Locally, the highlights were Jonathan Gabriel's fourth Thomas championship, and Chestnut Ridge's second straight team title and third in four years at the event. Today's Bedford Gazette sports pages had my "Cheap Tilts" column featuring more on both of those achievements, and included a photo feature of Gabriel's weekend. Certainly, many people were buzzing about what the Bedford stud accomplished in his home gym on Friday and Saturday.
I had one person tell me that the finals match against Athens' standout Brian Courtney was the best bout that they've ever seen Gabriel wrestle, and that came from somebody that has seen him in person at previous state and regional tournaments among most other events.
It turned into another fantastic Thomas Tournament in more ways than one, but we're on to the next thing, as the District Duals take place across the state beginning tonight in some cases.
For District 5, it appears as if seven teams could be in the bracket which gets underway with quarterfinals on Thursday. Chestnut Ridge should be the top seed and host for Saturday's semifinals and championship match.
Bedford, Berlin, Everett, North Star, Somerset, and Meyersdale are the other teams. Somerset and Meyersdale wrestle tonight, and that could have some implications on who are the #6 and #7 seeds. Below this post are the latest District 5 rankings, according to the district website.
Looking around the state, two areas to keep an eye on are District 3 and District 6, as the District 5 champion will face Monday's state play-in winner between the D3 and D6 runner-ups in the first round in Hershey next Thursday.
In District 3, defending state team champion Boiling Springs is the top seed, but the Bubblers just got past rival Bermudian Springs on Saturday, 34-31. They did so without 138-pounder Cole Wetzel, as the transfer and former two-time Maryland state finalist was out of the lineup.
The way the bracket fell, Bermudian is the fifth seed, and if the Eagles defeat #4 Newport in the first round tomorrow at 6 p.m, they would get a nightcap rematch with Boiling Springs in the semifinals.
On the other side of the draw, Northern Lebanon is the second seed and the trendy pick by many to finally end Boiling Springs' run on D3 titles. The Vikings were the runner-up last year and faced Chestnut Ridge in the state's first round after beating D6 champ Huntingdon in the play-in.
In District 6, things get started tonight with top seed Huntingdon and fourth seed Marion Center hosting three-team pods. Huntingdon gets the winner of Ligonier Valley and Cambria Heights, while Marion Center will see either Penn Cambria or Juniata. Tomorrow, second seed Mount Union will face either Moshannon Valley or Central Cambria, and third seed West Branch meets the survivor of Westmont-Hilltop and Central.
I would say Huntingdon is the favorite, but it is slight, given that the Bearcats only edged Mount Union in a dual meet, 33-28, and they could be without 170-pound stud Jacob Oliver. Oliver has missed the last couple of weeks of action, and there is no definite answer on whether he will be back.
| DISTRICT FIVE "AA" WRESTLING RATINGS | |||||
| RANK | TEAM | WON | LOST | POINTS | RATING |
| 1 | CHESTNUT RIDGE | 7 | 0 | 43 | 6.143 |
| 2 | BEDFORD | 11 | 1 | 66 | 5.500 |
| 3 | BERLIN | 7 | 1 | 42 | 5.250 |
| 4 | EVERETT | 9 | 3 | 54 | 4.500 |
| 5 | NORTH STAR | 7 | 3 | 42 | 4.200 |
| 6 | SOMERSET | 6 | 4 | 36 | 3.600 |
| 7 | MEYERSDALE | 5 | 4 | 30 | 3.333 |
| 8 | NORTHERN BEDFORD | 5 | 9 | 30 | 2.143 |
| 9 | TUSSEY MOUNTAIN | 3 | 7 | 18 | 1.800 |
| 10 | CONEMAUGH TWP. | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0.857 |
| 11 | HOPE FOR HYNDMAN | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0.750 |
| 12 | SHADE | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0.000 |
| AS OF 2/1/2016 | |||||
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.