LANCASTER – The Waynesboro Area Senior High School varsity wrestling team put a bow on 2022 with another trip to Lancaster County on Dec. 28 and 29.
The Indians wrestled in the annual Neil Turner Memorial Holiday Classic hosted by Conestoga Valley High School. The tournament is held in memory of the late Neil Turner, who is not only the father of Conestoga Valley head wrestling coach Trent Turner but was a wrestling coach for 40 years at the high school and college levels.
Turner, a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, died in 2021 at the age of 83. He began his coaching career in 1961; he coached at Lock Haven from 1979 to 1991 and at Messiah College until 2002 when he retired from coaching.
Waynesboro wrestlers who competed in the tournament were Michael Tweed (121 pounds), Chance Atkinson (127), Jayden Rooney (127), Dave Ochoa (133), Calvin Myers (139), Garrett Price (139), Robert Howard (145), Garrett Lowans (152), Clayton Costella (160), Titus Mong (172), James Crutchfield (189), Caden Shockey (189), Isaac Bautista (215) and Cort Myers (285).
Costella was Waynesboro’s highest placing finisher in the 32-team event. Costella placed fifth and scored 15 team points.
He won his first three championship round bouts, starting with a first-period fall. He won by pin in his next match and won by decision in the quarterfinals by the score of 10-6.
Costella lost in the semifinals by fall to Central Dauphin’s Ryan Garvick. After losing 7-3 in the consolation semifinals, Costella won by forfeit in the fifth-place match.
Rooney and Mong both placed seventh.
Mong took the long route after losing in the second round of the championship bracket. He opened the tournament with a third-period fall and lost by fall in the second round to get bumped to the consolation tier.
Mong then won his first three consy matches (9-4 decision, fall in 3:40 and fall in 4:01) before losing by fall in the fifth round of consolations. Mong then wrapped up his two days of wrestling with a sudden victory win in the seventh-place bout against Jack Weldon of Coatesville Area.
Rooney, who placed fourth in the recent Carlisle tournament (held Dec. 16 and 17), won by fall in his first two bouts. He was pinned in his quarterfinal match and then won his first consolation match by fall. Rooney fell 9-1 in his next contest and won 10-2 in the seventh-place match.
Bautista was 3-2 in the tournament. The Indians placed 13th in the team standings with 76.5 points. Central Dauphin was tops with 241 points.
Waynesboro returns to the mat on Thursday with a home contest against Big Spring. The Indians then travel to Elizabethtown High School on Saturday for the Grizzly Duals.
Waynesboro’s home match against Greencastle-Antrim originally scheduled for Dec. 10 will be made up on Feb. 1.
