Jake Henry Claims Crown At 160, Josh Beal And Matt Alston Also Medal As Central Clarion Hosts First Ever District Nine Wrestling League Tournament

on 9 January, 2024 at 16:50

Above photo by Maria Wilson – (L-R) Josh Beal, Jake Henry, Matt Alston

Central Clarion’s Jake Henry led the Wildcats, garnering the 160 pound championship, on Saturday (January 6th), as the Wildcats hosted the inaugural District Nine Wrestling League Tournament, at the Clarion Area gymnasium.

**Some action taking place on the mats, before a large crowd**

This is the first season for the Wildcats (the former Clarion Area Bobcats team consisting of grapplers from Clarion Area, Clarion-Limestone, North Clarion and Keystone) and the league as a whole.

**Photo by Maria Wilson – Jake in control** **in championship match**

Two other Wildcats earned medals, which were given to the Top 3 wrestlers in each weight class. Josh Beal finished second at 285 and Matt Alston was third at 215.

**Photo by Maria Wilson – Josh Biehl, with coaches, Mike LeFay, Cameron Slike and Braun Gourley at mat-side**

**Photo by Maria Wilson – Matt Alston working from the top**

Nine other Central Clarion wrestlers placed in the tournament.

Grayson Aaron finished in fifth place at 127. Kayden Ferguson took sixth place at 114.

Three Wildcats finished in seventh place, Brendon Wright at 139, Ethan Rex at 172 and Rudy Shetler at 189.

**Photo by Maria Wilson – Brendon Wright**

Four Central Clarion athletes, Wyatt Aaron at 121, Ben Aaron at 152, Colton Keihl at 172 and Jacob Naser at 189 gathered eighth place finishes.

Central Clarion finished sixth in the nine team field.

Head Coach Braun Gourley shared this about the Wildcats’ performance. “Overall we wrestled well. We were missing 3 starters due to injury but hope to have them back in the lineup soon. Our goal is to get better every week at the little things. The details matter especially in this sport. We saw some improvement in that regard on Saturday.”

**Ben Fiscus (on right), PA-Wrestling.com compiled and provided results to the screen in the lobby.**

LINK TO ALL OF THE WILDCATS’ MATCHES (Provided by PA-Wrestling.com)

https://www.pa-wrestling.com/hs/teams/centralclarion/tournament_stats.htm?id=6733

It took a number of individuals to bring this first ever District Nine Wrestling League Tournament to fruition, from athletic directors, the powers that be in District Nine and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), the Wildcat Wrestling Boosters, many other volunteers at the scoring tables, doing weigh-ins, the referees, PA-Wrestling.com (for the nearly immediate results from the matches, standings etc. posted on a screen in the lobby). The list of those who helped could go on and on.

**50/50 table workers Emily Kiskadden and son Beckett, and ticket booth workers Emily Alston and Debbie Whisner**

When asked before the meet about any folks he’d like to thank, Coach Gourley rattled these just off the top of his head, “Our Booster Club, we’re running the concession stand today. We have a lot of people stepping up with donations. People coming to help, to man the concession stand, the cleanup crew. We couldn’t do this without the help of our booster club…

**Coach Bryan Kiskadden (left) replenishing the pizza at the concession stand**

“The athletic directors for pulling this together, going through all the hoops and the red tape in setting up the By-Laws… just getting all the approvals to make this tournament happen.

“We had to obviously get the approval of the District Nine committee, the PIAA; it’s not just something you can throw together and make it happen. Yeah, a lot of people put in a lot of work to make it happen here today…”

As for future plans for the District Nine Wrestling Tournament, The intention is to have it travel from school to school – year to year. The meeting will be in a week or two, other schools will be given the opportunity to host the tournament in coming years. The Wildcats said they would host again, but other schools will have the opportunity to host.

Central Clarion will continue to have the Junior High Tournament each December. Coach Gourley shared, “That’s a good tournament for us and obviously a good fundraiser for us, as well.”

As to some of the benefits of this tournament. “See, they used to do this years ago. I think they called it the Mid-Season Classic… It’s a league tournament but it doesn’t count for competition points and a lot of wrestling teams are doing it.

Maria Wilson photo – Grayson Aaron set to go against an opponent from Brookville. (Nick Sipes is officiating as he has for a number of years in District Nine, as most of the other refs have. They were very integral in the success of the tournament.)

“A lot of other sports are doing it as well. You’ll even see, I think this year Cross Country had a league meet. Volleyball does it. Basketball does it. It’s just a way to get more competition, more matches specifically wrestling. That was the main driving force behind it, is to get our teams, our wrestlers more matches.

“Each team can put two per weight, which allows some of the JV kids to get on the mat and get some experience, which is always good.”

Coach Gourley was happy with the way the tournament went. He shared this assessment after the tournament concluded, “Overall the tournament fulfilled its purpose. All the coaches wanted to see wrestlers get more experience on the mat. Many of the wrestlers got 5-6 matches on the day. Saint Mary’s outpaced Brookville to take the team title.”

LINK TO COMPLETE TOURNAMENT RESULTS (Provided by PA-Wrestling.com)

https://www.pa-wrestling.com/hs/teams/centralclarion/tournament_stats_full.htm?id=6733

(Congratulations to Jake, Josh and Matt and the other Wildcat Wrestlers, and all the other participants and to all the individuals who made this first ever District Nine Wrestling League Tournament a success!!!!)