NEW HOLLAND: It was called the Lancaster-Lebanon League Wrestling Championships. In reality, it was more like the Solanco Benefit Tournament.
The Mules were that dominant. The numbers are staggering.
5: John Little was projecting three finalists, but his team exceeded those expectations by placing five in championship bouts. Even more impressive was that each one stood at the top of the podium as champions of their weight class.
9: Getting five wrestlers to the finals was quite an accomplishment. Even more impressive was the nine medalists the Mules managed in the two-day tournament.
59: The distance between the Mules and second-place Manheim Twp., who boasted three finalists and two champions, in the team standings.
Little's wrecking crew tied the record for most champions in a single tournament — Manheim Central (1997) and Solanco last season each had five — and racked up 223.5 points to own the floor at Garden Spot High School.
“The thing is, with the seeds and who is where, I mean, you want to win everything but you have to be realistic with expectations,” Little said. “To go five-for-five, it's unbelievable.
“Coming in, I told the guys this tournament was going to be won in the consolation rounds. It's never giving up and working for a pin all the time.”
Continued Little, “It's the philosophy we use, and all the kids buy into that. We are peaking at the right time. It just fell together, and we had a great tournament.”
Some of the success was expected. Connor Sheehan (106) and Thomas Haines (285) are studs and were clearly the class of the field at their weights.
Alec Proffit (120), Wyatt Jennings (126) and Bo Spiller (220) had a shot, but nothing was for certain.
Proffit entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed but carved his way to the finals by pinning Annville-Cleona's Josh Renninger, the No. 2 seed. He followed it up with a semifinal fall over No. 3 seed Josh Charles, of Warwick.
In the finals, Proffit led 2-1 heading to the third period before icing the 4-2 decision with a takedown. It was the type of performance his teammate, Jennings could feed off heading into his finals appearance.
Lancaster Catholic's John Lobeck secured a takedown on Jennings in the second period to even the match at 5. But the Mules sophomore countered, reversing and putting Lobeck on his back for a quick fall in 3:18.
“Connor [Sheehan] is a senior captain, and I try to do everything he does,” Jennings said. “He is like a role model to me.
“The second period, I started to sit out and was going for an escape when I hit an Oklahoma, hooking his leg and reaching around. I was able to sink it in and put him flat.
“Coach tells us to go out thinking we are a state champion. I tried to keep that in my head. I mean, this is the best feeling ever.”
Spiller took a step up in confidence by downing previously unbeaten Hempfield stud Joey Goodhart, who is ranked third in the state, 2-1 in the 220-pound final.
Goodhart beat Spiller 8-5 in last year's District 3 heavyweight final. This time, the Solanco junior pushed the action, forcing a pair of stall calls against the Black Knights ace in the neutral position. The second came in the third period and provided the margin of victory.
“The last two weeks, I really wanted to work as hard as I can to beat the top guys,” said Spiller, who was out for a couple weeks with an elbow injury.
“He is one of them. He likes to slow matches down, and I wanted to push him the best I could to get him to do what I like to do. I went after him and kept pressing the action.”
Solanco did that in every match throughout the day. It paid off in the form of big bonus points and huge wins.
“This starts in the offseason and climaxes to this,” Little said. “A lot of times when school was canceled, we were still there.
“It's dedication. They know when the room is open, and they stick to the plan. It's those little things the guys did to perform well.”
Haines, along with Manheim Twp.'s Cortlandt Schuyler (138) became the third and fourth wrestlers in the 20-year history of the tournament to become four-time champions.
Schuyler received Outstanding Wrestler honors for his 6-3 decision over Conestoga Valley's Lucas Ortiz. Haines earned most falls in shortest amount of time — three in a total of 3:17 — the last of which was a 57-second effort over Columbia's Andres Munoz.
MORE CHAMPIONSHIP BOUTS
113: Devin Schnupp, Warwick p Zach Kelly, Northern Lebanon 1:00.
132: Matthew Grossman, Manheim Twp. md Zach Martin, Garden Spot 13-0.
145: Ben Metzler, Manheim Central d Alex Aharonian, Garden Spot 4-3.
152: Will Finkey, Garden Spot d Jack Zimmerman, Penn Manor 5-2.
160: Jared Siegrist, Manheim Central d Evan Daub, Northern Lebanon 5-1.
170: Ben Swarr, Garden Spot md Tyler Rhoads, Manheim Central 12-0.
182: Stephen Loiseau, Lancaster Catholic d John Shorter, Manheim Twp. 7-2.
195: Adam Gilson, Cedar Crest d Tommy Bennett, Hempfied 5-3.
Lancaster-Lebanon Championships (Jan. 24-25)
Event news and team scores
Winners brackets:
106 | 113 | 120 | 126 | 132 | 138 | 145
152 | 160 | 170 | 182 | 195 | 220 | 285
New Oxford Invitational (Jan. 24-25)
Event news and team scores
Winners brackets:
106 | 113 | 120 | 126 | 132 | 138 | 145
152 | 160 | 170 | 182 | 195 | 220 | 285