Wash High heads to tournament with positive attitude
For weeks they have waited for this tournament and now it is here.
Washington High School’s wrestling team has enjoyed a better season and believe the WPIAL Class AA tournament is a chance to take another step forward.
“I’ve been coaching for 10 years as an assistant and a head coach and this is the best team we’ve had,” said Washington head coach Adrian Turner. “We won five matches and usually we win about three. Things are looking up. We had some ups and downs, some kids with COVID and that probably stopped us from making the (postseason).”
The tournament gets underway at Canon-McMillan High School tonight at 5 p.m. Semifinals are 11:30 a.m. Saturday and finals are at 4 p.m.
The top eight wrestler in each weight class advance to the PIAA Southwest Region Tournament at Peters Township.
Heavyweight Cameron Carter-Greene and Mike Ewing have nearly identical recoords, combining for 36 wins and five losses for the Prexies. Carter-Greene is seeded first at heavyweight and has been ranked either first or second all season among heavyweights. Ewing is seeded No. 2 at 172 behind Frazier’s Rune Lawrence and has been rated second or third depending on the rankings.
“I’ve got a couple coaches to work out with Cameron,” said Turner. “I’m kind of old. I will get out there and practice with them but I try not to. Cam is so focused. He will do whatever he thinks needs to be done.
“Michael has a few people he can work out with. We have kids who are pushing him and the coaches work out with him. It looks pretty good. They have been working pretty hard. Mike has had a confidence problem. In the past, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. This year, being a senior, he has a different attitude. Now things don’t bother him. He leaves everything on the mat.”
Turner said there were some breaks allowed the wrestlers during the long wait from the end of the regular season until the start of the individual tournaments.
“I gave them a couple days off here and there but mostly we trained and worked hard,” Turner said. “One of the things we did was run to the (Washington) park and back and doing things they never done before. I think if there is a key to this, it’s conditioning.”
Other top seeds for the tournament are Parker Sentipal at 106, Jack Kazalas of Quaker Valley at 113, Chris Vargo of Bentworth at 120; Gaven Suica of Burgettstown at 126; Kyle McCollum of Beth-Center at 132; Rudy Brown of Burgettstown at 138; Sean Szymanski of Burrell at 145; Justin Richey of Quakey Valley at 152, Grant MacKay of Laurel at 160; Patrick Cutchember of Quaker Valley at 189 and Dayton Pitzer of Mt. Pleasamt at 215.