pa., in the championship round. It was the second victory of such margin for the Red Rovers during the month of January.
Don Bosco Prep followed up their narrow loss to No. 36 Bergen Catholic, N.J., with a 32-31 victory on criteria (most first points across the matches) against No. 38 Bound Brook, N.J., after the teams tied 31-31 while splitting the fourteen weight classes at 7-7. This week of performances, along with the Ironmen finally getting healthy move them back into the Fab 50 team rankings at No. 41.
Rankings updates
As a reminder the last update for individual weight class rankings prior to after all state tournaments are done has been posted today. In addition, the weekly update of the Fab 50 national team rankings has been posted.
All state championship result links from the past weekend
Individual Bracket State Tournament Results
Alaska
Class 4A
Dual Meet State Tournament Results
Tennessee
Class A/AA
Class AAA
Division II
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