PIAA Wrestling: Comets finish 10th in team standings; Marzolino places second at 215 pounds

Caleb Marzolino finished second at 215 pounds, leading three state medalists from Abington Heights in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Championships, which were held March 7-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Junior Brian Heard was fifth at 152 and freshman Mason Whitney was seventh at 121 as the Comets finished 10th in the final Class 3A team standings.

The Comets took four wrestlers to Hershey and three made it into the final day and onto the medal stand. The top eight in each weight class earn medals.

Marzolino was the last man standing, making it into the championship match before falling to unbeaten Dillon Bechtold, a Bucknell commit from Owen J. Roberts and a repeat finalist.

Bechtold was lead just 3-0 before he pinned Marzolino, an Indiana commit, in 3:57.

Heard began the third and final day in the consolation semifinals where he lost 3-1 to Sam Gautreau, Bechtold’s Owen J. Roberts teammate. He then shut out Greater Latrobe’s Hunter Snyder for a 9-0 major decision in the fifth-place bout.

In the fifth-place match, Heard’s takedown with 32 seconds left in the first period gave him a 2-0 lead that stayed that way until late in the second period. Heard turned Snyder for three points, then added a reversal and two more back points in the third.

Whitney won his only bout of the last day, beating Seneca Valley’s Connor Smith 7-1.

Marzolino reached the final with three straight victories, including a pin of Ringgold’s Jake Conroy in just 1:04 for the fastest finish of any of the 26 semifinal bouts. His first two bouts were a bit more challenging, a 4-1 win over Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion and a 5-1 decision over Wilson West Lawn’s Ryan McMillan in the quarterfinals.

Heard went 4-2 in the tournament with losses on decisions by one and two points.

Whitney also went 4-2, but had the longer road back after losing in the preliminary round.

Austin Smith split four bouts at 152 and was eliminated short of the medal rounds.

In Class 2A, Scranton Prep 215-pounder Louis Paris lost his first two bouts.