Kordell Waiters’ junior wrestling season ended in heartbreaking fashion. Now the Emmaus senior is making the most of his senior year.

He was one of two Hornets to take third place at last week’s PIAA Northeast Regional at the Chrin Center in Palmer Township. Both will move on to this Saturday’s PIAA East Super Regional in Quakertown.

Waiters came one win away from reaching regionals last season. This year, he not only made it there, but got one step further in advancing through regionals.

“Everyday now I come to the room and think about where I was last year and where I am this year,” he said. “I’m proud of myself, but I’ve got to keep moving because it’s not over yet. It’s in the past now. I’ve got to look forward to next week.”

Waiters, who wrestled at 152 pounds, will be joined by Emmaus junior 132-pounder Nick Velde in next week’s super regional.

Waiters opened regionals with a 12-1 win over Andriy Luchko (Central High of Philadelphia) in the quarterfinals. He fell to Nazareth’s Noah Okamoto 6-2 in the semifinals, but bounced back with a pair of pins in wrestlebacks.

He put CJ Demark (Pittston) on his back in 1:33 in the his first consolation bout, then showed Archbishop Wood’s AJ Minners the lights in 1:28 in the third-place match.

Waiters improved to 11-3 on the season and has 86 wins in his career. A season that was shortened by coronavirus precautions might have stopped him from reaching the 100-win milestone this season, but it hasn’t stopped him from making the most out of a senior season that was unlike any before.

“It’s been upsetting that I didn’t get to get the full senior-year experience,” said Waiters. “There’s no way I can reach the 100-win goal I had since I was a freshman. So it hurts. There’s nothing I can really do about it. I’ve just got to be thankful that I’m able to wrestle today because every match you get is a blessing.”

His head coach is also thankful to have Waiters in the wrestling room this season. After the graduation of Caden Wright, the Hornets needed a new leader and Waiters performed well in that role.

“For him to get through [regionals] this year is great,” said Emmaus head coach Thad Smith. “He deserves it. He really became a leader this year. He stepped up. He’s a different kid in the room. Caden was always our leader last year and Kordell took that over and so did Nick.”

Velde was also competing in his first regional tournament, making it through districts this season in his third trip to that tournament.

He opened regionals with a 16-0 technical fall over Roman Catholic’s Aaron Scanlan then fell to Nazareth’s Dominic Wheatley, 1-0, in the semifinals.

Velde then pinned Cormac Morrisey (LaSalle Prep) in 37 seconds in the consolation bracket to earn his place in the third-place match.

Velde beat Austin Smith (Abington Heights) 6-2 in the third-place bout.

“It feels pretty good” said Velde. “It’s everything I worked for all year, past years too. To finally get there is amazing.”

While he wasn’t pleased with the loss to Wheatley, who he had not competed against since last season, Velde was satisfied with his performance at regionals.

“Pretty good besides my semifinal match,” he said. “I feel like I could have done more in neutral. Besides that I think it was a pretty good tournament.”

Smith liked the way Velde pushed the action on the mat.

“He wrestles his match,” Smith said. “He doesn’t let the opponent dictate the match. He wrestles the way he wants to wrestle and I think he did a good job of that this weekend.

“Nick works hard. Everything he’s earned he’s worked for so it’s nice to see.”

Smith said both of his super regional qualifiers are hardworking wrestlers who he’s pleased to coach. He’s hoping he gets one more week with them.

The super regional will have eight wrestlers in each weight class with the top four moving on to the state tournament. In a normal year, these rounds would be contested in Hershey over four days. As a precaution the PIAA added the super regional round in order to limit the number of athletes in Hershey.

Whether or not the two Hornets make it to Hershey, reaching this point of the season is certainly equal to advancing to state championships during a normal season.