25-26 Postseason Push

It’s nearing the end of the wrestling season and it’s time to get ready for the grind that is the postseason tournaments. The varsity boys team is setting up for the team tournament that starts on Wednesday, 1/28/26, at Canon-McMillan High School. The girls varsity team has a couple more duals on their plate to prove they’re the best in the WPIAL before they start on their individual postseason runs. The middle school team has a brush up at the Waynesburg tournament before their District 7 Southwest Regional tournament and individual postseason tournaments.

How Did We Get Here?

The girls, unfortunately, do not have a section championship as there are no sections carved out in the girls WPIAL as of yet. But, they currently sit as the only undefeated team left in the WPIAL. They have dominated their way through all of their duals to this point with the most points allowed in duals being 20. They started against Norwin where they only lost one match and surrendered two forfeits while winning 10 matches with bonus points for total of 58-18. They then travelled to the Women of Ironman at Walsh Jesuit where the team finished in 4th place with Marlee Solomon came home a champion, Araceli Clem and Yuni Ayala brought in 6th, and London Ellis finished with 8th. A home dual against North Allegheny followed that the girls again showed their dominance by allowing three falls while collecting seven falls and a forfeit of their own enroute to a 54-18 victory. Next was another challenging tournament, the Beast of the East hosted at the University of Delaware. Marlee Solomon again finished as a champion, Yuni Ayala won 5th, and Audrey Calgaro secured 7th while the team finished in 5th. After that, the girls took to the Powerade Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School to wrap up the newly created girl’s Triple Crown. Marlee Solomon became the first girl to collect that Triple Crown award when she completed her championship run at Powerade as well. The team finished with 1st overall not only on Marlee’s championship, but also Yuni Alaya making a championship run. Also placing were Alaya Henderson with 2nd, Audrey Calgaro with 3rd, London Ellis 4th, and Giana Wingfield 6th. They then started a stretch of three duals. They would host Upper St. Clair and travel to Connellsville and Trinity. Against Upper St. Clair, the girls surrendered 2 falls and won 7 of their own while piling on 2 technical falls and forfeit to win 58-12. In Connellsville is where the team allowed the most dual points of the season where 4 matches went to the opposition in the form of 2 falls, 1 technical fall, and 1 decision. The girls countered with 2 falls and 1 technical fall of their own while collecting 3 forfeits in the 47-20 victory. In Trinity, the girls were second on the mat and continued the Macs roll over the Hillers where they allowed a fall and a technical fall while pinning 6 and gathering 3 forfeits in the 60-11 victory. Most recently, the team finished in 1st at the Butler Tournament. There were first place finishes by Araceli Clem, Malia Ramos, Yuni Ayala, Marlee Solomon, and Alaya Henderson. Addy Saussol finished with second. In third were Gianna Cafeo, Kadence Merigo, Audrey Calgaro, and Giana Wingfield. Farrah Henderson took 5th. They will wrap their season up with duals against Seneca Valley, Olentangy Orange from Ohio, and Kiski and then a dual tournament called the Southwest PA Girls Invitational before the individual postseason begins.

The middle school team wrapped up their fourth consecutive section championship this season while accumulating a 7-0 dual record and, at one point, being named the top middle school team in the state. They started the season against Norwin. The team allowed two falls and surrendered a forfeit while collecting five falls of their own to secure a 40-32 victory. Up next was a match-up against Connellsville. Connellsville was spotted a forfeit and wrestled to two technical falls but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Big Macs three falls and forfeit for the 37-29 victory. Chartiers Valley couldn’t overcome the five forfeits the surrendered in the next dual while only collecting a technical fall. The team added four falls in the 62-12 victory. After those duals, the next stop was the South Fayette Joe Iagnemma Memorial Tournament. Nate Iampietro came out as champion, Shane Martin finished with second, in third were Kyle Studd and Neil Kirby, Merrick Sarles and Parker Flynn collected fourth, the trio of Aleeya Dreshman, Cam Longstreth, and SJ Tate earned fifth, and Gavin Ross finished with six. All of these place winners propelled the team to first overall. Another set of three duals filled the season. North Allegheny could only fight to a fall and two other victories while the Macs collected five falls and two forfeits in the 59-13 victory. Waynesburg secured two falls and forfeit but the Macs rode six falls and forfeit to the 54-26 victory. Against Peters Township, the team pinned in 9 of 14 matches to cruise to the 60-12 victory. The team then travelled to Bellefonte for the Bellefonte Junior High Invitational. While the team was only able to muster 6th overall, Neil Kirby came home as a champion, Merrick Sarles got 3rd, Cam Longstreth took 4th, and Shane Martin finished with 5th. This all led to their final section matchup of the season against Trinity. As always it was an exciting match. Trinity secured one fall but the Macs rode a wave of six falls in the 50-20 victory. Most recently, the team traveled to the Monroeville Mat Madness Tournament at the Monroeville Convention Center. Aleeya Dreshman and Neil Kirby fought to second place, Cam Longstreth and SJ Tate wrestled to third place, and Hunter Zimmerman collected sixth place while the team worked to 6th overall. The team will finish up their season with a dust up at the Waynesburg Junior High Tournament before the finish at the District 7 Southwest Regional Championships. Many will continue on to try to qualify for state tournaments.

The boys varsity team also won the section championship. It’s the first section title since the 22-23 season. The Big Macs started their season with a dual against Norwin. The Knights racked up bonus points in 5 of the 7 bouts they won where Macs only got bonus points in 2 of their 6. All of that led to a 31-24 loss. Not the stellar start we were hoping for, but they would look to bounce back against Connellsville. They turned the tables on the bonus point fight with the Falcons by taking 6 of 9 wins into bonus where the Falcons were only to get bonus points in 2 of 4 victories. The Big Macs won 39-16. Next was their first section dual of the schedule against Chartiers Valley. The boys cruised to the 67-3 victory by scoring technical falls or falls outside of the 3 forfeits they were given. The team then got some tough competition at the Kiski Area Cavalier Duals. The Big Macs would be pooled with Penn-Trafford, Peters Township, and North Allegheny. Things started great as Penn-Trafford went down 51-19. Peters Township also had showed little competition as they were only able to gather one fall while the Big Macs cruised to a 63-6 victory. The match against North Allegheny didn’t quite go as planned. The dual came down to the last match and a head to shoulder collision and a trainer immediately deeming our wrestler unable to continue gifted the Tigers the victory as the Big Macs fell 35-28. This would set up a matchup with the top finisher from the second pool, Kiski. Kiski proved their lineup is tough all the way through handing the Big Macs their second loss of the dual tournament, 35-25. In the third place dual, the Big Macs would meet up with the DuBois Beavers after they had lost to North Allegheny. Bonus points were secured in all eight of the matches that the Big Macs won during the 43-24 victory. The team secured third in the dual tournament. After the dual tournament, the boys would find themselves in their second section matchup of the season against South Fayette. The Lions were blanked during the meet and the Macs won 66-0. All of these duals were a great leadup to a stretch of three tournaments. First cam the King of the Mountain at Central Mountain. Placing at the mountain were Lee Dreshman and Brayden Collins with 3rd, Collier Hartman and Bryce Collins with 5th, Jon Emma and Dakota Carmona with 6th, and Gionno Gardner with 8th. The team finished in fifth overall and readied themselves for the next test. The always formidable Powerade Tournament at the Canon-McMillan High School. Powerade brings competition from across the nation to try to claim their titles. The team would find 29th place at the end with only Lee Dreshman able to find the podium with 6th place. The last of the three tournaments in a row was the TRICADA Tournament at West Greene. The Big Macs left no doubt in their first place team finish by crowning 5 champions. Taking the top spot were Lee Dreshman, Gionno Gardner, Jon Emma, Collier Hartman, and Bryce Collins. Also placing were Brayden Collins in second, the trio of Parker Kolarcik, Mason Calgaro, and Dakota Carmona in third, Aidan Finnigan and Jack Hunter in fourth, and Owen Rush bringing in 5th. As a break up of the run of tournaments, the Big Macs hosted Waynesburg for their third section dual. The boys would only allow one decision to be lost to the 5 falls and 5 forfeits they gathered in the 70-3 victory. The team then jumped on planes to travel down to Jensen Beach, FL to compete in the Cradle Cancer Invitational where they showed that they stack up well against the best that Florida has to offer with the team taking second overall. Flying home with first place were Lee Dreshman and Collier Hartman, second was Bryce Collins, third had Gionno Gardner, a trio of fourth placers were Mason Calgaro, Jack Hunter, and Dakota Carmona, fifth placers were Brayden Collins and Owen Rush, and with sixth place was Jon Emma. The boys finished their dual schedule with away matches against Peters Township and Trinity. The Indians matched up differently this time around than at the Kiski Duals but, the result ended nearly identical with the Big Macs scoring 3 technical falls, 6 falls, and 2 forfeits for a 63-9 victory. The section title came down to the always exciting battle of the fighting Scotsmen. The Big Macs and the Hillers always put on a show and this matchup wouldn’t disappoint. In front of a full house at Trinity, the Big Macs came out victorious by a 36-23 score. The team was then intended to head to the Coal Cracker Tournament but, the impending snow storm altered their travel plans. Instead, they showed off at the Fred Bell Tournament in Grove City where the team took first place. Finishing as champions were Lee Dreshman and Collier Hartman, in third were Gionno Gardner, Aidan Finnigan, and Owen Rush, and in fourth were Jon Emma, Mason Calgaro, and Brayden Collins.

What’s Next?

Well, for the boys varsity, they are onto the WPIAL team tournament as the champions of Section 2. The Big Macs will host the first three rounds of the team tournament on Wednesday, 1/28 starting at 4:30pm with a matchup that pits Belle Vernon against Mars to figure out who will wrestle the Big Macs. At 6pm, the Big Macs will take the winner of that dual while Latrobe will battle against North Allegheny. The winners of those two dual will matchup at 7:15pm. The semi-finals, finals, and third place duals will happen on Saturday, 1/31 starting at 1:30pm. The Big Macs line-up has been fluid in places through much of the year but here is a recap of what we’ve seen at different spots this year. At 107, there has been a mix of Lee Dreshman and Isaac Hrelec. At 114, we’ve seen Lee Dreshman and Parker Kolarcik. At 121, there has been a mix of Lee Dreshman, Parker Kolarcik, Joseph Norman, Andrew Soule and even Gionno Gardner. There has been a mix of Jon Emma, Gionno Gardner, and Andrew Soule at 127 through the year. Jon Emma has been the only wrestler seen at 133 this season but that could change now that we’re into the postseason. 139 has seen Jon Emma, Colton Sarles, Matt Rothka, and Collier Hartman. Collier Hartman has done the bulk of his work at 145 this year with Aidan Finnigan showing there from time to time. At 152, we’ve seen Aidan Finnigan and Mason Calgaro. Aidan Finnigan, Mason Calgaro, and Mark Wilson have all seen matches at 160. 172 has seen John Hunter and Colt Joseph. 189 has been dominated by Bryce Collins but has also seen Colt Joseph and Landon Casto. Brayden Collins has controlled the 215 class for much of the season but there has also been showings by Caleb Niklas. Dakota Carmona and Owen Rush have both had many matches at 285. You can see there is a lot of flexibility in the Macs roster. So, your guess is as good as mine on what each dual will hold.

The girls varsity has a few competitions still before their postseason begins but we can take a look at where each wrestler may be. Araceli Clem, Adelina Saussol, and Mahima Khatiwada have all started for the Lady Macs at 100. Araceli Clem and Adelina Saussol have also seen time at 106 but the Macs have also seen Malia Ramos and Mackenzie Cordera there as well. At 112, the Lady Macs have wrestled Malia Ramos, Gianna Cafeo, and Elexis Owens. Malia Ramos and Gianna Cafeo have wrestled at 118 but there have also been appearances by Marlee Solomon, Yuni Ayala, and Harlie Hudson. Marlee Solomon, Yuni Ayala, and Harlie Hudson have all also been used at 124. Marlee Solomon has also seen time at 130 along with Zoey Bogos, Farrah Henderson, and Milly Williams. At 136, the Lady Macs have wrestled Zoey Bogos, Farrah Henderson, and Milly Williams. At 142, there has been Milly Williams, Farrah Henderson, Mackenzie Pape, and Rachel Knuckles. 148 has been held by mostly Alaya Henderson but has also seen Rachel Knuckles. The Lady Macs haven’t had a wrestler at 155 all season. 170 has been held by Audrey Calgaro for much of the season. At 190, they have Giana Wingfield. And finally, at 235, London Ellis has been there all year. As was with the boys, there is a lot of flexibility through the middle of the roster. It will be very interesting to see where each wrestler shakes out as the girls push for another Western Regional title and potentially get back on top of the State.