Jan 19, 2026 By Jerin Steele 3 min read

The history of Jefferson-Morgan wrestling is rich.

Two four-time state champs, Cary Kolat and Gavin Teasdale, and five WPIAL team championships from the late 1980s to the mid-90s highlight a long-standing tradition on the mat for the Rockets.

But when Troy Barnhart took over as the coach in 2018, he inherited a total rebuild.

“When I started with this, we had five kids on the team,” Barnhart said.

Over the years, Barnhart has worked to return the program back to its former glory and now the Rockets are again ascending to the top of the WPIAL.

Jefferson-Morgan is 10-0 in dual meets this year and essentially wrapped up the Class 2A Section 3 title with a 42-31 win against Beth-Center last Wednesday.

“I didn’t win my first dual meet until my third year,” Barnhart said. “I worked with the youth program through the years and we’re starting to see the fruits of that pay off now.”

One more section match remains with Frazier, but the Commodores only have six wrestlers and cannot cover over half the weight classes. The Rockets have clinched a spot in the WPIAL Class 2A team tournament.

Barnhart took over for Mike Lesko in 2018 just after Teasdale won his fourth consecutive state title.

He had to pretty much start from scratch, but now the Rockets might just be scratching the surface of their capabilities, because most of the wrestlers on the roster are young.

Five wrestlers have more than 20 wins and four of them are underclassmen. The sophomores with 20 wins are 114-pounder Caleb Dulaney (22-8), 160-pounder Geno Orlandi (21-6) and 172-pounder Alek Palko (20-6). Senior heavyweight Landon Heath is 24-6 and freshman 107-pounder Austin Grandel has a 24-4 record. Orlandi is a transfer from Beth-Center.

Grandel, Heath, Caleb Dulaney, Orlandi and Heath recorded wins in the Beth-Center match along with James Dulaney (133), Colton Humphreys (152) and Dominic Sowden (172).

Caleb Dulaney, Grandel, Humphreys, Sowden and Heath won by fall.

“Beth-Center is a tough team, and we knew there were going to be some challenges,” Barnhart said. “They moved some weights around, which forced us to bump some kids into different positions. I asked them to do some things for the team, and I was proud of the way they responded.”

Having a full roster has also been a benefit.

Others that have contributed include sophomores Ej Lingenfield, who is 17-11, Payton Bastian and Brayden Hanning and senior Connor Pinchok.

Hanning (107) is currently dealing with injury and hasn’t wrestled since December.

“Right now we’re missing a 215-pounder, but with having a couple of backup options we’re able to bump some guys around to fill the entire 13 weight classes, which is huge,” Barnhart said. “In double-A wrestling with small sections it’s big to not have to give up those forfeits.”

Now that the Rockets are in the team tournament they’re aiming for a longer stay this time around.

Jefferson-Morgan ended up as co-section champ last year with Beth-Center, but lost 36-33 to Southmoreland in the first round of the WPIAL team tournament.

Barnhart said the team, maybe partly due to its youth, responded poorly to their playoff match, but saw it as a good lesson for this year.

“Our goals coming into this year were to respond well, get through the section, win the section and go into the playoffs with a little better mind space,” Barnhart said. “We have that experience from last year and what that letdown felt like, so we want to try to comeback this year and make top four to get into the semifinals.”