Brandywine Heights wrestlers finish fourth in Berks Individual Tournament

The Brandywine Heights High School wrestling team captured fourth place as a team at the Berks County Individual Wrestling Tournament held Jan. 11 and 12 at the Geigle Complex in Reading.

Brandywine had three individual goal medalists, one third place finisher, a fifth place finisher and one in sixth place.

The trio of gold medalists include Hunter Gimbor, Pete Renda and Adam Mackie. Dan Schmeck finished third while Chris Langston was fifth and Austin Weller finished in sixth place.

“Overall I though out kids wrestled well,” said Brandywine Head Coach Sam Lovello. “I feel our conditioning won some close matches.”

In the 106 pound weight class, Gimbor began the tournament in the quarterfinals where he defeated Owen Powell of Daniel Boone by a technical fall, 16-0. In the semifinals, Gimbor won an 8-1 decision over Jorge Mateo of Reading which placed him into the championship bout.

Gimbor went up against Jake Horst of Schuylkill Valley in the championship bout and earned a pin in 5:53 to gain the gold medal.

“Hunter, is one of the best freshman to wrestle for our team,” said Coach Lovello. “He really works hard at practice and is atarting to emerge as a leader on the team.”

At 170 pounds, Renda rolled through his weight class to win the gold. He needed just 42 seconds to pin Eric McNamara of Oley Valley in the quarterfinals. Next Renda needed just 38 seconds to pin Adam Brown of Wilson to get a spot in the championship bout. There he won by a technical fall, defeating Joey Waack of Schuylkill Valley, 16-0.

It was almost as easy for Mackie in the 182 pound weight class. He pinned Dalton Keller of Daniel Boone, amazingly needing just 10 seconds of their quarterfinal round match-up. In the semifianls, it took 1:44 for Mackie to pin Cody Miller of Hamburg. Mackie had to work a little harder in the championship bout, but he still shutout Marcus Johnson of Governor Mifflin by a 7-0 decision.

“In my honest opinion, Peter and Adam are the best 170 and 180 combination in the state of Pennsylvania and beyond.” said Coach Lovello. “Their work effort and leadership in the room is one of the highest I have ever coached. They make my job so much easier. They’re the heart of Brandywine wrestling.”

Schmeck, wrestling in the 126 pound weight class, opened his tournament in the preliminary round where he pinned Andrew Scheidy of Muhlenberg in 1:44. Next was another pin for Schmeck, this time against Tyler Davis of Reading in 3:49.

That sent him to the semifinals where he lost his gold medal hopes when Jake Werner of Wilson decisioned him, 7-0. That sent Schmeck to the consolation semifinals where he pinned Tanner White of Schuylkill Valley in 4:47. Then in the third place bout, Schmeck pinned Oley Valley’s Eric Wily in 4:25.

At 195 pounds, Langston started in the preliminary round where he pinned Cody Oswald of Tulpehocken in 2:35. In the quarterfinals, Langston was defeated by Austin Bashore of Hamburg, 9-1, sending him to the consolation round.

There he started by winning a 5-3 decision over Scott Schaeffer of Exeter, then in the consolation semifinals Langston defeated Matt Reinhart of Reading, 6-4 in overtime giving him fifth place.

For Weller at 113 pounds, he began in the preliminary round with a 2-0 decision over Zack Sheetz of Governor Mifflin. But he was derailed in the quarterfinals when he was pinned in 1:28 by Connor Moyer of Wilson.

In the consolation quarterfinals, Weller fought back with an 11-0 decision over Hamburg’s Shane Shollenberger, but lost in the consolation semifinals, 5-0 to Tristan Watts of Exeter. Then in the fifth place bout, Weller lost a 5-3 decision to Morgan Quinn Conrad Weiser for a sixth place finish.