Elementary Wrestlers Do Well At Area V Tourney, Ben Smith and Owen Reinsel Headed To States (03/19/14)

Seven Clarion Area Elementary Wrestlers participated at the Area V Junior Wrestling Tournament this past Saturday, March 15, at Tippin Gymnasium.

Two of the Bobcat grapplers qualified for the Pennsylvania State Junior Wrestling Tournament to be held at the Farm Show Arena, in Harrisburg, this Friday and Saturday, March 21-22.

Advancing to the big dance are Ben Smith and Owen Reinsel.

State Qualifyer, Ben Smith and his Father/Coach Mike Smith

Smith, the son of Mike and Angie Smith, finished 1st in the 12-Under, 145lb. Class, at the Area V Tournament. He won the Championship 10-0 over his opponent from Port Allegany. This will be Smith’s first time at States. Smith also won the Section 3 Championship.

Reinsel, the son of David and Trudy Reinsel, finished 2nd in the 10-Under, 65 lb., Class, at the Area V Tournament.  He also finished second at the Section 3 Tournament.  This is Reinsel’s 2nd straight appearance at States, having won the Area V Championship last year. Reinsel has a 29-14 record, so far this season.

Just missing a trip to States was Chase Makray, son of Eric and Brenda Makray, who finished in 3rd place, in the 12-Under, Heavyweight Class and Dawson Smail, son of David and Jami Smail, who finished in 4th place, in the 8-Under, 70lb. Class.

State Qualifyer, Owen Reinsel and Father/Coach David Reinsel

The other Bobcat Wrestlers who participated in the Area V Tournament were: Jake Smith, also the son of Mike and Angie Smith, in the 8-Under, 65lb. Class; Logan Powell, son of Rob and Kristi Powell, in the 8-Under, 55lb. Class; and Noah Harrison, son of Eric Harrison and Jen Harrison, in the 8-Under, 55lb. Class.

Coach Lee Weber had this to say about the Clarion Wrestlers, “Congrats to all 7 wrestlers participating in this past weekend’s Area V tournament.  Out of 7 wrestlers, 2 qualified for States in Hershey!  All of our wrestlers represented themselves well considering it was the first time for most of them to be in this big of a tournament.”

Assistant Coach Dave Smail shared thoughts on the wresters: He said Chase Makray wrestled up two weight classes to get into the heavyweight class and that he qualified for Areas in two weight classes.

He mentioned that, this was Dawson Smail’s “second year of wrestling, wrestling in his third open tournament and was able to finish 4th out of 8 (wrestlers), leaps and bounds from last year.

Area V Tournament Participants: Front Row (L-R) Logan Powell, Noah Harrison, Jake Smith, Dawson Smail.
Back Row (L-R) Coach David Smail, Chase Makray, Ben Smith, Coach Lee Weber. Missing from photo, Owen Reinsel

“Logan Powell and Noah Harrison and Jake Smith, all three of them faced excruciating quality wrestlers from the north, especially from the Coudersport and Cameron County Area. Logan’s 1st year of wrestling, Noah’s 2nd year of wrestling and Jake’s 3rd year, wrestling.

“And ultimately we have Ben Smith, who qualified for his 1st state tournament in the 12-Under, 145lb class. And Owen Reinsel, in the 10-under, 65lb class, wrestled some tough competition and finishing 2nd behind one of his good friends from Punxsutawney. They wrestled often this year and I believe the record between those two now is 2-2.”

(Fantastic Job Bobcats!!!! And have a great time at States Ben and Owen!!!!)