CARLISLE – The Waynesboro varsity wrestling team traveled north for the Carlisle Invitational, an event that teams in the past competed in for years before opting to participate in other tournaments.
The experience was a good one for Waynesboro’s Jayden Rooney. The freshman 120-pounder, whom head coach David Swink said in the preseason that he expected good things from, placed second.
Seniors Bodie Rouzer (138 pounds) and Kaden Rouzer (145 pounds) placed third, while sophomore Garrett Price (132 pounds) was sixth.
“Jayden wrestled incredibly well,” Swink said. “He entered the tourney with a record of 0-4, clearly unseeded. He avenged two season losses, beating West Perry’s Jackson Rush by fall in 2:30 in the quarters, then Chambersburg’s Rylan Carter, the number one seed, 1-0 in dominating fashion, controlling the pace of the entire match. He then lost to Carlisle’s Trent Walker in the finals. It was a great performance. I’m very proud of Jayden.”
Rooney received a first-round bye and scored a major decision against Trinity’s Mike Sutton (12-2) in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals against Rush.
Bodie Rouzer was 4-1 in the two-day tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, he won by technical fall over Jimmy Weikel of North Schuylkill, 15-0. He then won by decision over Dalton Redden of Gettysburg, 7-0, before losing to Red Land’s Reese Polulak, 2-1.
In the consolation semifinals, Rouzer decisioned Ryan Lawler of Newport, 8-2 and decisioned Reden, 7-0 in the third-place match.
Kaden Rouzer went 4-1 in the tournament. He won by fall against Charlie Trumbauer of Brandywine Heights in 1:08, then pinned Central Bucks East’s Tyler Tanner in 3:39 to advance to the semifinals. Rouzer fell 7-1 to Keaton Fischer of Conestoga Valley to drop down to the consolation bracket. He won his consolation semifinal bout, 5-4 against West Perry’s Tucker Sidel and won by technical fall over Dylan Fulton of Susquenita, 15-0.
“Both Bodie and Kaden wrestled excellent this weekend,” said Swink. “Bodie, unfortunately, gave up a questionable takedown with one second remaining in his semifinal match. Both boys really look good this year. They’re wrestling without some of the nerves that they have had in years past, going out just to compete and have fun and it shows.”
Price won by fall in his first bout and lost 3-1 to Andrew Oram of Central Bucks East in the quarterfinals. Price won his first two consolation matches, 6-1 and by fall in 2:22. In the consolation semifinals, Price lost 8-5. He fell to Oram again, this time 1-0 in the fifth-place match.
“Garrett competed extremely well and was in every match,” Swink said. “He came up just short in a couple. He needs to wrestle more aggressively all six minutes, but he’s young and learning. He was 4-3 on the weekend.”
