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Youngsville has 4 JV place finishers

Photo submitted to the Times Observer Youngsville wrestlers, from left: Graeme Minnis, second place; Connor Minnis, first place; Bryce Spinks, third place; and Tristan Ives, fourth place, all medaled during junior varsity action at Saturday’s Corry JV/JH Tournament at Corry Area High School.

CORRY — The Youngsville junior high and junior varsity squads competed in Corry on Saturday at the annual Corry Junior High/JV Tournament.

All told, the Eagles walked away with two tournament champions, a runner-up, two bronze medalists and a fourth-place finisher.

The junior high Eagles were led by another championship performance from Collin Havers. Havers once again steamrolled his competition earning three falls and a technical fall win on his way to a 4-0 performance and a championship for the second consecutive year.

Also medaling for the junior high Eagles was Tucker Sanford. Sanford began his day with back-to-back pins over Titusville’s Axel Brooks and Franklin’s Austin Hart, respectively. Sanford dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the semifinals to Trinity’s Brooks Bruckner before rebounding to win by fall in his consolation semifinal and consolation finals matches to take third.

The Eagles also saw great performances from Johnathan Sullivan and Khloe Rulander.

Sullivan began his day with a 15-0 technical fall over Cameron County’s Tim Grovanz and a fall in 1:17 over Corry’s Sunjay Jones to make the semifinals. In the semifinals, he squared off with Titusville’s Dalton Knapp, son of former YHS coach Phil Knapp. Knapp and Sullivan battled each other from whistle to whistle, but it was Knapp who walked away the victor by a 4-0 margin. In the consolation semifinals, Sullivan matched up with familiar foe Aden Carter of Cochranton. Sullivan and Carter battled each other to a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation and needed overtime to declare a winner. In the second overtime, Sullivan surrendered the match winning reversal to lose 3-1.

Khloe Rulander had a good outing as well. Rulander dropped her first match by fall to Sharpsville’s Nick Titus then pinned Corry’s Aden Johnson to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Rulander’s second match provided arguably the most fireworks of the day.

Rulander fell behind 7-2 after nearly being pinned by Meadville’s Cam Robinson early in the second period. Rulander kept calm, however, and climbed back into the match with a reversal with 30 seconds left in the match. Rulander set off a barrage of maneuvers in an effort to close the three-point gap as time wound down.

With 8 seconds left, Rulander got Robinson towards his back for a one count before Robinson bellied back out. Undeterred, Rulander once more drove Robinson onto his back to pick up four back points to complete the comeback and win 8-7 as time expired. Rulander would go on to lose her next match by fall to conclude a very exciting tournament.

On the JV side, Youngsville nearly swept the 215-pound bracket with Connor Minnis taking first, Graeme Minnis taking second and Bryce Spinks taking third.

Also placing for the Eagles was Tristan Ives. Ives picked up his first ever win in his first match and then picked up his second ever win in his second match. By virtue of his two wins in round robin action, Ives was declared the fourth-place finisher of the 121-pound weight class.

“The kids did a bang-up job competing this weekend.” said varsity coach Dave Myers “Our first-year wrestlers are developing nicely. It was refreshing to see them attack Saturday morning. Hopefully this was a confidence booster for them as we move forward.”

“All in all, it was a mixed bag kind of day for the junior high crew,” added junior high coach Tim Suydan. “We had some shining moments like Khloe’s comeback win, but we also had some moments that left us scratching our heads. Right now, our aim as a team is to get healthy and make sure we’re as ready as possible for the areas tournament in a few weeks.”

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GROVE CITY — Competing against some of the best wrestlers in the state, Youngsville had a difficult weekend at the annual Fred Bell Tournament held this past weekend in Grove City.

Youngsville’s lone victory on the weekend came from Carsyn Branstrom, who picked up a second-period pin of Fort Cherry’s Eli Salvini in the 172-pound consolation round.

Tristan Ives, Caleb Shafer, Gavin Olson, Bryce Spinks, Graeme Minnis and Connor Minnis also competed for the Eagles who return to action Wednesday with a makeup dual meet at Conneaut.

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