The Clearfield Bison Wrestling team will head to districts with four top seeds and a fighting chance at the overall team title Saturday at Clarion University.
Kodie Lowder, Richie Queen, Kasey Casher, and Sean Owen are the top-seeded Bison for the weekend’s action. Earning #2 seeds were Holden Lowe, Andrew Spicer, and Shawn Hall.
Head Coach Jeff Aveni was pleased with the seedings, saying “We’re happy with the four top seeds, and we got some other very favorable draws. We are in a great spot to put a lot of wrestlers into the finals.”
Among the competing schools, St. Mary’s and Clearfield each have four #1 seeds. Punxsutawney earned three, Dubois two, and Bradford one. St. Mary’s and Clearfield are considered the favorites to win the team title, with St. Mary’s having a slight edge on paper.
Aveni singled out some key matchups that may help determine the team race. “Kasey Casher is sitting pretty [with the 1 seed], we hope he takes advantage of it. Derek Danver got a 3 seed, but he’s wrestling better now than he has all season. He was beating the top seed in the dual meet and got caught with a headlock – Derek has lots of ability, and he has his sights set on winning a district title. Holden Lowe lost to Whitaker earlier 2-1, we feel it’s our turn to win there. Also, look at 130 lbs. – we told Shane Harper he could finish anywhere form fourth to first depending on whether he decides to really get after it and wrestle. We’re telling the kids that we want revenge for the Team Duals, that it’s our turn, and with the matchups we got we have a good chance of being the #1 team this weekend – we’ll see what happens.”
Wrestling begins for AAA wrestlers at 10AM, with finals set to begin around 6:30PM that evening. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the AAA regional tournament Feb. 29 and Mar. 1 at Altoona High School.
Clearfield seeds and opening matchups:
103 Kodie Lowder (1) bye to finals
112 Andrew Hill (4) vs. Kody Young (1)
119 Andrew Spicer(2) vs. Ty Albright (3)
125 Holden Lowe (2) vs. Butch Yetzer (3)
130 Shane Harper (4) vs. Brent Cousins (1)
135 Richie Queen (1) vs. winner of prelim match
140 Derek Danver (3) vs. Jake McMurtrie (2)
145 Kasey Casher (1) vs. winner of prelim match
152 Will Beauseigneur (5) vs. Easton Renwick (4)
160 Shawn Hall (2) vs. Justin Brem (3)
171 Lee Zalno (3) vs. Eric Lundgren (2)
189 Andre Buck (3) vs. Luke Bennett (2)
215 Mike Hill (3) vs. Tyler Burkett (2)
285 Sean Owen (1) vs. Chad Rumgay (4)