3. High school wrestling
Gavin Teasdale took another step towards wrestling immortality, Brendan Furman finally found the secret to success and Dom Fundy came one win shy of gold in the 2017 PIAA Wrestling Championships in Hershey.
Teasdale dominated Austin Clabaugh of Bermudian Springs, 13-5, in the 126-pound finals for his third straight title without a loss. The Jefferson-Morgan product scored 80 bout points, 17 shy of beating the 96 he scored winning the 113-pound title last year. Teasdale won at 106 as a freshman.
Teasdale raised his record to 40-0 for the season and 122-0 overall. Teasdale joined the likes of George Custer of Canonsburg, Coleman Scott of Waynesburg and Manuel Pihakis of Canonsburg in the group of three-time winners. Teasdale and Custer, who went 76-0, are the only undefeated wrestlers in this group.
Teasdale is tracking the same path another Jefferson-Morgan great, Cary Kolat, took on the way to four undefeated seasons and four state titles. Kolat went 137-0 while compiling his four titles and becoming the seventh four-timer in 1992.
Furman, a senior heavyweight from Canon-McMillan, capped a strong performance in the Class AAA portion of the tournament by winning the heavyweight title with a 5-3 decision over Isaac Reid of Kiski.
It was the fifth straight time Furman defeated Reid, but this one meant the most. Furman became the first Big Macs wrestler to win a state title since Solomon Chishko (145) and Dalton Macri (126) did it in 2014.
Fundy, a 182-pounder from Beth-Center saw his run for gold derailed when Cody Mulligan, a senior from Saegertown, shut down Fundy’s attacks in a 6-0 victory in the finals.
Fundy became the fifth state runner-up in Beth-Center’s history. The other four are Chuck Colborn (167 pounds, 1978), Marc Bartolomucci (119, 1984), Tio Paci (119, 1992) and Ulysses Davis (103, 1998).
Canon-McMillan finished as runner-up in the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament and went 2-2 in Hershey.