Wilkes-Barre Area managed to tie Pittston Area for the best record in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 wrestling, but the Patriots won the division championship.
Corry Hanson, the Wilkes-Barre athletic director who chairs the WVC for wrestling, confirmed Saturday that the conference uses a head-to-head tiebreaker rather than naming co-champions. Pittston Area defeated Wilkes-Barre Area 39-36 when they met Dec. 18.
Wilkes-Barre Area defeated Hazleton Area 45-27 in a match that was made up after the District 2 Dual Meet Wrestling Championships. That allowed the Wolfpack to tie the Patriots at 4-1.
The rest of the Division 1 standings: Crestwood 3-2, Hazleton Area 2-3, Wyoming Valley West 2-3, Nanticoke 0-5.
Dallas won the Division 2 title with a 5-0 record, followed by Berwick 4-1, Hanover Area 3-2, Lake-Lehman 2-3, Wyoming Area 1-4 and Tunkhannock 0-5.
District wrestling
With team wrestling championship competition complete, District 2 has plans set for its individual championships.
Girls, Class 3A boys and Class 2A boys tournaments will all be held simultaneously at Wilkes-Barre Area Feb. 21-22.
Wrestling begins the first day at 4:30 p.m. and the second at 10 a.m. with finals tentatively set for 1 p.m.
Pittston Area will compete in Class 3A. Wyoming Area is a Class 2A team.
District swimming and diving
The diving portion of the championships are set for Feb. 22 at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre.
Swimming events will be contested Feb. 28 and March 1 at Wilkes-Barre Area.
The Class 3A meet, which includes Pittston Area, is a subregional for Districts 2 and 4. Williamsport, the only District 4 Class 3A team, joins the District 2 teams.
Wyoming Area competes in Class 2A.
Boys basketball
Wyoming Area travels to Pittston Area Monday night for the 20th annual Eugene R. DeMinico II Memorial Game.
The game was postponed from Saturday. The annual meeting of the two rivals honors the memory of DeMinico, a Pittston Township police officer and decorated veteran for his service in Iraq, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in November, 2005. Proceeds of the game benefit local police force K-9 units.
Although a non-league game, the meeting could impact District 2 playoff seeds.
WVC Division 2 champion Wyoming Area is 15-6 and likely to remain fourth and have a quarterfinal home game against Mid Valley in Class 4A.
Pittston Area is 13-8 and first in a tight three-way race in Class 5A where the top two seeds earn quarterfinal byes and semifinal home courts. The third team still gets to host a quarterfinal.
The Patriots won last year’s game 51-44 by overcoming a 10-point deficit. Silvio Giardina was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player in his first start on a comeback from knee surgery.
