HERSHEY, Pa. – Brookville’s Jackson Zimmerman and Grove City’s Hunter Hohman are going for gold at the PIAA wrestling championships.
Zimmerman (38-4), a senior, earned a pair of wins on Friday to advance to the 2A state final at 189 pounds, as did Hohman at 160 pounds.
Zimmerman’s win makes it five years in a row that a Brookville wrestler has advanced to the state finals, with Colby Whitehill winning titles in 2019 and 2020, Nathan Taylor in 2021, and Owen Reinsel with a second-place finish in 2022.
Hohman, meanwhile, set the Grove City single-season wins record, improving to 41-1 after his semifinal win.
Grove City’s Hunter Hohman (top). Photo by Molly Zimmerman.
It’s been an impressive performance for both to get to the finals.
After a first-round pin on Thursday, Zimmerman got his day going on Friday with a second-period (2:34) fall against Mount Union’s Josh Ryan.
In the semifinals, Zimmermann, PA Power Wrestling’s No. 5 ranked wrestler at 189, earned a 4-1 decision over No. 2 Jakob Gilfoil of Bishop McDevitt.
His opponent in the finals, Frazier junior Rune Lawrence, is a two-time defending PIAA champion.
Hohman, meanwhile, has been simply dominant in getting to the finals at 160. After a first-round pin, Hohman earned a pair of major decisions on Friday to get to the championship bout.
Hohman beat Faith Christian’s Luke Sugalaski 16-3 in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals, the No. 2 ranked Hohman beat No. 4 Deegan Ross of Lackawanna Trail, 12-4.
His opponent in the final is No. 1 Grant Mackay of Laurel. The two squared off in the Fred Bell Tournament finals back in January, with Mackay (46-1) handing Hohman his only loss of the season, 5-1.
Zimmerman and Hohman emerged from a group of 13 D9/10 wrestlers (9 from D10, 4 from D9) to advance to the semifinals.
Falling in the semifinals after earning quarterfinal wins was Brockway’s Weston Pisarchick at 114, Hunter Hohman’s younger brother Hudson Hohman at 121, Conneaut’s Hunter Gould, and North East’s Cyrus Hurd at 127, Clearfield’s Brady Collins at 139, Conneaut’s Collin Hearn at 160, Reynolds’ Jalen Wagner at 172, General McLane’s Magnus Lloyd at 189, Fort LeBoeuf’s Danny Church and Girard’s Abe Keep at 215 and Port Allegany’s Carson Neely, who came into Friday undefeated, at 285.
Brockway’s Weston Pisarchick gets his hand raised after his quarterfinal win. Photo by Molly Zimmerman.
Pisarchick, Wagner, and Keep lost by a single point in the semifinals, while Gould lost 8-3 in the second tiebreaker.
Other wrestlers who will medal after advancing via the consolation brackets are Cranberry’s Dalton Wenner at 107, Cranberry’s Elijah Brosius at 121, Reynolds’ Chase Bell at 133, Commodore Perry’s Wyatt Lazzar at 139, Grove City’s Cody Hamilton at 145, Sharpsville’s Caullin Summers and North East’s Steffan Lynch at 152, St. Marys’ Waylon Wehler at 172, Cranberry’s Brayden McFedtridge at 215, and Brockway’s Gavin Thompson and General McLane’s Wilson Spires at 285.
Reynolds’ Jalen Wagner (top). Photo by Molly Zimmerman.
Northwestern’s Sierra Chiesa finished one win shy of wrestling for a medal.
The championship finals and third, fifth, and seventh-place matches will be 2 p.m. following the Parade of Champions, which begins at 1:45.
SALLOT ADVANCES IN 3A
McDowell’s Logan Sallot earned a 4-2 decision over Chris Dennis of Central Bucks West in the quarterfinals.
With the win, Sallot advances to face Nathan Desmond of Bethlehem Catholic in the semifinals.
Unlike Class 2A, which wrestled its semifinals Friday night, the Class 3A semis will be 9 a.m., with the Parade of Champions at 6:45 p.m. and the finals at 7.
