Winning a PIAA State Wrestling Championship as a freshman is a rare feat. In fact, there have only been 40 freshmen win PIAA titles in the 80 years of the championships. However, there has been a recent surge in freshman champions. There are many factors at play, but the coaching available at the club level prior to high school has allowed more freshman to be ready to compete at a high level than ever before. This decade has produced more than twice the amount of freshman champions from any previous decade in history. 

The expectations for freshmen are at an all time high. In 2018 two freshmen walked out of the Giant Center with gold medals hanging from their neck, Gary Steen of Reynolds in AA and Alejandro Herrera-Rondon of Seneca Valley in AAA. This year’s crop of freshmen will look to continue the trend with several freshmen expected to be in the title hunt March 7-9, Live on FloWrestling. 

Leading the pack will be championship favorite Ryan Crookham of Notre Dame-Green Pond. Crookham is currently ranked #1 in the state by PA Power Wrestling, and has a win over current #2 Beau Bayless. Crookham and the 2017 state champion, Bayless, met on the Giant Center floor during the 2019 Team Championships. Crookham came away with the 6-0 victory. Keep an eye on Crookham as he works his way to the State Championships through District 11 and the Southeast Region in AA. 

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Another freshman with championship expectations is Southern Columbia’s #3 Gavin Garcia. He won’t come into the state tournament as the championship favorite, and he doesn’t have the national resume like Crookham who won Super32 as an eighth-grader. Garcia is also a star football player that rushed for nearly 1,000 yards this season. He barely had double digit matches going into the District 4 sectional tournaments this past weekend. However, he does have experience against the top tier of weight class. He faced-off with returning state runner-up, #1 Caleb Dowling of St. Joseph’s Academy, at the Ultimate Warrior Tournament at West Branch in late January. Dowling took a 5-4 UTB decision from Garcia, but it was valuable experience for the freshman.

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On the AA side a handful of freshman occupy medal spots in the rankings. Aside from Crookham and Garcia, Dayton Pitzer of Mt. Pleasant is currently ranked #1 at 182 pounds, Kolby Franklin of St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy is ranked #2 at 195 pounds, Jackson Arrington of Forest Hills is ranked #2 at 113 pounds, and Levi Haines of Biglerville is ranked #3 at 106 pounds. Bucking the most recent trend of freshmen having success in AAA, Dante Frinzi of Bethlehem Catholic is the highest ranked freshman in AAA. He checks in at #7 at 106 pounds. This returns to the historical norm where freshmen have had more success at the AA level.

Let’s take a look through the years at freshman champions and some of their stories

1940s

PIAA Wrestling was in its infancy in 1940 as it hosted the PIAA Championships for the third time. Two freshman took home titles from the tournament hosted at Penn State’s Rec Hall. James Conklin of Waynesburg won his first of four PIAA titles and Steve DeAugustino of Grove City won his first of two titles in controversial fashion. The History Of The PIAA Wrestling Championships by Norm Palovcsik and Mike Smith is a must have for any wrestling junky. Their recap of the 1940 Championship described DeAugustino’s title as follows, “The 95-pound final bout pitted defending state champion Raymond ‘Bucky’ Murdock against freshman Steve DeAugustino from Grove City. While in the controlling position, Murdock rolled through across his back and was ruled pinned by the official. DeAugustino won the bout despite trailing and being in the bottom position. The loss was Murdock’s only loss of his high school career.”

Defensive falls apparently have been around and complained about for as long as the tournament has been in existence. Conklin and DeAugustino almost crossed paths down the line as seniors. Conklin was going for his fourth title, but DeAugustino had been pinned in the quarter-finals his sophomore year by Lancaster’s Dick Milley and was in search of a record tying third title and could have derailed Conklin in the process. The match wasn’t to be as George Halas, no not that George Halas, but his nephew,  of Haverford knocked off DeAugustino in the semifinals. Conklin made history and took home his fourth state title.

Jerry Maury won his first of four titles in 1947. Clearfield was a power of early PIAA wrestling and had accumulated 23 individual championships in 12 years at the time of Maury’s graduation in 1950. The Maury family accounted for eight of the 23 title as older brothers James and Don had each won a championship prior to Jerry’s arrival on the high school level.

1950s

 Mike Johnson was the only freshman champion of the 1950s. In 1958 Johnson was the third straight 95 pound champion from Lock Haven High School as Ted Hill and Maynard Aungst had taken home the two prior lightweight crowns. Johnson went on to win four titles covering the first four weight classes of 95, 103, 112, and 120 pounds.

1970s

Not a single freshman was able to take a title home during the 1960s. It ended up being almost two full decades until the next freshman took home a title in 1977. Major changes had occured in 1974 that formed the landscape that is very similar to today’s PIAA Wrestling Championships. The PIAA went to a two-class format with Class A and Class B. The championship field also expanded to 16 competitors in each bracket. The field expansion was on the heels of the field expanding from four to eight in 1973. The classes were renamed to the current AAA and AA in 1976.

In 1977 it was Terry Williams a freshman from Bald Eagle Nittany that broke through for the freshmen. The title for Williams would mark the second consecutive title for a freshman that was from a school that would feed into the current Central Mountain High School. Williams would go on to win three titles as he came up short in the 1979 155 pound final against Fairview’s Randy McKinney, 10-5. It was the second week in a row that McKinney took down Williams as he also defeated him in the Northwest Regional final.

1980s

All four freshman titlist in the 1980s converted their freshman run into joining the uber-exclusive club of four-time state champions. Matt Gerhard of Catasaqua opened the decade in 1981 as a AA champion at 98 pounds. Gerhard defeated Northern senior Marty Walsh of Northern for the title in 1981, 8-2. Gerhard would win title in the consecutive weight classes of 105, 112, and 119 pounds to cap his high school career.

Ty Moore of North Allegheny became the first AAA state champion in 1987. Moore took the title with a 10-2 major decision over fellow freshman Brad Silimperi of Nazareth. It wouldn’t be the only time Moore and Silimperi would meet in Hershey Park Arena. They both took home titles in 1988, Silimperi at 98 pounds and Moore at 105 pounds. Both Silimperi and Moore were at 112 pounds for the 1989 PIAA Championships. Moore was upset in the regional final by Connellsville’s Jeff Stephanic. Stephanic and Silimperi met in a quarterfinal showdown with Silimperi coming out on top, 4-3. In the final Moore scored a late third period takedown to take the advantage in a tied bout. A late escape for Silimperi wasn’t enough as Moore took his third championship with a 4-3 decision. A year later Moore pinned Ryan Youwakim of Northampton in the finals to earn his fourth title and the outstanding wrestler award.

Starting in 1988, a freshman took home a title each year in AA for the next three season. All three would go on to win four titles. John Hughes won the 112 pound championship for Benton. He would run off titles at 125, 140, and 145 pounds to join the four-timer club. John and his twin brother Russ lead a Benton team that book-ended their career with team titles in 1988 and 1991.

Cary Kolat burst onto the scene in 1989. He pinned Tony Owens of Tyrone in the 119 pound final in 1989. Kolat is widely regarded as the best high school wrestler of the modern era. His legend was widely known even by young wrestlers in the 1980s. I shared my memories of his high school run here. Twice during high school Kolat took home hardware from the prestigious Midlands Championship, finishing 3rd in 1989 and 4th in 1990. 

Kolat was incredibly dominant in Hershey Park Arena. He wrestled 16 bouts in four years: eight ended by fall, five ended by technical fall, two were decisions, and the final bout of his career he won by injury default. Three of his opponents at the state tournament either won a title the very next year or was a returning champion. Against those opponents he won a 12-5 decision (Joel Torretti of Lewisburg received a standing ovation after this bout), earned a 22-7 technical fall, and pinned returning state champion Greg Budman of Hughesville in 1:16. There was such a buzz around Kolat the attendance reached 8,476 his senior season as he took the mat for the final time in Hershey Park Arena. 

1990s

Milton is a school that has a male enrollment that bounces their wrestling team back and forth between AA and AAA. In 1990, when Bob Crawford was a freshman, Milton was a AA school. In an early season dual meet with Mahanoy Area Crawford dropped a 7-6 decision to Jim Keck. Crawford didn’t suffer another defeat until the regional finals of his senior season, he ran off 131 straight after the early loss to Keck. His opponent in the PIAA finals was also from Mahanoy Area. However it wasn’t Jim Keck. Brendan Hasara had wrestled the 1989 postseason at 119 pounds, but dropped to 112 pounds for the 1990 postseason. It proved to be a good choice as he landed a spot opposite of Crawford in the finals. Under the old 1-1-1 overtime rules, Crawford took the 13-11 overtime decision. 

Crawford’s path to four title is one of the most interesting in PIAA history. Milton moved to AAA for Crawford’s final three seasons. As a sophomore Crawford met Nazareth junior Ryan Nunamaker for the championship. This bout is probably my favorite PIAA final of all time. Crawford showed a lot of funk way ahead of its time and prevailed 15-11, once again in overtime. Crawford’s junior year was the most uneventful as he dominated the field except Drew Spencer of Peters Twp. in the quarter-final. That was a 3-2 decision for Crawford and the second straight year in AAA that Crawford defeated a wrestler en route to the title that would go on to claim their own championship the following year. Crawford’s senior year wasn’t a celebratory victory lap that you sometimes expect. Crawford was defeated in the regional final by Nazareth’s Dan Tashner. Crawford was able to turn the tables in Hershey and pick up his fourth state title with a 6-0 decision. Special appreciation to Milton head coach, Josh Anspach, for tracking down the Crawford vs Keck score. He didn’t have to go very far as Crawford is part of his staff, as is the next freshman champion, Jason Betz.

Betz hit the PIAA scene in 1992 for Warrior Run High School. Betz defeated Andy Levan of Pine Grove back-to-back years for the AA title at 103 and 112 pounds. It was a 6-5 overtime decision for Betz his freshman year, and a 4-3 decision as a sophomore. Betz breezed through the 119 pound bracket as a junior and was set to become a four-time champion at the 1995 championships. Betz had an anticipated showdown with 1994 PIAA Champion Travis Makel of Jefferson-Morgan, who had dropped from his title weight of 130 pounds down to 125 pounds to take on Betz. The matchup never materialized. Betz was cruising in his semifinal against Jeremy Lengle of Pine Richland when disaster struck for Betz. Leading 10-2 Betz was on the attack again when Lengle countered with a spladle. The pinning combination was tight and Lengle secured the fall at 3:45. Showing great character Betz fought back through the backside for a third-place finish.

Jeremy Hunter was the next phenom to hit the arena floor in Hershey in 1993, but he didn’t come in as the favorite.  The McGuffey freshman was defeated in the southwest regional final by North Allegheny sophomore Teague Moore. Tied at four in the rematch with Moore, Hunter scored the match winning takedown in sudden victory to secure the first of four AAA state titles.

Tri-Valley’s Josh Miller has a unique, but unfortunate distinction amongst freshman PIAA Champions. Miller was the first freshman titleist to not get back to the top of the awards stand. Miller took home the AA 112 pound title in 1994. In three consecutive seasons Miller dropped the title match. He dropped back-to-back finals against Bald Eagle Nittany’s Scott Bair, before being defeated by Rob English of West Branch his senior season.

Reynolds is a history rich program that continues to set the benchmark in today’s AA classification. They have produced several freshman champions, the first being Justin Nestor in 1998. Nestor took home the 130 pound title with a 4-2 sv decision over Dustin Ziegler of Bedford. Nestor would drop his first round bout at the 1999 championships and finish fourth before capturing back-to-back titles at 145 pound in 2000 and 2001.

Another Mcguffey lightweight hit the mats in 1999. Jeff Breese was highly touted coming into high school and he delivered. Breese won the AAA 103 pound title. Immediately Jeremy Hunter comparisons started. However, Breese wouldn’t get his shot at four PIAA titles as his 2000 season ended with a knee injury before the postseason. Breese would rebound to take home the 112 pound title in 2001, but failed to place in the 119 pound bracket in 2002.

2000s

2003 saw two freshmen pick up AA titles. Matt Dunn of Reynolds and Garrett Scott of Juniata Valley took home the 103 and 119 pound titles. Scott did not win his district or regional tournament as he dropped close decisions to returning PIAA Champion Jake Stayer of Forest Hills. Stayer was caught in a cement job and pinned by Ryan Storm in round one. Scott took advantage and pinned Matt Guerrieri of Brandywine Heights at the 5:56 mark to take home the title.

Neither Dunn or Scott was able to parlay their freshman title into a full set of four championships. Dunn was the prohibitive favorite the following year when Central Columbia junior Taylor Cummings used a third period takedown, fleeing the mat point, and finally a three-point nearfall  from a cross-wrist tilt to take down the returning champion 6-5 in the quarterfinals. Scott ran off two straight titles before off the mat issues prevented him from competing his senior season. A school suspension was served the week of the state tournament and kept Scott from participating in any school activities.

The AA 103 pound weight class was owned by freshmen between 2006 and 2011. John Prezzia of South Side Beaver, Frank Martellotti of Shady Side Academy, and Luke Frey of Montoursville won the first three titles in this span and would all join the infamous club of freshman champions that would fail to win another title. Prezzia had a fourth place as a sophomore before injuries derailed his career. Both Martellotti and Frey would win four medals and they made the finals in 2010, coming just short of another title.

Jimmy Gulibon of Derry, Nick Roberts of North Star, and Arty Walsh of Wyomissing all won titles at the 2009 PIAA Championships. Gulibon won AAA 103 pounds and Roberts won the AA side. Walsh won a monster bracket at 112 pounds in AA that contained the aforementioned Frey, returning runner-up Mason Beckman of Reynolds. However, it was fellow Freshman Zach Beitz of Juniata coming through the top bracket posting wins over both Beckman and Frey. Walsh would take the title with a 5-2 decision. This would be the only title of Walsh’s career as he transferred to Juniata the following year and failed to place. As a junior and senior at Schuylkill Walsh picked up a fifth and third place medal to finish out his career.

Gulibon ran through the AAA field at 103 and 112 pounds before Derry dropped to the AA classification. Gulibon took down Bethlehem Catholic’s Randy Cruz in the 119 pound final in 2011 6-5. He became the tenth member or the prestigious four-time champions club the following year when he defeated Keystone Oaks junior Nick Zanetta, 9-3.

2010s

Roberts finished his career a three-time champion. Only failing to win the title as a sophomore at 103 pounds. Knocking Roberts off his Sophomore year was the next freshman champion Zain Retherford of Line Mountain. Retherford defeated Roberts 4-3 in the semifinal, before defeating Brad Farley of Bermudian Springs in the championship bout. Retherford would come up short as a sophomore,just like Roberts. At 112 pounds Retherford was defeated by the identical 4-3 score by Penn Cambria’s Evan Link. This denied the Roberts vs Retherford rematch, and Roberts picked up his second title pinning Link in the final. After missing a year due to transfer rules, Retherford book-ended his career with a title in 2013 for the Benton Tigers. 

Along with Retherford in 2010, Cody Wiercioch of Charleroi would take home a title on the AA side. Wiercioch took down Kyle Dehaut of Bethlehem Catholic 8-3 in the 152 pound final. Wiercioch was the second heaviest freshman to win a title at the time just below Terry Williams of Bald Eagle Nittany at 155 pounds. Wiercioch fell victim to the sophomore jinx just like Roberts and Gulibon as he fell to Burrell’s Travis McKillop in sudden victory at the 2011 PIAA Championships. A move his junior season would land Wiercioch on the AAA level wrestling for Canon-McMillan. Wiercioch would win two titles for the Big Mac’s to close out his career.

Wiercioch would graduate from Canon-Mcmillan with Connor Schram who also took home a title as a freshman in 2010. Schram won a 2-1 UTB decision over Austin Miller of Hempfield for the title in 2010. Schram would come up short in back-to-back finals appearances dropping matches to Jordan Conaway of New Oxford and Godwin Nyama of Brashear. Schram wouldn’t be denied as a senior as he defeated Franklin Regional’s Michael Kemerer, 5-3.

In 2011 fans once again saw three freshmen take home gold medals from Hershey. Jason Nolf of Kittanning to home the title at 103 pounds in AA, while Chance Marsteller of Kennard-Dale and Thomas Haines of Solanco took home titles on the AAA side.

Nolf held on for a 2-1 UTB victory over Bethlehem Catholic sophomore Darian Cruz in a semi-final showdown. After getting past Cruz, Nolf took the title with a 4-2 decision over Joseph Byers of Boiling Springs. Nolf would be the only one of the 2011 trio to not will four titles. Nolf’s sophomore year he was defeated in the semifinals by Ryan DIehl of Trinity. 

Marsteller and Haines won championships at 152 and 215 pounds in 2011. Haines is the only freshman to win a title above 155 pounds in PIAA history. Marsteller dominated his way to an undefeated freshman season taking out two previous runner-up finishers. Both wrestlers would hold serve throughout their careers as they became the 11th and 12th member of the four-time PIAA champions club.

2012 was the first year since 2005 that a freshman failed to win a gold medal at the PIAA Championships. 2013 saw a single freshman in both AA and AAA climb to the top of the podium. George Phillippi of Derry won at 113 pounds in AA and Luke Pletcher took home the 106 pound AAA title. You know George Phillippi better as “Micky.” These two guys will be forever mentioned together for a long time. They met numerous times in high school level and renewed their rivalry on the NCAA mats at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational this past December. They each took home three PIAA Championships with Phillippi coming up just short his sophomore season and Pletcher lost an incredibly entertaining final to A.C. Headlee of Waynesburg his junior year. 

2014 saw another set of three freshman leave the Giant Center with the championship. Jake Riegel of Bethlehem Catholic was a surprise winner at 106 pounds in AA. Riegel finished fifth at the southeast regional tournament. In round one Riegel upset undefeated freshman Brian Courtney of Athens and never looked back. In the final he defeated John Pipa of Bishop McDevitt 3-1. Pipa defeated Riegel in the regional semi-final 4-2 just a week earlier. Riegel moved to AAA the next season as Bethlehem Catholic elected to move to the bigger classification. Riegel took home an eighth place finish in 2015 at 120 pounds. Riegel finished his career outside of the PIAA at Wyoming Seminary.

On the AAA side Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional and Cameron Coy of Penn Trafford took home titles at 113 and 132 pounds. Both Lee and Coy won three PIAA titles in their career, but they went about getting there in different ways. Coy was defeated in the 2015 final by former Hempfield state champion Sam Krivus, 1-0. Coy would bounce back to cap his career off with two more titles. 

Lee went on one of the most dominant runs high school wrestling has ever seen through his first three seasons. At the state tournament Lee was 12-0 with seven falls, four technical falls, and one major decision. That is a stat line that was unprecedented in PIAA wrestling. Unfortunately, a major knee injury during Lee’s senior season hobbled him as he looked to close out his career a four-time champion. His final bout with Austin DeSanto is well documented as Lee came up just short when he surrendered a buzzer-beating takedown. 

Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson-Morgan and Cole Matthews of Reynolds took to the top of the stand on the AA side in 2015. Matthews defeated Brian Courtney of Athens for the championship at 120 pounds, 3-2. However this wasn’t the last those two would see of each other at the Giant Center. Courtney pulled of an incredible run in 2016 defeating three returning state champions in a row to win his first title at 126 pounds. Matthews was Courtney’s semifinal victim falling 9-3. Courtney also defeat 126 pound state champion Jonathan Gabriel of Bedford and 113 pound champion Max Murin of Central Cambria. Murin and Matthews fought it out for the 138 pound championship in 2017 with Murin coming out on top 2-1 in UTB. Matthews did cap his career with a title in 2018 and finished 1, 3, 2, 1 for his career.

Teasdale was able to join the elite club of four-time champions becoming the 13th member. It wasn’t without some challenges though. The most significant came in the quarterfinals his freshman year. Teasdale was squaring off with fellow freshman Jaret Lane of Southern Columbia. Lane had Teasdale in deep trouble almost pinning the freshman phenom. Teasdale was able to recover and fight back with a flurry of takedowns to tie the match at 10 a piece heading into sudden victory. Teasdale was able to secure the takedown in overtime and was on his way to his first of four titles.

2016 and 2017 saw one freshman champion emerge from the AAA classification each year, and those two wrestlers will be linked in PIAA history after the 2019 PIAA Championships. Julian Chlebove of Northampton was a freshman titleist at 113 pounds in 2016 taking down Matt Parker of Pennridge 3-0. The next season Sam Hillegas earned the 113 pound crown with a 5-2 decision over Louis Newell of Seneca Valley. Neither Hillegas or Chlebove have tasted defeat in the Giant Center, that will change this March as they are both at 132 pounds. Hillegas is still on track for four PIAA titles, but Chlebove missed the 2018 season due to off the mat issues. With the PIAA separation criteria this could end up being a semifinal due to Chlebove not having any credentials from 2018.

106 pounds was won by a freshman on both the AA and AAA side in 2018. Gary Steen won the AA Championship for Reynolds, and Alejandro Herrera won the AAA title representing Seneca Valley. These two met at the 2017 Powerade Tournament with Steen coming out on top 6-4 in TB2. Steen will be back at 106 pounds in AA. The AA 106 pound bracket could see up to four nationally ranked wrestlers battling for the title. Herrera will be looking to go back-to-back in AAA, but this time at 113 pounds.

Will the 41st freshman titleist be crowned this year at the Giant Center? Or will the upperclassmen send the freshmen home from Hershey without any satisfaction?