Teasdale caps career with Classic victory
Gavin Teasdale (top) is tangled with Patrick Glory of the U.S. Team in Sunday's Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. Teasdale won 5-4.
Logan Macri (left) works to free himself from Patrick McKee of Minnesota during Sunday's Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. McKee won a 6-4 decision.
PITTSBURGH – Revenge is best served in front of a few thousand wrestling fans.
Gavin Teasdale, a four-time state champion from Jefferson-Morgan, thrilled the crowd inside Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House when he took Patrick Glory down with six seconds remaining in the bout for a 5-4 decision victory in the 126-pounds match, the final one of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic Sunday.
Teasdale’s win avenged an earlier loss to Glory in the Who’s No. 1? tournament, an exhibition match in October at Lehigh University.
“I think I dictated the match,” said Teasdale, who has a 162-2 record, and four WPIAL gold medals. “It was a great final match and it will be awesome to get to Rec Hall.”
Teasdale’s win settled one score but wasn’t enough to pull the Pennsylvania Team to victory. The U.S. Team won 23-21. In the preliminary match, Iowa rolled past the WPIAL, 36-6.
Three other area wrestlers – Logan Macri of Canon-McMillan, Zach Hartman of Belle Vernon and Caleb Morris of Waynesburg – lost their bouts.
Teasdale, headed to Penn State University next fall, does so after beating Glory, a two-time state champion from Delbarton, N.J., with a 159-7 record and the No. 1 ranking in the nation at 126 pounds.
“My whole goal is winning,” said Teasdale. “I’m always working for something.”
Teasdale got the first takedown with 33 seconds remaining and Glory escaped to make it 2-1 after one period. Teasdale escaped in the second to take a 3-1 lead but Glory got a tying takedown with 27 seconds left in the second.
Glory took a 4-3 lead with an escape in the third. That set up the dramatic finish.
“I could hear him breathing hard and I knew he was tired,” said Teasdale. “It came down to who wanted it more.”
Macri lost a hard-fought 6-4 decision to Patrick McKee, a three-time state champion from Minnesota with a 183-14 record, at 120 pounds.
McKee got a reversal and two backpoints in the second period to turn the match.
“It was fun. You got to see some of the best wrestlers in the country. I watched some of (McKee’s) matches just because I was unfamiliar with him. I looked at what he did, had a game plan but it didn’t work out too well.”
Macri will take a 152-30 record that includes a PIAA title in Hershey two weeks ago to Tennessee-Chattanooga in the fall.
“The coaches are really good people and I didn’t feel like it was a show,” Macri said. “I felt like it was a good fit for me.”
Hartman, headed to Bucknell in the fall, had problems in a 14-8 loss to David Carr, a five-time state champion from Ohio with a 243-7 record.
“I enjoyed the whole experience,” Hartman said. “It’s an honor to participate in this or even to be considered to participate.”
Morris, the only area wrestler competing on the WPIAL team, lost an 8-4 decision at 126 pounds to Drew Bennett of Fort Dodge, Iowa, who had a 158-3 record and one state title.
“It was a fun experience, definitely something I’ll remember,” said Morris. “I just with the results could have been different.”
Morris, who is undecided about college, had a 148-33 record.
Colin Johnston, a graduate of Canon-McMillan, was one of four inductees into the Southwest Pa. Wrestling Hall of Fame. Joining him were Larry Hall, a four-time WPIAL champion from Jeannette; Nico Megaludis, a three-time PIAA and four-time WPIAL champion from Franklin Regional; and Merle Tournay, a longtime coach and referee. Johnston was a four-time WPIAL champion, a four-time state placewinner and champion and three-time Powerade Christmas Tournament champion. In December, he was named the first wrestling coach at Pitt-Bradford.