PLAINS TWP. — Brody Spindler ended the regular season with one Outstanding Wrestler Award and began the postseason with another.
The Pittston Area senior received the Class 3A OW award Feb. 21 following the conclusion of the two-day District 2 Individual Wrestling Championships where he repeated as 215-pound champion.
Pittston Area and Hazleton Area tied for the most champions with three each.
Ethan Aftewicz and Noah Gruber were the other Patriots to earn gold medals, winning titles at 152 and 285 pounds.
Spindler’s OW honors came after he won his title by pin over Tyler Gallo from Wallenpaupack in 1:07. He received a similar honor as the top performer in the Pittston Area-Wyoming Area match, landing the first Barbrie Family Outstanding Wrestler award.
Chasing his first district title as a senior, Gruber did not waste any time all weekend. His four wins all came by pin in under a minute, including a championship-sealing victory in just 20 seconds.
“I figure the more I play around, the more of a chance there is for them to stick me instead,” Gruber said. “I’m as fresh as I could be right when we first start, so why take it any longer then it needs to be?”
Aftewicz edged Lucas Drake from Abington Heights 2-1.
Wallenpaupack won the team title 186-178 over Abington Heights.
Hazleton Area edged Pittston Area 175-167½ for third place out of 12 teams.
The Patriots had four finalists. David Krantz lost a technical fall to Wilkes-Barre Area’s James McKeown at 107, but joins the three champions as qualifiers for the Northeast Regional in Bethlehem.
The top three advance.
Pittston Area had four wrestlers reach the consolation final, but lose there and settle for fourth. Chase Baron dropped an 8-6 decision to Wilkes-Barre Area’s Teagan Butler at 45. Mikel Roman (114), Tibor Toth (127) and Jahiem Butler (133) were also fourth.
Class 2A boys
Chase Wilhelm and Emerson Langdon won by pins in less than two minutes in their final bouts to lead Wyoming Area with fifth-place finishes at 107 and 121 pounds.
Tyler Randazzo finished sixth at 114.
Honesdale ran away with the team title 252-148½ over Hanover Area.
Wyoming Area was 14th out of 16 teams with 32½.
Girls
Martyna Bonning became Wyoming Area’s first girls district champion when she pinned Hazleton Area’s Kaiden McFarland in 1:34 at 142.
“I knew it was going to be hard, so I tried to finish it quick,” said Bonning, who pinned all four opponents, three of them in the first period. “I’m really excited [for regionals], I think I’m going to do well.
Bonning and Gia Chapman, who finished third at 170, qualified for the Central Girls Regional at Milton High School.
Hazleton Area won the team title with 165½ points, 13½ more than Delaware Valley.
Wyoming Area placed 12th out of 25 teams with 45 points. Pittston Area was 19th with 11½.
Amyra Pabon finished fifth at 136 for Pittston Area’s only top-six finish.
