Wrestlers finish in 18th
The Whitehall wrestling team looked to keep their edge before the Christmas break when they took to the mat last week to compete in the Donegal Holiday Tournament.
The tournament, which featured 25 teams, was held Dec. 19 and 20 at Donegal High School.
It’s the first time the Zephyrs participated in the Donegal Holiday Tournament. They finished 18th with 57 points. Penn Manor High School won the double elimination tournament with 168 points.
Head coach Tim Cunningham said he wanted to expose his team to some quality competition, and the Donegal tourney which is in its 43rd year afforded that opportunity.
“We wanted to try and enter a more competitive tournament this year to prepare our young team to battle for wins and work harder to improve and learn what it takes to be a competitive wrestler,” said Cunningham.
It was also attractive because it allowed them to bring the junior varsity squad as well, making it a full-team exercise.
With the double elimination format, every varsity wrestler in the tournament was assured two matches. Cunningham said the j.v. tourney differed in that it was a round robin format, but the weekend event was a good venue for all involved.
Whitehall had two wrestlers place at the tourney. Noah Rex was 5th at 126, decisioning Manuel Canfijn from J.P. McCaskey, 6-3 to earn that spot. Nikitas Davis was seventh at 138, pinning Elizabethtown’s Dimitri Gonzalez in 4:52 in the seventh-place match.
Rex went 5-2 to claim the fifth spot, recording a gritty 5-4 decision over Crestwood’s Brandon Rinehimer to get him into the consolation semifinals. He subsequently lost in the semis to Garden Spot’s Christian Schilling, but wrestled back to defeat Canfijn to get fifth.
Nikitas Davis went 3-2, registering pins in all his victories.
Rex and Nikitas Davis are two experienced wrestlers who embody what Cunningham wants in his wrestlers.
“Both these two wrestlers are talented and are picking it up in the room and working to get better everyday and trying to have fun while working hard,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham believed the Donegal Holiday Tournament offered the right blend of competition for both the varsity and j.v. teams.
“I feel the tournament was the right tournament for our guys and I am hoping we start getting some more individuals that want to work hard year round so we can get back to where we once were as a team and even compete in National Tournaments again as we did in the past,” said Cunningham. “The guys we have this year are working extremely hard in the room during the season, and we hope we can get them to put in their time this off season to make the improvements we need to make for the following years to come. As long as they prepare themselves the best they can to compete that is all we ask as a staff and that is what we are getting from the guys this year. We see improvements from each wrestler and my assistants do a great job working with each of their guys to make little changes and improvements each practice.”
Cunningham hopes to see those improvements on display when they get onto the mat in the Jim Thorpe Tournament on Dec. 29.