BETHLEHEM — Pottsville’s Luke Gardner and Blue Mountain’s Erech Noecker and Devon Krammes have advanced to today’s semifinals of the District 11 Class AAA Wrestling Championships at Bethlehem Liberty High School.
At 120 pounds, Gardner pinned Bangor’s Gavin DeBoer in 34 seconds. In the quarterfinals, the third-seeded Gardner shut out Parkland’s Andrew Mastrangelo 7-0.
Gardner will oppose second-seeded Sammy Sasso of Nazareth in the semifinal round.
Competing at 170 pounds, Krammes, seeded seventh, pinned Emmaus’ Austin Flaugh in 45 seconds in the opening round.
Krammes then decked second-seeded Jake Young of Freedom in 3:16 to move into the semifinals.
Krammes will face third seed Frank Guida of Parkland in this morning’s semifinals.
Noecker advanced at 220 pounds with two falls, a 41-second pin of Emmaus’ Kris Bawden in the first round and a pin in 5:02 of Nazareth’s Walter Ortiz.
Noecker will face top-seeded Omar Haddad of Parkland in the semifinals.
Wrestlers still alive in the consolation bracket include Blue Mountain’s Josh Mason (106), Hunter Blankenhorn (113), Chase Sincavage (126), Colton Bender (132), Christian Gosch (138), Ian Cagle (160) and Kirk Dougherty (285).
Pottsville’s Ryan Green (106), Richard Bentz (126) and Brian Farrell (132) also are in the wrestlebacks.
District 11 failed to provide complete Class AAA brackets.
Today’s action begins at 9 a.m. and will continue non-stop through its conclusion at Liberty. The semifinals will begin at 10:30 a.m. The consolation finals will start at 3:30 p.m. and the championship finals are scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m.
Campbell, Reynoso
advance in D-3 AA
HERSHEY — Upper Dauphin’s Coy Campbell and Hamburg’s Ignacio Reynoso advanced to today’s semifinals of the District 3 M&T Bank Wrestling Championship at the Hersheypark Arena.
After a first-round bye, Campbell (28-5) advanced with a pin of Hamburg’s Romeo Eaddy in the 113-pound quarterfinals. Campbell, a senior, will take on Pequea Valley’s Max Styer (23-16) in today’s semis.
Reynoso, a freshman, reached the 182-pound semifinals with a pair of victories Friday. Reynoso pinned Littlestown’s Connor Geiman in 2:57 in the first round, then major decisioned Craig Spitler of Northern Lebanon 12-3 in the quarterfinals. Reynoso (34-11) will take on Bermudian Springs’ Colton Dull (30-1) in today’s semis.
Seven other area wrestlers stayed alive in the consolation brackets with victories Friday: Hamburg’s Sean Stanish (120), Mike Madara (132), Matt James (152), Tyler Herber (170) and Eaddy (113), Upper Dauphin’s Connor Boyer (120) and Halifax’ Jakob Paul (220).
Due to the impending weather, the time schedule for today’s Class AA action was moved up.
The championship semifinals and second-round consolations will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the consolation semifinals at 11:15 a.m., and the matches for third and fifth place and the championship bouts at 12:30 p.m.
The top five wrestlers advance to next weekend’s Southeast Regional at Wilson West Lawn.