Vargo has special motivation, finishes 3rd
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Chris Vargo of Bentworth celebrates winning the third-place bout against Coen Bainey of Bald Eagle Area Friday in the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Chris Vargo of Bentworth gives Gavin Bradley of Athens an accidental punch to the nose during their 113-pound bout in the PIAA Class AA Championships at the Giant Center.
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Kyle McCollum of Beth-Center (front) fights to avoid giving up backpoints against Brandam Chletsos of Notre Dame Green Pond during their 132-pound bout in the PIAA Class AA Championships at the Giant Center.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Ethan Barr of McGuffey (top) works over Robert Gardner of South Williamsport during their 172-pound bout in the PIAA Class AA Championships at the Giant Center Friday.
HERSHEY – There was special motivation for Chris Vargo Friday and it took him a long way.
Vargo’s mother died about a year ago but her presence in the Giant Center in Hershey Friday could not be disputed.
No one would have been prouder of her son, especially after taking third place in the Class AA 113-pound weight class after a 3-1 overtime victory against Coen Bainey of Bald Eagle.
It was Vargo’s third win of the tournament after a sluggish performance in a 6-4 loss to Gavin Bradley of Athens to start things off.
“She right here,” Vargo said when asked about his mother. Then tears streamed down his face, concluding the interview.
Francis Mizia was the last wrestler from Bentworth to finish first in the state tournament and he did it in 2012. Bentworth’s CJ Wonsettler won at heavyweight in 2002. Wonsettler was the last Class AA champion in the Hersheypark Arena. The tournament was moved to the Giant Center in 2003.
That left Bainey, who handed Vargo his first loss of the season in the Super Region Tournament at Indiana University. Regulation ended without anyone scoring but Vargo hit a spin-around move in the first overtime to win it 2-0.
“At the end, I knew we were both a little tired,” Vargo said. “It all came down to conditioning and I have some of the greatest coaches for that.”
Vargo is part of a co-op with Bentworth for wrestling and is a student at Charleroi.
The freshman, came into his first-round bout Friday a little sluggish, a little hesitant and a little drained and dropped a 6-4 decision to Gavin Bradley of Athens.
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” said Vargo, never one to make excuses. “It would’ve been nice to win the state title. I have the ability. This morning wasn’t my day.”
Vargo came back in the consolations and was a different wrestler. An aggressive and dominating Vargo pinned Adam Schweitzer of Notre Dame Green Pond in 47 seconds. It was the type of performance he needed against Bradley. Rob Gardner of South Williamsport was the next victim, losing a 3-1 decision.
“He doesn’t make excuses,” said Bentworth head coach Mike Shrader. “That’s the one thing about him. He owns everything he does.”
“He doesn’t lose twice in too many tournaments,” said Bentworth assistant coach Albert Thomas.
Vargo was one of three local wrestlers who took home medals. Kyle McCollum of Beth-Center was eighth at 132 and Ethan Barr of McGuffey was sixth at 172.
As in previous tournaments, the PIAA used a weird format that split the weight classes into two groups, had the wrestlers in 106 to 138 compete until the finals were reached, then took about a three-hour break before the finals were contested.
Vargo’s first bout of the day was at about 8:45 a.m.
“He’s a slow starter. We did a lot of warmup for the first match so I don’t think think that was a problem,” said Shrader. “His goal was to be a state champion. When that doesn’t happen, you have to be mentally tough enough to come back and wrestle hard.”
Vargo (19-2) is wrestling with a sore leg and that has hindered his ability.
“He’s not pushing the pace because of it,” said Shrader. “He doesn’t feel the strength in every position right now.”
After a 16-0 technical fall loss to eventual 132-pound runnerup Brandan Chletsos of Notre Dame Green Pond, McCollum dropped a 5-2 decision to Kaiden Wagner of Lewisburg. An escape in the third period with 56 seconds left in the match gave Connor Heckman of Midd-West a 1-0 win over McCollum.
“I’m pretty happy about it,” said McCollum, a junior with a 28-9 record. “I have to work on stopping them getting the boots in. I was expecting a top-5 finish but this is a tough tournament.”
Beth-Center head coach Gary Welsh said the feeling he takes from this tournament is bittersweet.
“He’s there and he knows he’s there,” said Welsh of McCollum. “This was such a meat-grinder. I told (Kyle) not to be disappointed. I know it stings now, but the path he took to get here in a season like this, where there is no room for error, and you got a state medal, I assure you he will be very proud of it. He’s got the experience. He stepped on the biggest stage. He’ll be ready to go.”
Barr lost a rematch with Ben Haubert of Palisade, 5-4, in the fifth-place bout. He started the day with a 7-3 loss to the senior about 11 hours earlier.
“It’s very, very important to be aggressive,” said Barr after a 2-0 win over Ethan Gush of Muncy in the consolation semifinals. “That’s the reason you win 2-0 instead of losing 2-0.”
Interestingly, Barr doesn’t do any scouting of possible opponents.
“That would freak me out,” he said. “The coaches watch the matches and they tell me what he does right before I go out on the mat.”
Barr went 1-2 in this tournament last year, his junior season. This year, he assured himself a medal by simply making weight in Hershey.
“My main goal was to be a state chsampion,” Barr said. “Now, my goal is to do better than 1-2.”
Mission accomplished.
Brett Ungar of Notre Dame Green Pond pulled the upset of the tournament when he pinned Mason Gibson of Bishop McCourt in the 120-pound finals. Joey Fischer of South Park won the 126-pound title. Frazier’s Rune Lawrence won his first state title, 9-7, over Malcolm Duvall of Penns Valley at 172.