Mar 2, 2016 4 min read

A year ago Canon-McMillan’s Logan Macri and Waynesburg’s Caleb Morris were wide-eyed freshmen preparing for their first trip to the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships.

Both being accomplished Junior Olympic wrestlers, they thought they knew what to expect as they moved into the district tournament, which doubles as the PIAA Southwest Region qualifier.

In many respects, they were wrong.

Morris successfully navigated his way through the 106-pound weight class to beat Penn-Trafford’s Job Chishko, 4-2, and win the WPIAL title, but he went 0-2 at the PIAA Championships, making his first trip to the state tournament a brief one.

As difficult as that ending turned out to be, it was one Macri would have taken in a heartbeat. He lost to Chishko, a former Canon-McMillan teammate, in the WPIAL quarterfinals, then fought his way back to the third-place match, only to fall to Louis Newell of Seneca Valley, 5-4, and dashing his hopes to wrestle in Hershey.

Their finishes have been motivating factors for these talented sophomores this season.

Macri and Morris find out if the hard work they put in has paid off starting Friday, when the WPIAL Class AAA championships begin at Penn Hills High School. Pigtail and preliminary round bouts at the two-day event begin at 10:30 a.m., with the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m.

“Last year from this year was a big change,” said Macri (36-5), who is the No. 2 seed at 113 pounds. “I’m just getting my offense more. Last year was a warmup year for me, just getting used to high school. Now, I’m just ready for Hershey.”

Morris (30-4) also is seeded 0second despite being a returning WPIAL champion. Part of the reason for that is his performance at the PIAA tournament a year ago. Another is who is at the top of the bracket.

In the case of Macri, it’s unbeaten Gage Curry of North Hills, a PIAA silver medalist at 113 pounds last season. For Morris, it’s Franklin Regional’s Spencer Lee, a two-time undefeated PIAA champion.

A shoulder injury limited Lee to just four bouts this season – all in the postseason – but Morris isn’t looking that far down the road. He wants to get into the finals to assure his spot in Hershey – the top three finishers in each weight class advance.

“I’m just going in there and I’m going to wrestle. I don’t care,” he said. “I feel pretty confident since I’ve been there and done that. That’s all there is to it. I’ll just have to go out and do what I can do.”

Macri feels the same way. He won by technical falls through the Section 4-AAA tournament and feels like he’s more aggressive this year.

He knows getting past Curry (35-0) won’t be easy, but he’d like a shot at him in the finals.

“I just take every match like I’m wrestling the same person. I don’t look to do specific things,” Macri said. “I just want to go in and wrestle how I wrestle.

“Last year, all the defeats and all the hard times made me who I am right now, the person I’m going to be tomorrow and in the future days. I’ve learned from it and I’m just moving on.”

Macri and Morris were two of 10 area wrestlers seeded either first or second in the tournament.

Canon-McMillan’s Brendan Furman was seeded first at heavyweight, and Belle Vernon’s Derek Verkleeren is top-seeded at 152 pounds.

Waynesburg has other wrestlers seeded second in Shaun Wilson at 138 and Colin McCracken at 182. The Leopards have Zach Hartman (132), Mitchell Hartman (160) and Austin Bell (170) as No. 2 seeds.

Michael McAleavey of Peters Township also drew a No. 2 seed at 220 pounds.