By: Guy Cipriano 

Centre Daily Times

Earning a trip to Hershey for the PIAA Championships motivates high school wrestlers in March.

Bellefonte could be on its way to becoming the desirable May trip for many of the same teenagers.

The Pennsylvania Amateur Wrestling Federation freestyle and Greco-Roman state championships are making their first stop in the borough this weekend. The two-day event is the qualifier for the prestigious junior national championships held every summer in Fargo, N.D.

The Bellefonte wrestling community is taking its role as state tournament host seriously. Varsity coach Mike Maney, junior varsity coach Tom Alterio, booster club president Brian Wit-mer and dozens of volunteers started working on the event’s logistics in March.

Festivities include a meet and greet with Penn State wrestlers and past Pennsylvania freestyle greats during today’s weigh-ins at the Bellefonte YMCA. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on eight mats setup in Bellefonte High School’s main and auxiliary gyms.

PAWF state director Van Plocus said more than 550 wrestlers from ages 6 to 18 are competing this weekend. Like the PIAA Championships, wrestlers must qualify for the event.

Maney said Shippensburg University, York College and a facility in Wilkes- Barre also expressed interest in hosting this year’s tournament.

But a well-organized qualifier last spring led to discussions about bringing a state tournament to Bellefonte. PAWF officially awarded Bellefonte the event toward the end of this past folkstyle season.

Penn State, Lock Haven and Clarion Universities are among previous state championship sites. District 11 Blue Mountain High School hosted last year’s event. The freestyle and Greco-Roman championships operate on a two-year cycle, and Plocus said the event will return to Bellefonte next spring.

“They have a great booster club, it’s in the center of the state, they have a new school and a new, beautiful gym,” Plocus said. “It’s an ideal location.”

Maney said he hopes this weekend spurs additional local interest in freestyle and Greco- Roman wrestler.

The brutal and demanding nature of the PIAA wrestling leaves many Pennsylvania standouts torn about pursuing spring freestyle events. Recent PIAA champions Andrew and Dylan Alton, Josh Dziewa, Nico Megaludis and Josh Kindig wrestled in national freestyle finals last summer.

Still, Pennsylvania has a reputation of regularly not sending all of its best juniors and seniors to Fargo.

“Other states look at Fargo as an opportunity,” said Maney, a two-time All-American at Lock Haven. “Realistically, Pennsylvania is one of the marquee wrestling states and guys who do well at the PIAA tournament are already receiving national exposure. Some kids don’t see it as having more to prove. They already have college scholarships.

“It’s different in a lot of other states. But Pennsylvania does well at sending a lot of its best eighth-, ninth-and 10th-graders to Fargo.”

Two high-profile wrestlers who own PIAA titles and college scholarships should give this year’s state tournament a local boost.

Bellefonte senior Mitchell Port, who won the PIAA Class AAA 125-pound title in March and signed with Edinboro last November, wrestled Tyrone senior A.J. Schopp in the 140-pound junior freestyle and Greco-Roman finals during last weekend’s qualifier at Central Mountain. Schopp won a PIAA Class AA title in March and also signed with Edinboro last November. The future teammates could meet again at Bellefonte.

A wrestler generating buzz before making his varsity debut is another curiosity this weekend.

Chance an eighth-grader in the District 3 Kennard-Dale school district, won the 152-pound junior freestyle title at the Central Mountain qualifier. Marsteller, who trains with former NCAA champion Cary Kolat, competed in last year’s Nittany Lion Open and he’s already receiving media attention in southern Pennsylvania.

The quality of the field means multiple college coaches, including Penn State’s Cael Sanderson, are expected to attend Saturday’s freestyle tournament. The Greco- Roman event is Sunday.

“I was excited to hear that the tournament is in Bellefonte,” Sanderson said. “We want to see who’s wrestling in the off-season and who’s wrestling at these tournaments. The fact that you only have to go 15 miles is good. I think there’s a lot of interest in the area. It’s a good thing for the sport.”

Plocus said the interest is statewide. He said the number of wrestlers registered in qualifiers this year increased, and the federation has 3,500 wrestlers involved in its programs. The number of participants in PAWF has doubled since the late-1980s.

While many accomplished high school seniors skip freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments, Plocus said the majority of the state’s best compete in PAWF state tournaments during their careers.

“It’s probably the best competition at any one place for a state tournament,” he said. “There’s no two-division format. We’re only wrestling for one championship in every age group.”