Unexpected injury, upset leaves BV’s Seliga in good shape
Donovan McMillon of Peters Township, right, keeps hold of Dylan McAnulty of Indiana during their 160-pound bout of the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships at Canon-McMillan High School Friday. McMillon won by fall in 4:27.
Joe Tuscano/ Observer-Reporter
Cole Homet of Waynesburg, right, tries to fight off a shot by Ethan Berginc of Hempfield during their 120-pound bout of the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships Friday. Berginc won a 4-2 overtime decision.
Joe Tuscano/
Observer-Reporter
CANONSBURG – The first quake to shake this tournament came four days before the first whistle.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Ryan Sullivan of Shaler would not be participating in the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships because of a broken hand suffered in last week’s section tournament.
Not only was Sullivan, a senior, the top seed at 120 pounds, but he also is a defending WPIAL and PIAA champion. And, as you might guess, Sullivan was the overwhelming favorite to win the weight class.
The seeds were reworked and Kurt Phipps of Norwin was moved to top seed, Cole Homet of Waynesburg went from third to No. 2 and Logan Seliga of Belle Vernon was switched from fourth to third seed. Kelin Laffey of Pine-Richland moved into fourth.
Just three hours into the tournament, the second tremor shook this event, and in the same weight class, when the 12th-ranked Homet was upset by unseeded and unranked Ethan Berginc of Hempfield, 4-2, in overtime in the quarterfinals.
The top four wrestlers advance to the PIAA Championships, which begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey. For some, the way back will be more cumbersome. Action gets underway at 10 a.m. today with the finals set for 5 p.m.
In the seeds released before the Sullivan injury, Seliga was scheduled to meet the Shaler standout in the semifinals. And a Homet-Phipps showdown was on course in the other semifinal bout if the seeds held.
They didn’t.
Now, Seliga meets Berginc in the semifinals. The winner of that match earns a trip to Hershey no matter what happens in the finals. The loser needs a win in the consolation final to do so. Homet has to thrash it out in the consolation rounds.
“It happens. It’s just the sport of wrestling,” said Seliga of Sullivan’s injury. “Sometimes you get injured. Sometimes you get upset. You usually can’t wrestle with a broken hand. I love (Ryan) and know he wants to be here but sometimes you just can’t go.”
Homet is a freshman with a 38-7 record, and Seliga is a senior with a 29-6 record. Both were at 120 pounds for the Powerade Wrestling Tournament but did not meet. Seliga, who is eight wins shy of 100 in his career, finished in seventh place in this tournament last season.
“This is why you have to take it one match at a time, especially in a tournament like this,” Seliga said. “You just have to keep winning the next one and that’s how you reach your goal.”
Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton said basically the same thing to Homet after losing to Berginc.
“This tournament from start to finish is tough and anybody can beat anybody,” Throckmorton said. “Somebody can have a bad day and somebody can have a good day. That’s why upsets happen. (Homet) has to come back and he’s more than capable of doing that. He’s one of the top four wrestlers in that weight class. It’s the guy in front of you that you have to worry about. Nobody else.”
Waynesburg has seven wrestlers left in the tournament and three of them – Trey Howard (145), Luca Augustine (152) and Colby Morris (160) – are in the semifinals.
Canon-McMillan has four semifinalists in Costa Moore (106), Jimmy Baxter (113), Ken Hayman (126) and Gerrit Nijenhuis (170) and three in the consolation rounds.
Peters Township’s Jeff Markert (170) and Brandon Matthews (182), Belle Vernon’s Scott Joll (182), South Fayette’s Quentin Franklin (Hvy) and Trinity’s Cole Whitmer (182) are still in the hunt for a gold medal.