O-R Athlete of the Week: Ty Banco, Trinity
Name: Ty Banco
School: Trinity
Sport: Wrestling
Class: Junior
Banco’s week: Despite an injured shoulder and a finger that will require surgery after the season, Banco managed to finish fourth in the heavyweight class at the Powerade Wrestling Tournament last week at Canon-McMillan High School.
Banco came into the tournament as the fourth seed and opened the tournament with a pin of Mason Ludlow of Notre Dame Green Pond in 5:15. He followed that up with a pin of Logan Timko of Thomas Jefferson in 49 seconds and a pin of Leo Muzika of Faith Christian Academy in 40 seconds.
Banco’s run in the winners’ bracket ended in the semifinals, where top-seeded and No.1-ranked heavyweight in the nation, Nick Feldman of Malvern Prep, pinned Banco.
Banco pinned Noah Tustin of Waynesburg in the consolation semifinals, then dropped a 5-0 decision to Riley Robell of Bishop McDevitt in the battle for third place.
“I couldn’t do much because he wrenched my shoulder,” Banco said. “He tweaked it a little bit. I haven’t had a problem with it before. It was a good tournament but not the way I wanted to (place). It’s a hard tournament to be in. I’ll take what I can.”
Banco is coming off a 29-9 season where he went 2-2 in the state tournament at 215 pounds. He was third in the district and first in the section tournaments.
“I just wait until they mess up and go in for the attack,” Banco said. “Feldman is a freak. There is nothing you can do. I hung in there a little bit.”
Banco is the first Trinity wrestler to make it to the Powerade semifinals since 2005. He placed seventh at Powerade last year.
“He’s a really good athlete, deceivingly strong,” said Trinity head coach Ron Tarquinio. “He’s got a lot of tricks not a lot of guys can get away with, especially being a heavyweight.”
Last year, Banco and Tyson Brophy formed a strong 1-2 punch at the end of the lineup. But Banco put on about 60 pounds from last year.
“Last year, he came out of football about 230 and he began to watch his weight to get down to 215,” Tarquinio said. “This year, he was about 260, 270. Last year, we had Brophy so it worked out well.”
Compiled by Joe Tuscano