Hanover Area’s CJ Caines (top) defeated Hazleton Area’s Jude Salko to win the 133-pound conference title at the WVC Wrestling Championships in January.
Tony Callaio | Times Leader file photo
The Wyoming Valley Conference will send 14 wrestlers across three classifications to next weekend’s PIAA Wrestling Championships as the Northeast and Central Regionals wrapped up on Saturday.
The biggest group will be seven WVC wrestlers headed to the Girls tournament after working their way through the Central Regional.
The conference’s only regional champion, however, will come from Class 2A as Hanover Area’s CJ Caines won the Northeast Regional tournament at Williamsport High School.
Three Class 2A wrestlers and four from Class 3A will represent the WVC in Hershey next weekend.
CLASS 2A
After finishing as a runner-up in his freshman season at regionals, Caines converted on his second attempt at a regional title with an 8-1 decision over Warrior Run’s Chase Wirnsberger in the 127-pound final.
Caines began Saturday in the semifinal round and won a medical forfeit over Gage Swank from Muncy.
It was the second straight year that he beat Wirnsberger at regionals, after defeating him in the 114 semis last season.
Caines will be joined at the state tournament by his Hanover Area teammate Chase Smith, who finished in fourth place in the 114 field.
Smith was defeated in the semifinals but clinched a state berth with a win in the consolation semifinals before falling in the third-place match.
Berwick’s Carmen Malt took fourth place at 121 pounds to round out the WVC’s state qualifiers in Class 2A.
The Lackawanna Conference had a better showing in Class 2A, sending six through to the state tournament.
The highlight of that group was at 107 pounds, where Honesdale’s Nathan Schuman repeated as regional champion.
GIRLS
Hazleton Area’s Evelyn Sheer took her first regional tournament by storm as the Hazleton Area freshman wrestled her way to a runner-up showing at 235 pounds.
Sheer pinned both her quarterfinal and semifinal opponents before getting pinned by Bedford’s Mylah Steinbuch in the finals.
Hazleton Area has three state-bound wrestlers in the Girls group, with Valerie Bustillo and Miah Molinaro both finishing in fourth place at 124 and 136 pounds, respectively.
Outside of Sheer, the best showing of the tournament came from Nanticoke Area sophomore Emily Kivler.
Kivler finished in third place at 112 pounds to secure her second straight trip to the state tournament.
Rachel Shoemaker (118) and Samara Bailey (235) both finished in fourth to book trips to state for Crestwood, and Wyoming Area’s Martyna Bonning finished fourth at 142 pounds to earn the trip, as well.
Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer, who was the eighth seed in the District 2 tournament at 100 pounds, won the Central Regional title to lead the Lackawanna Conference.
Honesdale’s Saige Olver and Maddison Miller both finished as runners-up at 124 and 148, respectively.
In total, the Lackawanna Conference had six state qualifiers.
Class 3A
The Wyoming Valley Conference had three chances at winning a regional title in the Class 3A Northeast Region tournament, but settled for three runner-up finishes.
Hazleton Area’s Gabe Benyo and Jake Benyo both reached the finals in their weight classes, but both were defeated.
Gabe Benyo dropped a 9-1 major decision in the 114 final, and Jake Benyo was edged out by a 3-2 decision in the 121 final.
At 215 pounds, Brody Spindler of Pittston Area reached the finals but dropped a 4-0 decision there.
Both Benyos and Spindler will still be headed to states regardless as top-five finishers in their weight classes.
The only other WVC wrestler to reach states was Crestwood’s Micah Engelman, who did it the hard way.
Engelman lost in the quarterfinals, won two consolation matches but was defeated in the consolation semis to drop into the fifth-place match.
Needing a win, Engelman scored a 13-5 major decision over Northampton Area’s Chase Grabfelder to lock down a trip to states.
West Scranton’s Tommy Schecterly won the regional title at 152 pounds, and four Lackawanna Conference wrestlers earned their way to states at the Class 3A level.
The PIAA Wrestling Championships will run from March 5-7 at the GIANT Center in Hershey.
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