It was quite obvious that Upper St. Clair senior Jake Slinger tied and later set the school record for career victories during Friday’s opening rounds of the WPIAL Class 3A tournament.
An Upper St. Clair fan proudly displayed his achievement to the crowd at Canon-McMillan High School with a huge hand-made, two-sided poster. The poster read ‘Slinger tied for most wins in USC history’ on the front. The back read ‘Slinger most wins in USC history.’
“Grant Walnoha’s mom made the sign for me,” said Slinger, referring to the Panthers’ 170-pounder. “She showed me the sign after I tied the record. I thought to myself, that doesn’t say much. Then she showed me the other side. She was ready for both wins.”
Slinger tied the school record with a 52-second pin of Moon’s Senneca Harvey in the first round at 285 pounds. He set the record with a 57-second pin of Norwin’s Zack Cypher in quarterfinals.
The victories improved his season record to 34-0 and his career record to 133-25. The old record was held by 2012 graduate Mackenzie McGuire (132-11).
“It’s nice, but it doesn’t come with much ground if I don’t have a state championship to go along with it,” said Slinger, a two-time PIAA qualifer and seventh-place finisher last season.
“Mac McGuire is the best wrestler in school history. He was a state champion and a state runner-up. Hopefully, I can be the next Upper St. Clair wrestler to win a state title.”
But the heavyweight must first win a WPIAL title. He placed second in the WPIAL the past two years at 220 pounds.
Slinger is one of five entries who were WPIAL runners-up last year. The others are: Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, Nick Coy, Cole Spencer, and Gerrit Nijenhuis. All five earned a return trip to Saturday’s semifinals.
Herrera-Rondon, a Seneca Valley sophomore, placed second in the WPIAL last season at 106, then won a PIAA title the following weekend.
He’s competing at 113 this year and recorded two pins against South Fayette’s Logan Shaffer and Moon’s Khyvon Grace to earn a second straight semifinal berth.
Coy, a Penn-Trafford senior, advanced to the semifinals for the fourth time with two decisive wins at 138 pounds.
Coy, a WPIAL runner-up at 132 last year, is the only WPIAL wrestler who has made three appearances in the PIAA Tournament. Coy recorded a 25-7 technical fall against North Allegheny’s Ian Branstetter, then blanked Ambridge’s Daniel Yetsick, 7-0, in the quarterfinals.
“I’ve placed fourth, third, and second,” Coy said. “Hopefully, I can add a first to that list. I need two more wins.”
Spencer, a sophomore from Pine-Richland, was a runner-up at 152 last year, but was seeded No. 6 in this year’s bracket after placing second in the Section 3 Tournament.
He posted an 8-0 win against Knoch’s Guy Deleonardis in the opening round, which earned him a rematch with Seneca Valley’s Nick Montalbano, the No. 3 seed. Spencer avenged his loss to Montalbano with a 5-0 victory, thus earning a return trip to the 152-pound semifinals.
“Football took a big toll on me,” said Spencer, who is also the Rams quarterback. “The start of this year was really tough. It’ took me a long time to get into wrestling shape after the football season ended. I still feel a bit out of shape, but I’m close to where I was at this time last year.
Nijenhuis, a Canon-McMillan junior, earned a third consecutive trip to the semifinals with pins of West Mifflin’s Cole McCorkandale and Butler’s Cooper Baxter. Nijenhuis, a two-time WPIAL runner-up, has moved up to 170 after claiming silver medals at 152 and 160.
First Published: March 2, 2019, 5:09 a.m.
