Wrestlers compete at invitational

Several wrestling teams competed in the South Williamsport Invitational Tournament.

Montrose had the best local showing as the Meteors earned two first-place finishes, three seconds, a third, and two fourth-place medals.

Joe Hester continued on his pursuit of the Montrose win record when he claimed the 138-pound crown. He dispatched Williams Valley’s Chase Esterline earning a tech fall in 4:35.

On his way to the final, Hester pinned Loyalsock’s Joe Huber in 45 seconds and pinned Mountain View’s Nathan Ofalt in 1:48 in the semifinals.

Marc Avila captured gold at 170 pounds with a 5-4 decision over Jared Newhall of Jim Thorpe Area. Avila earned his way to the championship match with two pins. He pinned Corey King of Sugar Valley Rural Charter School in 1:06 during he quarterfinals and Timothy Harney of Sullivan County in 1:02 in the semifinals.

Andrew Rosevear finished second at 132 pounds for the Meteors. Rosevear earned a 7-2 decision over Brandon Sharer of Loyalsock in the semifinals. In the final, Nathan Higley of Sullivan County got Rosevear in an early hole on his way to registering a 17-2 technical fall.

Bryan Ryan earned the next second place finish when he fell 12-4 to Jim Thorpe’s Austin Williams. Ryan had earned his way to the championship when he pinned Mountain View’s Zeb Gregory in 47 seconds.

Justin Kelley was pinned by Jim Thorpe’s Derek Hunter in 1:05 to claim second place at 285 pounds. Kelley paved his way to the finals with pins of Elk Lake’s Erick Skinner in 53 seconds and took Joseph Malkemes of Sullivan County in 1:20.

Cameron Harder took third place at 160 pounds. In the quarterfinals Harder pinned South Williamsport’s Nathan Conser in 1:06, but fell to Colton Pretti of Sullivan county when he was pinned in 4:36.

Harder bounced back with a win in the consolation semifinals with a pin of Loyalsock’s Nicolas Andreacci in 2:08; and went on to pin Nick Fayocavitz of Jim Thorpe in 1:24 in the consolation round.

 

Nick Harder was fourth at 106. He fell to Everett Lata of Pleasant Valley in 2:17. Harder got to the consolation finals but he was defeated by a pin in the championship semifinals by William Schwartz of Jim Thorpe. He came back and won consolation semifinals with quick pin of Sullivan County’s Riley Mosher in 59 seconds.

Brendan Kanna was the other fourth-place finisher for Montrose at 145 pounds. He fell to Pleasant Valley’s Chris Tartamella in 1:47 in the consolation finals.  Kanna pinned Jordan Ortiz of Loyalsock in 1:07 during the quarterfinals, but lost the next round to Sullivan County’s Colton Ammerman who decked Kanna in 55 seconds.  Kanna rebounded with a pin of Elk Lake’s Thaddeus Woodhead in 1:44 to secure the fourth place medal.

Mountain View’s Nathan Ofalt also placed fourth at 138 pounds. He pinned Evan Cummings of Sullivan County in 1:52 and followed that with a loss to Hester. In the consolation semifinals Ofalt decisoned South Williamsport’s Masen Lane 11-3 and then lost a close 1-0 match to Pleasant Valley’s Dillon Anderson.