It was mostly all smiles for Liberty's KJ Fenstermacher and Andrew Gunning following their departure from the PIAA wrestling tournament in Hershey Saturday night.

Both Hurricanes came home with medals and both finished their season with wins in the consolation rounds to cap successful campaigns for the underclassmen.

Fenstermacher (113) started off the consolation round for the 'Canes with a 6-3 decision over Hunter Baxter of Pine-Richland to claim seventh place. Gunning closed out the night with a fifth place finish at 220-pounds after defeating Fred Mantsch of Hempfield 3-2.

While both wrestlers conveyed the message of wanting to finish higher at the tournament, they were certainly enthusiastic about improving their status in the tournament a year from now.

"Seventh place isn't what I really wanted, but it was good to finish out with a win," said Fenstermacher, who finishes his sophomore year at 38-6. "It was a little difficult bouncing back after the losses, but my coaches kept telling me that I need to come back. There's a lot of college coaches out there watching and you just need to keep going and keep winning."

Fenstermacher reached the quarterfinals but lost to state runner-up Gage Curry of North Hills 7-3, dumping him into the third round of consolations, where he registered a 6-1 win over Harrison Campbell of Quakertown to guarantee himself a medal.

He then lost a 6-5 decision to Devin Schnupp of Warwick to move in the seventh place bout.

Being it the first time Fenstermacher qualified for the state tournament, he certainly came away with valuable experience heading into the offseason.

"I learned that you can't be star struck about being here in front of the big crowds and just treat it as one big match after another," he said. "Since I didn't place as high as I wanted, it gives me more to work for in the offseason. I'll be back in the weight room this week and just keep working to get higher on the podium."

Gunning saw a similar path as his teammate, as he lost in the quarters by a 6-3 score to Kiski Area's Tyler Worthing. He then won his next two consolation bouts before seeing his local foe in Parkland's Omar Haddad for the right to wrestle for third place.

But just as the district and regional finals that saw Haddad scrape away with wins, the Trojan senior did it again in the consolation round, knocking off Gunning 2-1 in a tie-breaker to force him to battle for fifth.

Despite the setback, coming back with a win to cap off Saturday night's final round was a positive way to go out of his first state tournament as well.

"It was fun being out there and I really enjoyed the experience," said Gunning (32-12). "I thought I wrestled well and I peaked at the right time and I think some more work in the offseason will help me even more next year."

District champion Luke Werner (106) failed to get a medal in Hershey, as he went 1-2 at the tournament. Werner saw his season end in the third round of consolations following a 4-0 loss to Central Dauphin's Chris Wright.

Heavyweight Kyle Gildner (29-18) went 1-2 in his trip to Hershey and was eliminated after losing to Zach Dorsey of Spring-Ford by fall in 1:48 in the second round of consolations.

Gildner lost his opening bout of the tournament and then pinned Jeremy Candelario of Pocono Mountain East in 1:59 in the first round of consolations to register his only win of the state tournament.