All told, five returned home with podium finishes. Those five were Autumn Waite, Addie Sullivan, Abbie Darr, Collin Havers and Johnathan Sullivan.

As they say, ladies first.

Addie Sullivan dropped a heartbreaking match in the Girls 8U 88-pound semifinals in which she was leading 10-6 with under 30 seconds to go before she gave up the pin to eventual champion Riley Bennethum of Northern Lebanon. Addie responded with a pin in 56 seconds over Mercer’s Brynlee Weirick in the consolation finals to finish her tournament strong and claim the bronze medal.

Waite began with a bye in the Round of 32 then pinned Canon-McMillan’s Skylar Frantz in the Round of 16. Waite bounced back from a setback in the quarterfinals by reeling off three straight wins — two of which were decided by three points or less — to reach the consolation finals. Waite fell in the consolation finals to Honesdale’s Maeson Olver to finish in fourth place in the Girls 12U 90-pound bracket.

Submitted Photo In photo above is Addie Sullivan, who is flanked by her coaches, from the left, Jimmy Mosher and Dan Sullivan.

Darr overcame an early loss in the Round of 16 by winning back-to-back matches over General McLane’s Maddy McClellan and Northern Lebanon’s Emily Dechert respectively to clinch a spot on the podium. She was upended by Saegertown’s Kaylee Stampin-Williams in the consolation semifinals, which left her to face off with Corry’s Rori Shaffer for fifth place. Darr was able to knock off Shaffer in sudden victory by a score of 3-0 to finish in fifth place at Girls 16U 200 pounds.

Havers began his tournament with a 46-second pin and a 18-0 technical fall over James Patterson of Connellsville and Jax Crow of South Middleton respectively. Havers rebounded from a narrow 3-2 loss to Penn Trafford’s Tristan Dinzeo in the quarterfinals by winning three straight matches by bonus to earn a rematch in the consolation finals against Dinzeo. But this time it was Havers who won. Havers was the victor by a 2-0 score to finish as the bronze medalist at 14U 172 pounds.

Johnathan Sullivan started off his tournament with a 2-0 win over Berks Catholic’s Colt Witman. He then followed it up with a pin in 3:56 over Quintin Hazlett of Hempfield. Sullivan endured an upset loss to Camryn White of Juniata Valley in the quarterfinals, which left him in a do-or-die match against Lewisburg’s Caden Frake. Sullivan made sure to take care of business as he cruised to a 12-1 win to ensure his place on the podium.

A close 1-0 loss to Belle Vernon’s Logan Maise in the consolation quarterfinals relegated Sullivan to the seventh- and eighth-place match against familiar foe Cooper Bliss of Port Allegany. Sullivan was able to blow a close match wide open in the third period as he won 8-0 to claim seventh place at 14U 212 pounds.

Several other Eagles and Knights won a match or more at the tournament, but came up just shy of placing.

Autumn Waite

Grayson Kitchel rebounded from an 8-0 loss in the Round of 16 to Belle Vernon’s Orlando Benczo by winning 8-4 over Ryker Malone of Canon-McMillan. His tournament was concluded by a 12-0 loss to Greyson Augustine of Danville.

Sam Hagg went 1-2 at 10U 150 pounds. Hagg ran up a 6-0 lead then pinned Towanda’s Noah Flynn in 1:52 for his win.

Hunter Vanderhoof put together a great tournament as he won three matches against opponents from across the state. By virtue of his success, Vanderhoof reached the blood round against Northwestern’s Boomer English, an opponent who had pinned him quickly earlier in the season. Vanderhoof and English were deadlocked 0-0 following all three regulation periods, the sudden victory period and one of the two 30-second ride out periods. Unfortunately for Vanderhoof, English converted on a reversal with two seconds left in the second 30-second ride-out period of overtime to win the match.

Maci Hodak won by fall over Wattsburg’s Laserly Dailey in 2:28 before losing a 1-0 heartbreaker in the third round of consolations to Charleroi’s Angelina Destefano to conclude her tournament.

McKenzie Hodak picked up two pins in her showing. Hodak pinned Raelynn Graff of Line Mountain in 44 seconds and Molly Keck of Laurel in 1:54 before bowing out with a loss to Slippery Rock’s Amber Snyder in the blood round.

Abbie Darr

Leah Morrison had a 1-2 showing as well. She pinned Greensburg Salem’s Aleah Saville in 1:58 before bowing out.

Also wrestling for the Eagles and Knights were Lyle Erickson, Kendall Mosher, Wade Fithian, Kole Renwick, Lane Morrison, Ronnie Shellhouse and Owen Ash.

The 8U, 10U and 12U Little Eagles and Little Knights wrestlers will now turn their attention to the PJW State Championships that will be held March 28-29 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.