Wyoming Area’s Riley Pierce made it to the championship round of the two-day Frank Wadas Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Tunkhannock before settling for second place at 172 pounds Tuesday.
Pierce was the top finisher for the Warriors, who wound up 11th in the final standings of the 16-team event.
Hanover Area won the team title with 202 points. Benton beat out Dallas for second 162½-148½. Wyoming Area had 74½ points.
Pierce had a bye into the quarterfinals, where he pinned Landon Hipps from Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech in 2:45 to become one of just two Warriors to reach the semifinals. There, he pinned Gabriel Hernandez from Dallas in 1:23.
Gregory Vassallo from Hanover Area pinned Pierce in 4:53 of the final.
Tyler Randazzo led the list of five other Warriors who finished in the top eight in their weight classes. He was fourth at 107 pounds.
Landen Hess from Columbia-Montour Vo Tech pinned Randazzo in 35 seconds of the third-place bout. Randazzo got to the consolation final with a 12-3 major decision of Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer.
Teams were allowed to enter more than one wrestler per weight class. Chase Wilhelm was fifth, and Evan Lark was eighth at 114.
Wilhelm defeated Tunkhannock’s Gunnar Faux 16-0 in 2:41 of the fifth-place bout, avenging a loss by pin in the quarterfinals.
Lincoln Smith finished sixth at 139, and Tyler Smith was eighth at 152.
Both Wyoming Area and Pittston Area were scheduled to compete in the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday.
