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HERSHEY — The seven wrestlers from the Wyoming Valley Conference embarked on a journey earlier in the weekend to make history.

They were part of a historic showing, but not the type they were looking for.

For the first time in 46 years, the WVC left the PIAA Championships without a medal.

Disappointment, embarrassment and anger are the emotions the conference’s coaches and wrestlers felt after leaving Giant Center. Everyone involved has the drive to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Fortunately for them, it can’t get worse than zero medals. But there’s a lot of work to do.

“We’ve been behind the eight ball in our conference and our district for a long time,” Dallas coach Mike Richards said. “We’re not as strong as other districts and just don’t have the tradition and history that some of these other districts and regions do. It’s not gonna happen overnight that’s for sure. It’s not from lack of effort from coaches in our district and conference to try to promote wrestling to try to make it better.

“Wrestling’s a tough sport, and it gets harder and harder every year to produce kids that wanna come out here and do this. This is as hard as it gets. Unfortunately in this day and age, it’s not easy to get the new kids out, the new blood out to keep the momentum going that we have. That’s the challenge for all of the coaches, is to start developing new talent and get some kids out.”

There are many other factors contributing to the historic outing.

The conference is in rebuild mode and has been for the last few years, as shown by five of the seven state qualifiers from the WVC being underclassmen.

Not only that, but six other underclassmen from the conference were district champions and eight others were district runners-up; 11 of those 14 came within one win of placing at regionals. Included in those numbers are two state qualifiers from last year — Lake-Lehman’s Bob Long and Tunkhannock’s Tommy Traver — who fell short this year in tough regional brackets.

“I don’t look at it as a disappointment,” Richards said. “I look at our conference and our district and say we had (seven) guys who got down here this year and could have medalled with one more match, which is not too shabby. We got kids coming up and some who didn’t even make it this year that are solid wrestlers.

“I don’t think the future is all that bleak for our district or our conference. We have a lot of good young kids that have the potential to get down here next year. It’s a little early for them yet, but they definitely have the potential.”

Another factor in the lack of medals is that the state tournament has gotten tougher.

In 2015, the format of the PIAA Championships changed from 16-wrestler brackets to 20. Last year, a few tweaks were made to benefit regional champs and past state champions. Those changes made it harder for any wrestler to medal, especially if they qualify by taking third or fourth in their region.

Prior to 2015, wrestlers only had to win two matches to be guaranteed a medal. Now, if they’re in the consolation round, they have to win three times to make it to the podium. Regional champions only have to win twice in the championship round to earn a medal.

It’s been a challenge for even District 11, which has been known as one of the best regions in the country for wrestling. In Class 3A, D11 on average crowns about five state champions a year. This year it only produced three finalists, half as many as last season.

There certainly isn’t a lack of quality athletes in the Wyoming Valley Conference area. Some decide to take part in just one sport, with wrestling not being one of them.

And like some of the best wrestlers from the country do, some of the area wrestlers decide to attend a one of the top schools in the country academically and athletically in Wyoming Seminary, which is right in their own backyard.

The Blue Knights program has made wrestling in the area notable again by hosting big tournaments and dual meets every year and is perennially a nationally ranked team every year. Everyone wants to be a part of that glorious feeling.

Jack Davis — who won two national titles in the last three years for the Blue Knights — and his brother Owen Davis are both from Hanover Township. Mike Doggett and Jake Stefanowicz, both from the Back Mountain, placed second and fourth at the National Prep Tournament last month. Lincoln Heck and Kyle Costello, also from Luzerne County, have had success in the past for the Blue Knights or in junior high tournaments.

So what can be done to make sure a state medal shutout doesn’t happen again? Wrestling more tournaments during the season and in the offseason is the overall consensus from coaches.

“My opinion is that for kids to get to this stage and medal, you gotta wrestle at least nine or 10 months out of the year; somehow or some organized way,” Hazleton Area coach Keith Maurer said. “And another thing is we gotta get to these bigger tournaments. We have to get to the King of the Mountain, Powerade, Holiday Classic — all these other tournaments — and see tougher competition. We gotta put our kids in that grind on a regular basis because that’s what this is all about.

“It’s something we need to work together as a group to make that happen. And part of that is some organization on our part as far as the offseason is concerned. As coaches, we gotta get these kids together to push each other.”

To name a few options, Wyoming Valley West coach Ryan Vassello started offseason workouts last year free of charge to anyone interested. Hanover Area coach Mike Griffith and Meyers coach Anthony Mercadante are working together to host an offseason workout for anyone interested as well.

What should help the conference immensely next year is that Tunkhannock will move from Class 3A to Class 2A next season. The Tigers have been one of the top teams in the WVC over the last handful of years in Class 3A. The Tigers will return two state qualifiers in David Evans and Tommy Traver (2017), district champion Gavin D’Amato (2017) and district medalists Jake Stephens and Ethan Munley.

Wyoming Valley West wrestling coach Ryan Vassello recently started hosting free offseason workouts to anyone interested to help the sport throughout the area.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Krokowski-1.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Valley West wrestling coach Ryan Vassello recently started hosting free offseason workouts to anyone interested to help the sport throughout the area. Ed Boardman | For Times Leader

Dallas wrestling coach Mike Richards said the challenge for the Wyoming Valley Conference is ‘to start developing new talent and get some kids out.’
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Richards_Day2-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDallas wrestling coach Mike Richards said the challenge for the Wyoming Valley Conference is ‘to start developing new talent and get some kids out.’ Ed Boardman | For Times Leader

By Dave Rosengrant

For Times Leader

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