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Police: Multiple gunshots reported in Hazleton this morning

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Sunshine, cooler temperatures, rain expected into the weekend

HERSHEY &#8212; Turn back time for a moment to one year ago in Hershey on the first day of the PIAA Wrestling Championships.A near-record snowfall was in full swing and the Wyoming Valley Conference was entering a record-high 15 qualifiers into the event.What a difference a year makes.Temperatures are expected to near 80 degrees, and the WVC has a record-low six participants into the tournament when the PIAA Championships begin on Thursday at Giant Center.The six WVC qualifiers are the least amount the league has sent to Hershey this century and could be the fewest in history. There was a bit of a youth movement in the conference this season, and that could be a reason for so few state entrants, or it could be a sign of parity?&#8220;Obviously six was not a great showing unfortunately, but I&#8217;d have to go back and look. I&#8217;m not 100 percent sure how to take that,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Keith Maurer said. &#8220;I know for me, I thought I should have another one out. I hope it&#8217;s not an indication of the conference (being down) and I hope it&#8217;s just a fluke and we&#8217;ll be back next year.&#8221;There are plenty of positives spins on the situation though which gives the impression that less means more. Since 2010, the fewest participants from the WVC at the Giant Center was seven in 2010. In that year, four of the seven left with medals.Since 2000, there have been four instances of seven state qualifiers from the conference, the two most recent years since then in 2006 and 2004, the WVC crowned state champs in Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Trevin Cowman and Crestwood&#8217;s Joe Kemmerer, respectively.Maurer is coaching two wrestlers in the Class 3A state tournament, juniors Chris Lasecki (126 pounds) and Jimmy Hoffman (132), who were both state qualifiers a year ago. They are joined by Meyers&#8217; Colin Pasone (Class 2A, 113 pounds) as the returning state qualifiers from last year.Having that experience from the previous year is a plus, Maurer said.&#8220;Just the feel for the tournament, looking for a place to warm-up, it&#8217;s very difficult to find a place to warm up. When you&#8217;re getting called on, you can&#8217;t be around the mats,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a different tournament. So being here last year, I firmly believe is definitely a bonus for anyone.&#8221;The three wrestlers from the conference who are new to the state tournament &#8212; Hanover Area&#8217;s John Sheridan (Class 2A, 285), Tunkhannock&#8217;s Mike Manley (3A, 152) and Dallas&#8217; Cole Dixon (3A, 182) &#8212; took in a workout on Wednesday at the arena to get situated.&#8220;If you haven&#8217;t been here, it&#8217;s very important to get down here and soak up some of the atmosphere to see what you got going here because some kids don&#8217;t wrestle in an atmosphere like this all year long, or maybe in their careers,&#8221; Maurer added. &#8220;In that aspect, I think it&#8217;s important to get down here.&#8221;To be the man&#8230;There&#8217;s a total of 14 returning state champs entered into the tournament looking to add more hardware to their collection this weekend.Three of them are in the 126-pound Class 2A bracket. That&#8217;s where you&#8217;ll find Reynolds&#8217; Cole Matthews, Bedford&#8217;s Jon Gabriel and Central Cambria&#8217;s Max Murin. Murin defeated Gabriel in last weekend&#8217;s Southwest Regional. Matthews is in the same half of the bracket as Gabriel possibly setting up a great semifinal.Derry Area&#8217;s George Phillippi is going for his third straight championship participating in the 138-pound Class 2A bracket.In Class 3A, Bethlehem Catholic&#8217;s Luke Karam (126) and Greater Latrobe&#8217;s Luke Pletcher (138) are looking for their third gold medal.Speaking of the 138-pound Class 3A weight, that&#8217;s also where you&#8217;ll find Nazareth&#8217;s Sammy Sasso, a returning state runner-up. Pletcher and Sasso are both ranked in the top 10 in the country by InterMat, but they are seeded on the same side of this weekend&#8217;s bracket. In fact, they will likely both square off in the quarterfinals.The unbeatensTwenty-three wrestlers begin the state championships with a zero in the loss column, which includes 12 in Class 2A and 11 in 3A.Austin DeSanto from Exeter Township enters the 120-pound Class 3A bracket with the most wins of all the unbeatens with a mark of 47-0.In 2A, a pair of grapplers enter with 43 victories. They are Greenville&#8217;s Blake Reynolds and Gage Gladysz at 195 and 220.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hanover Area&#8217;s John Sheridan will be one of a record-low six Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers competing at the PIAA state wrestling tournament in Hershey. This will be Sheridan&#8217;s first appearance at the tournament. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL020416WrestlingMeyers_spt_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hanover Area&#8217;s John Sheridan will be one of a record-low six Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers competing at the PIAA state wrestling tournament in Hershey. This will be Sheridan&#8217;s first appearance at the tournament. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave Rosengrantdrosengrant@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PIAA Wrestling ChampionshipsThursday&#8217;s ScheduleClass 2APreliminaries and first round, 9 a.m.First round consolations, 1:15 p.m.Class 3APreliminaries and First round, 4 p.m.First round consolations, 8:15 p.m.FridayClass 2AQuarterfinals and second round consolations, 9 a.m.Third round consolations, 11:45 a.m.Semifinals and fourth round consolations, 7:30 p.m.Fifth round consolations, 9:30 p.m.Class 3AQuarterfinals and second round consolations, 2:15 p.m.Third round consolations, 5 p.m.SaturdayClass 2AParade of Champions, 1:45 p.m.Finals, third, fifth, seventh place matches, 2 p.m.Class 3ASemifinals and fourth round consolations, 9 a.m.Fifth round consolations, 11:30 a.m.Parade of Champions, 6:45 p.m.Finals, third, fifth, seventh place matches, 7 p.m.TV: Both finals can be seen live on PCN</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</shirttailMeta></div>

Six wrestlers from Wyoming Valley Conference begin quest for state gold