Dan Schiffert wanted to be in the race for a gold medal at the PIAA wrestling championships.

It didn’t work out that way for the Freedom senior, but coming away with a medal from Hershey isn’t a bad consolation prize.

The Freedom heavyweight took home a fifth place finish and capped off his career on the Giant Center podium over the weekend.

“I didn’t want to be in this position, not wrestling for first,” said Schiffert, “but I did my best to come back and get as high as I could.”

Schiffert’s dream at a place in the finals collapsed in the quarterfinals in a 10-5 loss to Nolan Reinert of Gettysburg.

The light footed and undersized Reinert used his speed to score three takedowns and push Schiffert to the consolation bracket.

From there he needed to go into sudden victory to pin Exeter’s Kevin Oswalt in 6:47 to clinch a Hershey medal.

“I had a lot of doubt after losing in the quarters to a kid that’s much smaller than me,” he said. “It stinks losing that match, but it’s something you got to learn from.”

He finished 3-1 in the consolation rounds and had the easiest match of his life in the fifth place consolation finals, as Easton’s Kurtis Crossman medically forfeited the final bout.

“It feels good to come out of here with a medal,” said Schiffert. “I knew I did my best and I’m happy with that.”