Mar 5, 2015 4 min read

HERSHEY – The difference between earning a spot on the awards’ stand of the PIAA Wrestling Championships and watching the medal ceremony from the seats at the Giant Center in Hershey is the way one handles the unexpected and unwanted parts of this three-day event.

In each of the weight classes, all but one wrestler leaves with at least one loss.

How one rebounds determine their success.

Logan Macri and Micah Kusturiss of Canon-McMillan rebounded nicely from losses in Class AAA and are still able to finish as high as third in their respective weight classes, 106 for Macri and 145 for Kusturiss.

Waynesburg’s A.C. Headlee, coming off a dramatic victory over Luke Pletcher of Latrobe in the finals of the WPIAL Championships last weekend, had no problems getting through the first round. The 132-pound senior and North Carolina recruit pinned Bryce Reddington of Methacton, a sophomore who was a third-place finisher in the Southeast Region, in 5:56.

“He just needs to keep getting his hand raised,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton.

Headlee gets Brock Port of Bellefonte, a sophomore who was a third-place finisher in the Northwest Region with a 31-2 record, in today’s quarterfinals (1:30 p.m.). Semifinals are 9 a.m. Saturday and the finals are 7 p.m.

Freshman Caleb Morris of Waynesburg, the fourth and final local Triple-A qualifier, suffered two losses and was eliminated at 106 pounds.

The top eight wrestlers in each weight class earn a medal in a tournament that expanded each weight class by four wrestlers to 20 total.

Macri and Kusturiss are determined to be part of that ceremony.

“It’s all up here,” said Macri, pointing to his head. “It’s all mental. As soon as the match is over, win or lose, I get it out of my mind.”

Macri, a freshman, opened the tournament with a pin of William Kaldes of Cumberland Valley in 6:58, overtime, but was shut out 2-0 by Cole Manley of Altoona in the first round. Macri rallied for a 7-2 decision over Jordan Harsh of Penn Manor. Waiting in today’s consolation round is Luke Werner of Liberty, a Northeast region runner-up.

“I’ve got to keep looking on,” said Macri, fourth-place finisher at the WPIAL tournament. “For me, it’s about making it to Friday, then to the placing rounds, then to the third-place medal.

Among Macri’s supporters is his brother Dalton, who was a state champion for the Big Macs last season.

“He told me that my time is coming, that I can still be the man,” Logan said. “He wants me to do better than he did.”

Kusturiss, a junior, was pinned in 38 seconds of the preliminary round by Alex Klucker of East Pennsboro, who was fourth in the Southcentral Region. Kusturiss came back in the consolation round and took a 1-0 decision from Brandon Ingram of McKeesport in a rematch from the WPIAL tournament for third place. Kusturiss gets Dom Petrucelli of Owen J. Roberts, a runner-up in the Southeast.

“You’ve got to get in the right state of mind,” said Kusturiss. “I could have gotten down after (being pinned), but I didn’t want one match to bring me down. I’m fighting for a medal now.”

Morris was shut out, 9-0, by junior Sean Reddington of Bethlehem Catholic in the first round and dropped a 3-2 decision to senior Stefhen Capel of West Scranton in a hard-fought match.

“The main this is the experience you get here,” said Throckmorton. “This wasn’t a good one for Caleb but he’ll learn from his mistakes. He got back-to-back, a junior and senior, and you don’t usually see that in that weight class. It’s still the state tournament and his first experience from it. He’ll build off this for next year.”