Caleb Clymer’s next best thing is pretty good.

Though the Northwestern junior didn’t get his ultimate goal of a state title, Clymer still left the PIAA Wrestling Championships with plenty to be proud of.

Clymer capped a stellar tournament with a third-place finish, his second straight medal in the Class 2A event.

After a loss in the quarterfinals, Clymer battled through the consolation bracket, winning three straight matches to reach the 152-pound third-place bout, where he defeated Central Martinsburg’s Brock Biddle, 3-2.

“I might not have gotten the gold that I wanted, or gotten to the finals like I wanted, but you’ve got to shoot for the next best thing,” said Clymer. “You have to clear your mind and it’s a whole new tournament.

“So to finish this last match strong is a confidence booster going into next year already. To finish like this, it gives me new goals, new expectations and a new goal to shoot for.”

Clymer got a slick defensive pin against Brookville’s Caleb Hetrick, stacking the junior on his shoulders for a pin in 29 seconds in his fourth-round consolation match.

The junior followed that with a 4-1 decision over Athens’ Kaidon Winters for his 100th victory and his spot in the third place match.

“It means a lot,” Clymer said. “It might not be the medal I wanted. I really wanted that gold medal, but it didn’t turn out my way this year, and that’s OK. Matches aren’t always going to go your way, and you just gotta learn to live with that and move on and take the next best thing.”

After setbacks in Thursday morning’s quarterfinals, Clymer made the most of his opportunity in the afternoon’s consolation bracket.

Following a 5-3 defeat to Ligonier Valley’s Robert Patrick in the quarters, Clymer showed his mettle with a 4-3 win against Mifflinburg’s Tyler Stoltzfus in their third-round consolation match.

Despite being forced to forfeit his final three matches at last season’s state tournament due to a hip injury, Clymer still placed sixth in 2016.

The Northwestern junior has been 100 percent this season, and it showed in an 8-4 first-round win over Wyalusing’s Josh Haley.

“Well, everything hurt last year. It was a pain,” Clymer said. “This year, it’s a lot better. I would have liked to hit, it’s not really like a switch, but you kind of go to stand up, and you almost mule kick that leg and kick him (Haley) off of you. I couldn’t do that last year. If I would have done that, I would have just broken it.

“So that’s just one move that I can hit now that I couldn’t hit last year. So my movement’s a little bit better. I feel a little bit smoother with my movement, it’s not as robotic.”

For Baily Wehr, a stellar season that included appearances in the district and regional finals in back-to-back weeks, came to an end with a 6-4 loss to Reynolds’ Andrew Ischo in a 120-pound third-round consolation match, a bout Wehr trailed 6-1.

“Going into the match, I just wanted to go hard,” Wehr said afterward. “I just wanted to leave everything on the mat.

“I’m pretty happy. I’m pretty happy coming here, it just didn’t turn out my way.”

Northwestern’s Colin Rex lost his 132-pound preliminary bout, 6-0 to Line Mountain’s Collin Klinger, and was eliminated following a 6-4 loss to Benton’s Colton Babcock in a first round consolation match.

At 145 pounds, the Tigers’ Jackson Bernhard dropped his preliminary bout, 9-5 to Line Mountain’s Kenny Boyer. Bernahrd was eliminated after an 8-5 setback in the consolation round to Milton’s Logan Bennett.

“They wrestled hard, and they were in both matches,” said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll.

After a scoreless first period, Klinger scored an escape against Rex to open the second and padded his advantage with two back points. Klinger got three more back points in the third period to set the final score.

“He’s very, very strong,” Rex said of Klinger. “And I’ve never been great with really strong guys. I just couldn’t really get hand control, or get anything going. He’s very quick and strong, and it was hard to get anything going.

“But it’s a great moment to be out there. My coaches, friends and family are all here watching. I just wanted to go out and wrestle hard.”

Boyer used a fast start against Bernhard, scoring within the first 10 seconds for an early 2-0 lead.

The Line Mountain senior upped his lead to 4-1 at the end of the first period.

Bernhard responded with a quick score to open the second period that made it 4-3. But Boyer again surged ahead, building a 9-3 lead at the end of the second period with a takedown and three back points, a deficit Bernhard couldn’t overcome.

“There was a whole mix of emotions, obviously some nerves. There was a lot of that,” Bernhard said. “A lot of excitement, though, to be out here in Hershey. It’s a new environment; it’s a whole new level of things. Everyone is at your level or better. It’s a whole new competition. I just need to keep working hard.”

Slow start aside, Moll liked what he saw from Bernhard.

“Jackson showed he can wrestle with him,” said Moll. “He took him down twice, got out, got a reversal. He just needs to do that from the very beginning instead of waiting until the second period.”

Wehr, a senior competing in his first state tournament, was happy to spend it with three of his teammates.

“Having all four of us make it out to states was pretty nice,” said Wehr. “That was probably one of the greatest memories so far.”