2023 State Championship Review
Updated: Mar 11
FINAL RAIDER RESULTS POSTED!
Four wrestlers travel to Hershey to represent Reynolds at this year's PIAA Championships in Hershey. We take a look at their competition as they try to earn a spot on the medals podium.
RHS State Champions
For this event, the format of this preview is a bit different than for the earlier qualifying tournaments. Mainly, we are focusing on just the four Raider wrestlers and their weight classes; we will not cover the other nine weight classes. Within the section for each Reynolds wrestler is a summary list of everyone in the respective weight class.
The first Championship Team in Pennsylvania!
A new feature added in this preview is for each opponent, there is a link (named head-to-head) that goes to a special screen on PA-Wrestling that compares our wrestler to that specific opponent. It will show any head-to-head matches over their career and every common opponent between the two. Here is an example of Waylon's first match vs Parker Sentipal of Burgettstown.
Schedule & Tickets
Hershey Park Giant Center
AA Schedule of events
Thurs 3/9
9:00a Preliminaries
Round 1
1:15p Consolation Round 1
Friday 3/10
9:00a Quarterfinals
Consolation Round 2
11:45a Consolation Round 3
7:30p Semi-Finals
Consolation Round 4
9:30p Consolation Round 5
Saturday 3/11
1:45p Parade of Champions
2:00p Finals, 3rd, 5th & 7th
Get your tickets here.
Warning: The process to buy tickets for Hershey has more steps than for the previous tournaments.
Follow Online / Offline
Our own Ryan Hills will be joining Matt Still (D10 Wrestling FB page) for a online radio broacast of the weekend at Sunny 105.7 FM.
Live brackets can be found at Floarena. This will provid almost up to the second running results complete with team scores.
To watch live streaming of states, you must have a subscription to Flo Wrestling! Flo owns sole rights to broadcast the event.
PA-Wrestling has its States Bracket page that is full of fun and interesting facts kept throughout the tournament. The data is not kept current; it is usually updated after the completion of the different rounds.
Reynolds History at States
Reynolds won the first ever PIAA team title in 1976 (we were the unofficial team champion in 1975). In the 47 years that team awards were given, the Raiders have taken home 1st or 2nd place tropies in almost one third of the years, 15 times! Additionally, the teams have finished in the top ten 30 different years.
Individually, 20 different wrestlers have stop on the top of the podium with 29 total state titles won. 63 more individuals have won medals. That is an incredible 16.1% of ALL varsity wrestlers ever at Reynolds that have earned PIAA Medals - that is one out of every six varsity wrestlers! This is more astonishing when you consider that for the 60's and the early 70's, only state finalists earned a trophy. And then for many years, only the top four wrestlers won medals.
Just the Numbers:
TEAM
9 Team Championships: 1976, 1993, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Not included is the unofficial title in 1975.
6 2nd Place Team: 1978, 1992, 2001, 2003, 2011 and 2012.
4 3rd Place Team: 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009.
30 Top 10 teams.
INDIVIDUAL
29 State Champs (see image at top)
20 Different Individuals won states
23 State Runner-ups (21 Individuals)
142 Medals earned (83 individuals)
Waylon Waite - Freshman, 114 lbs
Waylon was the 4th place finisher in the North West region. He is ranked 17 in the state. So far, he has a remarkable 30-13 record. His post-season record (starting from sections) is 11-4, winning 2 decisions, 3 majors, 1 tech fall and 5 pins. His losses were 2 decisions and 2 pins.
Waylon's opponents are:
Record at PIAA: 0-2 Did not place
Consey Round 1 - Lost 0-7
NW-2 Carter Beck (10)
Saegertown (SGT)
Rank: 8
Total Season 34-3
Post Season 8-1
Dec 3-1
Pins 5-0
Round of 32 - Lost by Fall
SW-5 Parker Sentipal (11)
Burgettstown (BGT)
Rank: 10
Total Season 45-5
Post Season 10-3
Dec 5-3
Pins 5-0
Chase Bell - Junior, 133 lbs, 8th Place
Chase earned his 3rd straight ticket to Hershey, this time with a strong 2nd place performance in the North West region. He is ranked 11th in the state. Achieving a 29-11 record thus far, Chase has posted a 7-2 record in the qualifying tournaments by winning 2 decisions and 5 pins. His two losses were by close decisions.
Chase's opponents are:
7th/8th Place Match - Lost 2-3
SE-5 Noah Doi (10)
Camphill (CPH)
Rank: 15
Total Season 32-4
Post Season 8-2
Dec 8-1
Tech 0-1
Consey Round 4 - Lost 2-6 TB1 SE-1 Charlie Robson (11)
Conwell Egan (CEC)
Rank: 5
Total Season 37-3
Post Season 6-1
Dec 1-1
Tech 2-0
Pins 3-0
Consey Round 3 ...blood round - Won 3-2
NW-1 JoJo Przybycien (11)
Fort Leboeuf (FLB)
Rank: 6
Total Season 41-6
Post Season 9-0
Dec 4-0
Maj 2-0
Tech 1-0
Pins 2-0
Consey Round 2 - Won 5-1
SW-1 Peter Chacon (12)
Montour (MNT)
Rank: 8
Total Season 39-5
Post Season 11-0
Dec 2-0
Tech 1-0
Pins 8-0
Consey Round 1 WBF 1:17
NW-4 Conner Reszkowski (10)
Cranberry (CRB)
Rank: 20
Total Season 30-11
Post Season 5-3
Dec 2-3
Maj 1-0
Tech 1-0
Pins 1-0
Round of 16 - Lost 5-3
SE-3 Mason Wagner (9)
Faith Christian Acad (FCA)
Rank: 4
Total Season 37-8
Post Season 8-1
Dec 5/1
Pins 3/0
Vito Gentile - Sophomore, 160 lbs
Vito makes his second trip to Hershey by earning a 4th place in one of the toughest weight classes in the North West region. He is ranked 18th in the state. Vito has an overall 29-11 record including a post season ledger at 10-5. In his tournament run, Vito has 5 major decisions and has 2 wins and losses by decision and 3 pins vs being pinned 3 times.
Vito's Opponents at States
Record at PIAA: 1-2 Did not place
Consey Round 2 - Lost 4-2
SE-3 Justice Hockenberry-Folk (12)
West Perry (WPRY)
Rank: 9
Total Season 33-7
Post Season 8-3
Dec 3-3
Tech 2-0
Pins 3-0
Round of 16 - Lost by Fall
NE-1 Deegan Ross (12)
Lackawanna Trail (LWT)
Rank: 10
Total Season 40-2
Post Season 7-0
Dec 2-0
Pins 4-0
Dflt 1-0
First match - Won by Fall 5:19
SE-5 Joseph Lapenna (11)
Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP)
Rank: 14
Total Season 18-10
Post Season 8-3
Dec 2-2
Maj 3-0
Pins 2-1
Dflt 1-0
Jalen Wagner - Senior, 172 lbs, 6th Place
This is the third time that Jalen has qualified for the State tournament. He grabbed a silver at the North West region in an extremely tough weight class to earn his trip. He is ranked 6th in the state with an overall 33-4 record. Jalen's path to states shows an 8-1 record with 3 decisions, 4 pins and an injury default win. His only tourney loss by a close decision in the region finals. Along his way, Jalen picked up his 100th career win (currently at 107)!
Jalen's Opponents at States
5th/6th Place - Lost by default
NE-1 Caden Finck (11)
Montgomery (MTG)
Rank: 14
Total Season 43-6
Post Season 9-0
Dec 4-0
Maj 1-0
Tech 2-0
Pins 2-0
Consey Semifinals - Lost 1-2
NW-3 Waylon Wehler (12)
St Marys (STM)
Rank: 8
Total Season 35-4
Post Season 7-1
Dec 0-1
Maj 1-0
Tech 1-0
Pins 5-0
Semifinals - lost 2-3
SE-2 Holden Garcia (12)
Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP)
Rank: 2
Total Season 38-7
Post Season 6-1
Dec 0-1
Maj 1-0
Tech 2-0
Pins 3-0
Quarterfinals - Won 4-2
NE-1 Caden Finck (11)
Montgomery (MTG)
Rank: 14
Total Season 43-6
Post Season 9-0
Dec 4-0
Maj 1-0
Tech 2-0
Pins 2-0
Round of 16 - Won 7-5
SE-3 Lucas Lawler (10)
Bishop McDevitt (BMD3)
Rank: 4
Total Season 31-7
Post Season 9-1
Dec 4-0
Maj 1-1
Tech 1-0
Pins 3-0
Dflt 0-0