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HERSHEY — It’s been well-known throughout the Wyoming Valley Conference that the wrestling competition has been down this season, especially in Class 2A.
As proof, the WVC’s two state qualifiers were tied for the lowest in eight years, and the conference’s 17 qualifiers for last weekend’s regional tournament were the fewest in 13 years as the conference goes through a rebuild.
Those numbers were still glaring on Friday morning at the PIAA Class 2A Championships when two conference’s two participants, Hanover Area’s D.J. Erickson and Lake-Lehman’s Kaleb Konigus, both lost and fell short of earning a state medal.
It marks the first time since 2009 that the WVC will be held without a placewinner in the top eight in the state in Class 2A.
“You gotta be willing to go outside the area, the comfort zone of our conference and wrestle, and go and attack that better competition,” Lake-Lehman coach Jay Konigus said. “All these matches are so close, they can go either way — one-point matches. … They’re all right there. You just gotta get that offseason stuff going and be willing to travel and wrestle outside your comfort zone.”
All wasn’t lost for Luzerne County though.
Avoca resident Ivan Balavage dropped his 195-pound quarterfinal bout before bouncing back to win his match in the third round of consolations and secure a medal for the second straight season. He recovered from the loss in a big way by pinning his way to a medal.
The Scranton Prep senior then won his fourth round consolation bout and will finish no worse than fifth place this afternoon when the medal rounds start at 2 p.m.
“It feels great. I worked so hard since freshman year to get here, and to go home with a medal, it’s nice,” Balavage said.
Balavage, who finished seventh on the podium last year, was the first wrestler in school history to claim a state medal in 2017. Earlier this season, he passed his brother, Thor, as the school’s all-time winningest wrestler for the Cavaliers.
Lackawanna Trail’s Owen Hivner and Western Wayne’s Cole Fuller join Balavage as medalists from District 2. They will wrestle for seventh this afternoon.
“I’ve been working out with Owen since first grade, but these last couple of meets we got closer,” Balavage said about Hivner. “It’s awesome (to medal with him). We both have mullets and it’ll be pretty awesome to have a mullet picture together with him.”
The WVC didn’t have as much luck, but it started out promising.
Erickson, a 145-pounder, won his first match on Friday beating Thomas Spirk from Saucon Valley 10-4 in the second round of consolations. In the next round, looking to secure a state medal, Erickson fell to returning third-place medalist Gabe Miller from Pequea Valley via fall in 2:57.
He ends his junior season with a record 33-7, his first district title and two wins at states to improve on last year’s PIAA showing when he went 1-2. He will start his senior season with 83 career wins.
Konigus only wrestled once on Friday. He got caught and pinned early in his consolation match against Union City’s Matt Long, who then lost his next match and was eliminated.
In his first state appearance as a senior, Konigus was in two close matches before the fall and concluded the season with a mark of 33-10.
Only wrestling varsity for three seasons, Konigus ended his career with 78 victories.
“He wrestled with a lot of grit and fought through a little injury, but he did great. I’m really proud of him as a coach and a dad,” Jay Konigus said. “That was his goal was to make it here. He was a district champ. He made it here and won a match, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. He’s a football player turned wrestler. That’s the next step now to get ready for that.”
Graduating in a few months, Konigus will miss out on what could be a special Black Knights team coming up in the near future. He is one of just three seniors on the team that won the WVC Division 2 crown this year before coming up short at the district duals tournament. But the Knights rebounded to take second in the team standings at the individual district tournament.
“We got a lot of good kids coming back,” Jay Konigus said. “Six freshmen I brought up this year, and we’ll bring two more up. We’re gonna be tough. Tunkhannock’s coming down (to Class 2A). We’ll give them a run for the money for sure, hopefully.”
