Mar 3, 2020 4 min read

The time off between the Southwest Region tournament and the start of the PIAA Championships can be a long wait for high school wrestlers ready to compete.

But it can also be a welcome relief for those wrestlers worn down by the rugged schedule and numerous matches.

Nate Yagle used the 10-day break to get a little more healthy before the Class AA portion of the state event, which begins Thursday morning at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Yagle hurt his shoulder about a month ago and it is only now approaching 100 percent. This will mark the third time in Yagle’s varsity career that he has had to overcome injuries before heading to the state event.

The McGuffey junior will be joined by teammates Ethan Barr and Garrett Boone in Hershey. Barr is competing at 160 pounds and Boone at 195 pounds.

Other local wrestlers competing in the event are Joey Sentipal, Shane Kemper and Riley Kemper of Burgettstown; Jonathan Wolfe of Jefferson-Morgan and Robbie West of Fort Cherry.

The first round of the Class AA tournament gets underway at 9 a.m. and like the other wrestlers, Yagle comes in with a positive attitude and a determination to become one of the eight medal winners in the 132-pound class by Saturday’s finals.

Yagle will open the tournament with a preliminary-round bout againt Ayden Dillon of Littlestown, a junior who finished fifth in the Southeast Region with a 30-11 record. If successful, Yagle would wrestle Kyler Crawford of Milton, a junior Northeast champion with a 35-8 record.

“The week off (between regions and state tournament in Class AA) definitely helps,” Yagle said. “I feel pretty good right now.”

Yagle went 1-2 in his last two appearances in the state tournament and he wants to break that cycle this year.

“I want to make it to the semis and I definitely think I can do it,” said Yagle. “My bracket is looking pretty good and I definitely think I can place high this year.”

McGuffey head coach Jared Roberts believes Yagle can do some damage in this tournament.

“Nate is in a good spot,” said Roberts. “We knew with him taking fourth, he would be in a pigtail. Ultimately, him winning that match feeds him into the fourth seed. We’re happy with that. If he wrestles well, he can go pretty deep.”

Barr comes into the tournament as a fifth-place finisher in the Southwest Region. His preliminary-round opponent is freshman Hayden Parker of Jersey Shore, who finished fourth in the Northeast Region with a 33-10 record.{/span}

{span}Boone was third in the Southwest Region so that keeps him from competing in the preliminary round. His first-round opponent is Garrett Storch of Canton, a senior with a 36-6 record and second-place finisher in the Northeast Region.{/span}

{span}”We thing Ethan can do well in the first match,” Roberts said. “If he wins that, it feeds into the defending state champion. But let’s see what happens. I think Garrett is in a good spot, too.”{/span}

{span}Sentipal finished sixth in the Southwest Region at 120 pounds. The freshman with a 40-13 record takes on Michael Myers of Williams Valley, a senior with a 31-3 record and fourth-place finish in the Southeast Region.{/span}

{span}Shane Kemper has an early call Thursday, wrestling in the prelims at 152 pounds. The fourth-place finisher in the Southwest Region with a 35-10 record meets Jonathan Lentvorski of West Penn, a senior with a 42-10 record and fifth-place finisher in the Southeast.{/span}

{span}Riley Kemper is in the top part of the heavyweight bracket with the third-place finish in the Southwest. The senior with a 41-3 record wrestles Emmanuel Ullrich of Mifflinburg, a freshman with a 32-9 record and second-place finish in the Northeast.{/span}

{span}Wolf, who is sixth in the Southwest Region at 220 pounds, goes against Devyn Claire of Bishop McDevitt, a senior with a 25-11 record and fourth-place finish in the Southeast.{/span}

{span}West also gets a preliminary-round match. The junior from Fort Cherry with a 38-8 record was a fifth-place finisher in the Southwest Region at 220 pounds. He meets Zack Poust of Benton, a junior at 32-11 and fourth-place finisher in the Northeast.{/span}