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7 area wrestlers gain No. 1 sectional seed


Waynesboro put together an impressive dual meet wrestling season this year, pretty much under the radar.

The Indians finished 13-4 with eight straight victories, and just missed qualifying for the District 3 Class AAA team championship tournament.

Now that the individual postseason is about to begin - all five Franklin County Mid Penn teams will wrestle in the District 3-AAA Section I Tournament at Mechanicsburg on Saturday - Waynesboro hopes to make a little more noise.

"We don't really have any superstars, but we're a solid team," said Dan Craig, in his first season at the helm of the Indians. "I'd say we have a chance to get a decent number of kids through to districts. We're not counting any of our kids out, and I think we can get maybe six to eight through."

Waynesboro had some of its better wrestlers out for long spells, but now everybody is back except for returning district qualifier Kody Brown at 220. He wrestled in only two meets this year, while Ryan Neff, Austin Wise, Matt McCann and Shawn Robinson all missed some stretches of time.

Neff (13-2) is at 126, which may be an interesting weight. He's the No. 3 seed, while Chambersburg's Aaron Rump (27-7) is No. 2 and Chandler Olson of Shippensburg (27-1) is seeded first. Olson won at 126 last year, and Rump took a crown at 113 a year ago. Rump wrestled the whole season at 132 before dropping.

Trojan coach Matt Mentzer said, "We started talking about it maybe the end of January, and he's slowly come down in weight. Aaron is looking really solid, but that's a tough weight class."

"He knows he has a tough road ahead to get to the podium at states," Greyhound coach Tony Yaniello said of Olson. "There is some good competition at sections, but Chandler is focused on his technique and style."

Chambersburg and Shippensburg each grabbed three top seeds, and Waynesboro had one - Cody Frey (23-9) at 145.

For the Trojans, Spencer Runshaw (22-7 at 113), Garrett Kyner (26-5 at 138) and Drew Peck (29-4 at 182) are seeded No. 1. Peck and Kyner each won last year and Kyner will be shooting for his fourth sectional crown.

Kyner will be expected to meet Will Kaldes of Cumberland Valley in the final, and he owns a 7-3 win over Kaldes earlier this season. Peck is one of only seven wrestlers at 182, but Big Spring's Blake Barrick could be a formidable opponent for Peck - he beat Barrick 3-1 at 195 in the Carlisle tourney final. If the seeds hold, Runshaw could see Waynesboro's Laken Rouzer (25-8) in the final.

Mentzer said, "We have two good, young Franklin County wrestlers there at 113. Kyler and Kaldes could be one of those pairings that meet this week in the final and next week in the district final. Barrick had been at 195 all year; we weren't sure if he would drop or not."

For Ship, the other two top seeds are Cole Forrester (24-6) at 195 and unbeaten Cameron Tinner (26-0) at 220.

"Since Christmas, Cole has been really on," Yaniello said. "He's a lot better now than he was earlier. Cameron was a light 170-pounder last year and he started this season at 204. But he's up to 216 now and that's all muscle he's added."

James Buchanan will be taking only five wrestlers and the only one with a high seed is Seth Carbaugh (16-6), No. 3 at 195. Kyle Lee (15-5) would have been in the running at 138, but in the New Oxford Tournament - the Rockets' last competition - Lee was disqualified for misconduct and has to sit out the next competition - which means his season is done.

Greencastle-Antrim will have nine wrestlers entered, with the highest seed a fifth for Bryce Fisher (285).

Notes: The top three finishers at each weight qualify for next week's District 3 Tournament at Hersheypark Arena ... All fourth -place finishers are possible district entrants, depending on how high the ratings are at their weight compared to the other four sectionals ... Waynesboro has the most top-three seeds with seven; Chambersburg and Ship have four each.

Wrestling begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday ... The final session, with third-place matches and then the finals, begins at 4:30.

Section I Tournament

Saturday, at Mechanicsburg

Area Top 3 Seeds

No. 1 seeds: 113 - Spencer Runshaw (Chambersburg); 126 - Chandler Olson (Shippensburg); 138 - Garrett Kyner (Chbg); 145 - Cody Frey (Waynesboro); 182 - Drew Peck (Chbg); 195 - Cole Forrester (Ship); 220 - Cameron Tinner (Ship).

No. 2 seeds: 106 - Matt McCann (Way); 113 - Laken Rouzer (Way); 126 - Aaron Rump (Chbg).

No. 3 seeds: 120 - Ethan Swink (Way); 126 - Ryan Neff (Way); 152 - Jake Wertz (Way); 182 - Aiden Smith (Way); 195 - Seth Carbaugh (James Buchanan); 285 - Nick Kubala (Ship).