Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By JOE PETRUCCI jpetrucci@leader.net
Monday, March 10, 2003 Page: 1B
SHERSHEY – By doubling their state place-winners from a year ago, area
wrestlers and coaches say they are beginning to ignificant strides to
returning their reputation to where it was in the 1970s and early ’80s.
The Wyoming Valley Conference took home a record 10 medals Saturday at the
66th PIAA Wrestling Championships. It earned five in 2002. Including the
Lackawanna League, District 2 took home 13 medals, the most ever (the state
tournament began awarding medals to the top eight instead of six in 1999).
“It’s real big,” said Berwick senior Jeremy Griffith, who was fifth in 3A
at 112 pounds after taking eighth at that weight a year ago. “A lot of people
think our district isn’t that good. Now we’re getting a little respect.”
The Class 2A and 3A Northeast Regionals, through which District 2 qualifies
its wrestlers for states, proved to be the toughest regions in the state. Both
regions had the highest percentage of its qualifiers win state medals.
“I’m impressed. I think as a whole we’re wrestling very well,” says GAR
coach Frank Castano, who watched the Grenadiers’ first state qualifier in five
years, junior Ted Yelland, take eighth in 2A at 189. “I think within our
district we have some good parity. You could tell after regionals, we did
pretty well. We took that momentum into the state tournament.”
Also, the WVC advanced three wrestlers to the finals, the first time that’s
happened since 1981, when Lake-Lehman’s Rick (112) and Rocky (119) Bonomo and
heavyweight Mike Leskowsky won gold medals en route to the 2A team title.
On Saturday, Nanticoke Area senior Jason Mitkowski (189, 2A) was the first
Trojan to win a state title and the first WVC wrestler to strike gold since
Pittston Area’s James Woodall (152) did it in 1999. Meyers junior Joe Rovelli
(152) and senior Carlo Mercadante (160) lost in the 2A finals on Saturday.
Mitkowski was the darling of the 2A finals. His finals bout against Dave
Iobst from perennial District 11 power and 2003 state team title champ Wilson
was a classic. It had plenty of action, scoring and drama. Mitkowski, with
himself and Iobst on the brink of exhaustion, scored a late double-leg
takedown to win 11-9. Mitkowski impressed the only opponent to beat the Trojan
this season, fellow 189-pounder John Laboranti, the Pittston Area junior who
settled for eighth in Class 3A after suffering a knee injury on Friday night
that forced him to use a medical default in the consolation finals on
Saturday.
“He’s awesome,” says Laboranti, who decisioned Mitkowski 4-2 in the
semifinals of the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Invitational in late December. “He’s so
hard to score on. I’m really happy for him.”
Most impressive – and puzzling to fans and media in Hershey who had never
heard of Mitkowski – was that the muscular all-state running back hadn’t
wrestled competitively since eighth grade. Like Mitkowski’s unlikely title,
some might view the WVC’s success as a once-in-a-lifetime performance.
Tunkhannock’s Frank Wadas, the senior coach in the WVC, thinks otherwise.
“I think the quality (of area) wrestling has gotten better,” says Wadas,
whose teams have won more than 300 matches in his 31-year career. “People
thought we were down last year and we did pretty good. I think we’ll continue
to get back to where we once were.”