Three local wrestlers finish second in state tournament
HERSHEY – Competing in the state finals is the dream of every wrestler.
However, once the wrestler reaches the finals, he or she will sometimes feel like a failure if they are not able to celebrate a state championship.
Such was the case Saturday night in the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey for Bentworth’s Chris Vargo, Canon-McMillan’s Natalie Rush and Trinity’s Bodie Morgan, who all finished as runner-up in their respective weight classes.
Morgan (30-5, 94-34) dropped an 8-4 decision to Pine-Richland’s Vaughn Spencer (43-2, 71-4) in the Class 3A finals at 172. Spencer won the first meeting between the two 8-2 on Jan. 27.
Morgan, a senior, was the first Hiller to wrestle for gold since Dan Burkholder won the title in 2005 at 140 pounds.
“I definitely wrestled him better this time than last time,” Morgan said.
Morgan scored 19 seconds into the match with a takedown for a 2-0 lead. He was hoping to get at least a count of two for near-fall points but they were not awarded and Spencer later escaped to cut the deficit to 2-1 after the first period.
Morgan escaped in the second to increase his advantage to 3-1 before Spencer tied the bout with a takedown and held Morgan down for a 3-3 tie heading into the third.
Spencer escaped and recorded his second takedown for a 6-3 lead. Morgan escaped with 19 seconds left, but a desperation attempt at a takedown allowed Spencer to score the final two points.
“I was short on time, so I had to go for that takedown,” Morgan said. “I am going to miss Trinity wrestling.”
Morgan, who battled injuries as a sophomore and senior, will continue his academic and wrestling careers at Davidson with teammate Blake Reihner, who wrestled this weekend but lost in the blood round.
“I have definitely gotten better (over the years) but I missed out on a lot of matches,” Morgan said.
Vargo (41-3, 133-12) was wrestling in the state finals for the second consecutive season, but had another heartbreaker in a 15-0 technical fall setback in 4:32 to Bishop McCort’s Jax Forrest (53-2, 83-3) in the Class 2A finals at 127 pounds.
Vargo handed Forrest his second loss of the season last week in the southwest regional final at Altoona with a 13-7 decision, but was unable to duplicate that success Saturday.
“I felt he (Forrest) was a little bit more cautious in this match than the first time,” Vargo said. “I could tell that he prepared for the match, and definitely had to have watched some film, but that’s what you have to do when you are in the state tournament. In my mind I said, ‘Let’s go out there and let it fly again.’ All I can say is, ‘I tried my best.'”
Despite wrestling the final match of his career, Vargo can leave Bentworth having qualified for the state tournament all four years of high school. He was third as a freshman and fifth as a sophomore. Vargo still has plenty of wrestling left, as he will continue his academic and wrestling careers at Edinboro University.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to wrestle in college,” Vargo said. “I appreciate all the fans that supported me throughout this short career I had, and I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else.”
Morgan and Vargo could be selected for the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic on March 30 at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.
Rush (33-3, 89-8) was one of two finalists for the Big Macs, who won the team title in the inaugural girls PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships with 93 points. Teammate Val Solorio earned the gold at 100 pounds, which put Canon-McMillan in great position for the team championship.
Rush was pinned in 1:40 by Bishop McCort’s Alyssa Favara in the finals at 190. Favara went on to win the “Outstanding Wrestler” award, and despite only having three wrestlers qualify, the Crushers finished second in the team standings with 81 points.
“Alyssa Favara is definitely a tough one, but I still have another year,” Rush said. “It is definitely awesome (to win the team title), and I am very excited to have our girls be the first ones in the state to have this title. I think it is a wonderful thing to see the girls receiving such love, especially since we were able to win, so it makes a name for us.”