Based off of competing in one of the state’s best tournaments this past Friday and Saturday, Jim Best feels pretty good about where his Emmaus squad is at in the early part of their schedule.
He also knows that they can better.
“The Top Hat Tournament in Williamsport provides great competition from across the state in every weight class. That caliber of competition provides an accurate early season measurement of the strengths and areas of need for our varsity wrestlers,” said the Hornets third year head coach.
“As a coaching staff, we agree that the fitness level and competitive effort of our wrestlers is exactly where it should be at this point in the season. However, we also agree that we have improvements to make technically and with in-match-adjustments.”
In the two-day event featuring 24 teams from across the Commonwealth, Emmaus had its best-ever showing placing sixth overall with more than half of its wrestlers medaling.
“As a team, we had a goal to finish in the top five in the team standings, and we finished in sixth by two team points,” said Best. “To perform well in the team race, in a tournament as competitive as the Top Hat, it becomes very much like a dual meet in the sense that every individual wrestler has a job to do, starting with winning at least one match in the tournament.
“As far as individual results, placing eight is an improvement from last year. Three finalists is an improvement from our one finalist last year and none the year prior. Seven of our placewinners were underclassmen.”
Sophomore Emilio Albanese, the state’s No.1 ranked wrestler at 114 according to Pa. Power Wrestling, was once again the Hornets highest placewinner as he captured his second straight individual title with a thrilling 2-1 ultimate tiebreaker victory over Saucon Valley’s Carter Chunko.
Two of Albanese teammates – senior Jesse Scott (160) and junior Jackson Max (107) – also had outstanding showings with both finishing runner-up in their respective weight classes. Scott, who finished fourth a year ago, lost in the finals to Mid Valley’s stud freshman Sam Almedina 13-4, while Max, eighth last year, lost by fall to the No.1 seed in Connellsville’s Tommy Gretz.
Junior Xayden Sallit, a seventh-place finisher a year ago, finished in the top five at 172 with his fourth-place finish defeating Line Mountain’s Kohen Shingara. Sophomore Teagan Caciolo placed fourth for the second consecutive year at 127, while freshman Camren Martinez made his first appearance of the season a memorable one with a 5-1 overall record and a fourth place showing at 107.
Freshman Xyler Sallit placed in the top eight at 139 finishing seventh with an injury default win over Hazleton’s Jude Salko and sophomore Tommy Fallstich had an eighth-place showing at 133.
“As coaches, we are super proud of the way that our individual wrestlers competed and achieved that level of success,” said Best. “That data tells us that we are trending in the direction we want to be trending.”
Connellsville from District 7 (Western Pa.) won the team race with 220.5 points, while Easton was second (212.5) followed by Saucon Valley third (187.5), Central Mountain fourth (169) and Clearfield fifth (166.5).
Emmaus will return to action this Wednesday at 7 p.m. with their first home match of the season hosting East Stroudsburg South.
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Emmaus placewinners (record)
107 – Jackson Max (2nd); Camren Martinez (4th)
114 – Emilio Albanese (1st)
121 – Lexi Max (DNP, 2-2), Logan Maher (DNP, 1-2)
127 – Teagan Caciolo (4th)
133 – Tommy Fallstich (8th)
139 – Xyler Sallit (7th)
145 – Chance Henry (DNP, 2-2)
152 – Logan Armstrong (DNP, 1-2)
160 – Jesse Scott (2nd)
172 – Xayden Sallit (3rd)
189 – Ashir Choudhry (DNP, 0-2)
215 – Massimo Tranguch (DNP, 1-2)
285 – Logan Roth (DNP, 3-2)
DNP – Did not place