Four-timer Teasdale tops O-R wrestling team
gavinteasdale
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale is the top seed at 126 pounds and vying for his fourth Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament championship. The two-day tournament begins Friday morning at Canon-McMillan High School.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale, left, shakes hands with Wyoming Seminary’s Beau Bartlett
Gavin Teasdale’s final dinner in Hershey this month included wings with a side order of spectacular success.
Teasdale capped an amazing run in the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships with his fourth gold-medal winning performance, a 2-0 decision over Joshua Jones of Saucon Valley in the 126-pound finals.
Teasdale became only the 13th wrestler in tournament history to win four titles.
Teasdale’s amazing accomplishment makes him this year’s Outstanding Wrestler on the Observer-Reporter’s All-District Team.
The senior from Jefferson-Morgan joins 27 other wrestlers who earned a spot on one of the two 14-man teams.
Other first-teamers include Logan Macri (120), Tim Hritsko (138) and Gerrit Nijenhuis (160) of Canon-McMillan; Zach Hartman (160) and Scott Joll (170) of Belle Vernon; Wyatt Henson (120), Jackson Henson (138) and Caleb Morris (126) of Waynesburg; Manny Dovshek (120) and John Vargo (182) of Bentworth; Mike Cusick (145) of South Fayette; Christian Clutter (170) of McGuffey; and Dom Fundy (182) of Beth-Center.
The second team includes Nathan Yagle (106), Jett Pattison (126), Luke Shingle (182) and Dalton Lough (195) of McGuffey; Colby Morris (145), Trey Howard (152) and Kyle Homet (170) of Waynesburg; Shane Kemper (113) of Burgettstown; Connor Main (220) of West Greene; Brock Godzin (152) of Belle Vernon; Luke Mary (170) of Peters Township; Eli Brinsky (138) of South Fayette; Tanner Rohaley (145) of Canon-McMillan; and Nic Calderone (132) of Fort Cherry.
Mark Caffrey of McGuffey is the Coach of the Year in Class AA and Jeff Havelka of Canon-McMillan is it in Class AAA.
As usual, inclusion in the all-district teams was determined by the accomplishments of each wrestler within his respective weight class.
Injuries are taken into consideration.
Teasdale finished the season with a 40-2 record and a school-record 162-2.
“It’s been my goals,” Teasdale said after the win over Jones.
The other 12 four-time champions are James Conklin of Waynesburg (70-0-1, 1940-43), Jerry Maurey of Clearfield (67-0, 1947-50), Mike Johnson of Lock Haven (84-0, 1958-610, Matt Gerhard of Catasaqua (127-3, 1981-84), Ty Moore of North Allegheny (146-1, 1987-90), John Hughes of Benton (142-2-1, 1988-91), Cary Kolat of Jefferson-Morgan (137-0, 1989-92), Bob Crawford of Milton (138-2, 1990-93), Jeremy Hunter of McGuffey (172-2, 1993-96), Jim Gulibon of Derry (136-4, 2009-13), Chance Marsteller of Kennard Dale (166-0, 2011-14) and Thomas Haines of Solanco (174-5, 2011-14).
“You can’t ask to go out any better,” said J-M head coach Mike Lesko. “With Gavin, you ask is Jefferson-Morgan ever going to have a kid who is going to dedicate his life (to wrestling) again? That’s what he did. He lived and died and trained wrestling for J-M. He could have gone other places but he stayed.”
Teasdale’s other state finals opponents were Austin Clabaugh of Bermudian Springs, who lost a 13-5 major decision at 120 pounds last year; Kollin Myers of Boiling Springs, who lost by technical fall, 23-8, at 113 pounds two years ago; and Aaron Burkett of Chestnut Ridge, who was Teasdale’s first victim, losing 4-2 in the 106-pound finals.
“People tend to come in here and look around and freeze up,” Teasdale said. “They don’t wrestle their own style, like they would in their own gym. I just go out there and wrestle the exact same way.”
Teasdale flirted with an undefeated varsity season. But those dreams came to an end in the Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament, where he lost a 4-3 decision to Beau Bartlett of Wyoming Seminary, 4-3, in the 126-pound finals. Another loss came later in the season, 8-4, to Caleb Rea of Weir (W.Va.), 8-4, in the 132-pound finals at the Buckeye Local Classic.
Teasdale has higher goals, such as NCAA championships and Olympic gold medal. That challenge gets underway this summer and next fall, when he enters Penn State University.
“I can’t wait to make the (U.S.) world team this summer,” he said. “My main goal is to make the world team and win a world title. Then, I’ll go wrestle at Penn State and have some fun.”
Observer-Reporter All-District Wrestling Teams
Outstanding Wrestler: Gavin Teasdale, Jefferson-Morgan
Class AA Coach of the Year: Mark Caffrey, McGuffey
Class AAA Coach of the Year: Jeff Havelka, Canon-McMillan
First Team
1. Gavin Teasdale, Sr., Jefferson-Morgan, 126, 40-2
2. Logan Macri, Sr., Canon-McMillan, 120, 39-2
3. Zach Hartman, Sr. Belle Vernon, 160, 43-2
4. Gerrit Nijenhuis, So., Canon-McMillan, 160, 44-6
5. Christian Clutter, Jr., McGuffey, 170, 47-6
6. Wyatt Henson, Fr., Waynesburg, 120, 33-12
7. Scott Joll, Jr., Belle Vernon, 170, 42-5
8. Jonathan Vargo, Jr., Bentworth, 182, 34-8
9. Caleb Morris, Sr., Waynesburg, 126, 43-9
10. Manny Dovshek, Sr., Bentworth, 120, 29-10
11. Mike Cusick, Sr., South Fayette, 145, 40-8
12. Tim Hritsko, Sr., Canon-McMillan, 138, 41-15
13. Jackson Henson, Sr., Waynesburg, 138, 36-7
14. Dom Fundy, Jr., Beth-Center, 182, 29-2
Second Team
1. Jett Pattison, Jr., McGuffey, 126, 41-14
2. Shane Kemper, Fr., Burgettstown, 113, 33-12
3. Luke Shingle, Sr., McGuffey, 182, 40-13
4. Dalton Lough, Sr., McGuffey, 195, 41-11
5. Connor Main, Sr., West Greene, 220, 33-11
6. Nathan Yagle, Fr., McGuffey, 106, 33-20
7. Kyle Homet, Sr., Waynesburg, 170, 40-8
8. Colby Morris, Jr., Waynesburg, 145, 31-12
9. Trey Howard, Jr., Waynesburg, 152, 35-10
10. Brock Godzin, Sr., Belle Vernon, 152, 31-6
11. Luke Mary, Sr., Peters Township, 170, 32-6
12. Eli Brinsky, So., South Fayette, 138, 30-14
13. Tanner Rohaley, So., Canon-McMillan, 29-16
14. Nic Calderone, Sr., Fort Cherry, 132, 22-4