Corey Mruk entered his high school wrestling career with goals so lofty that a big accomplishment was required from an injury-delayed freshman season.
“In the beginning of the season, our coach had everyone on the team write down our goals,” Mruk said. “One of my goals was to be a four-time district champion.”
That is only possible by getting the first one as a freshman, something Mruk managed to pull off with a pair of one-point decisions in the Class 2A 160-pound semifinals and finals Feb. 25 in the District 2 Wrestling Championships at the 109th Field Artillery Armory.
“I knew coming into this season it would be tough because I would have to wrestle seniors and everything, but I knew I would just have to work harder and I’ve had a good chance,” Mruk said.
Mruk missed time early in the season and arrived at districts as the fourth seed with a 15-5 record, meaning he would have to get past top-seed and defending champion Noah Rakowski from Hanover Area just to get to the championship match.
“I broke my hand,” said Mruk of an injury suffered in football season when he also started the majority of the games as a freshman linebacker on a championship Wyoming Area team. “That kind of set me back.
“I missed about 15 matches and it took away from my strength because I wasn’t able to lift, but it helped me with my conditioning because that’s all I did in that period of time.”
Mruk already had experience as a wrestler. He started the sport as a second-grader won a league title in elementary school and a conference championship that sent him to the junior high state tournament.
But, Mruk lasted just a minute in his varsity debut a month into the season. He slipped back to the .500 mark after four and six matches, including being pinned by Rakowski, before picking up momentum by running off nine straight wins.
After avenging the loss to Rakowski with a 4-3 semifinal victory, Mruk still had work to do in order to make it out of his freshman season with the four-title goal intact.
The freshman finished the tournament with three wins, all over seniors, when his relentless pressure got Western Wayne’s Ryan Atcavage to flee the mat in the closing seconds, drawing a penalty that gave Mruk a 2-1 victory.
DISTRICT RECAP
Mruk led the way as Wyoming finished right in the middle of the pack in Class 2A, placing eighth out of 15 teams.
Justin Joseph (195) and Damon Barhight (285) also represented the Warriors in the finals, but settled for second place.
Joseph lost by pin in 4:59 to Scranton Prep’s Ivan Balavage, an Avoca resident.
Adam Buczynski joined the three finalists in advancing to this weekend’s Class 2A Northeast Regionals in Williamsport when he placed third at 182 pounds.
Charlie Banashefski, at 138, and Jaryn Polit-Moran, at 170, each placed sixth.
Pittston Area finished last out of 12 teams in Class 3A, but advanced two wrestlers to Northeast Regionals in Bethlehem this weekend.
Jason DeBoard took third place by beating Hazleton Area’s Jeremy Aquino, 9-2, in the 160-pound consolation final.
Ryan Lombardo also qualified to advance by placing fourth at 120, but had to forfeit his consolation final with an injury and wound up not competing in Bethlehem.
Nathan Lambardo added a sixth-placed finish at 220 for the Patriots.
REGIONALS
Scranton Prep’s Balavage was the only wrestler from the Greater Pittston area to make it through Friday night’s winners’ bracket action into Saturday’s semifinals on the regional level.
Balavage beat Towanda’s Seth Johnson, 10-5.
Pittston Area’s DeBoard won a two-point decision in his opener, but was pinned in the Class 3A regional quarterfinal. He had a chance to wrestle through the consolation rounds Saturday.
All four Wyoming Area wrestlers lost by fall and dropped into Saturday’s consolation brackets.
