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<p>Over the last 21 years, hundreds of wrestlers have worn a Hanover Area singlet and dozens have achieved milestones.</p><p>But none have been able to do what DJ Erickson accomplished over the weekend at the District 2 Class 2A Duals Tournament.</p><p>The Hawkeye senior broke the longstanding school record for career wins on Saturday. When the 152-pounder pinned Scranton Prep&#8217;s Bryce Genello in the third-place dual, it was career victory No. 115. It broke the mark that was set by Jesse Martinez in 1998.</p><p>&#8220;I think it definitely is a credit to all the hard work he&#8217;s done on varsity, but he&#8217;s been wrestling since elementary and has been putting in the work for a long time,&#8221; Hanover Area coach Mike Griffith said. &#8220;There have been a lot of good wrestlers coming through, with Jeff Bennett, Nick Kuhl and John Elick (who are all over 100 wins). He texted me and said that he still can&#8217;t believe that he&#8217;s at the top and still kind of in shock that he&#8217;s at the top.&#8221;</p><p>Not only did Erickson set the school&#8217;s mark, but it was the longest-standing record for career wins among all active District 2 programs. Every other team in the district produced a wrestler that has set the school record for wins since Martinez did so for the Hawkeyes.</p><p>Griffith was teammates with Martinez for two seasons and said that he and Erickson have similar styles, so it&#8217;s fitting that he was the one who broke it.</p><p>&#8220;Jesse was a physical wrestler, had a great low leg, a good dump and was a great top rider,&#8221; Griffith said. &#8220;DJ is also physical, has a good low leg and rides very well. They both have very similar characteristics in the way they wrestle.&#8221;</p><p>Erickson has set three goals this season: Get to 100 wins, get the school record and win a state medal.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got two of them,&#8221; Griffith said. &#8220;Hopefully, he can go 3 for 3.&#8221;</p><p><strong>THREE OUT OF FOUR</strong></p><p>The Wyoming Valley Conference finished in first, second and fourth place in the District 2 Class 2A Duals Tournament with Lake-Lehman and Tunkhannock finishing first and second, and Hanover Area taking fourth.</p><p>The Hawkeyes fell to Scranton Prep in the third-place bout 39-35, losing the final bout of the dual by one point. Since the current duals format began in 2014, the WVC finishing in three of four places has only happened one time before, in 2016. The conference has never taken all top three spots. The Lackawanna League accomplished that feat in 2017.</p><p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s a tribute to all the coaches putting in time in the offseason; all these coaches are putting in the time,&#8221; Griffith said. &#8220;We all want to make the sport better in the valley. There is a wealth of talent with these kids and I think it&#8217;s going to keep growing.&#8221;</p><p><strong>GOING STREAKING </strong></p><p>Now that Hanover Area&#8217;s record for career wins has been broken, the longest-standing such record in District 2 belongs to Pittston Area. Former head coach James Woodall set the Patriots&#8217; mark of 145 wins in 2000. The next longest is Nanticoke Area&#8217;s wins record of 113 set by Derek Sheruda in 2001.</p><p>The longstanding record in the Lackawanna League among active teams is West Scranton in 2004 when Dave Morgan set the mark of 144.</p><p><strong>NEXT IN LINE </strong></p><p>Dallas&#8217; Steven Newell picked up career win No. 139 on Saturday in the team&#8217;s consolation round dual loss to Abington Heights. He entered Sunday&#8217;s Berwick Duals Tournament one win shy of tying Ryan Monk&#8217;s school record set in 2015. Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan is also at 139 career wins, but he&#8217;s 22 wins away from Jimmy Hoffman&#8217;s school mark set in 2017.</p><p>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s David Krokowski also has a chance to break his school&#8217;s mark for career wins. The senior stands at 132 victories; the school record of 145 was set by Cody Cordes in 2015.</p><p>Krokowski&#8217;s junior teammate and workout partner J.J. White is closing in on 100 victories, currently with 97. Noonan&#8217;s teammate Charles Everdale, also a junior, has 96 career victories.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tunkhannock&#8217;s Luke Carpenter grabs Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Connor Morgan from behind during the 160-pound match at Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals Champi0nships. Lehman won 45-33 to move to Thursday&#8217;s PIAA state team championships in Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL020319Wrestling5.jpeg-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tunkhannock&#8217;s Luke Carpenter grabs Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Connor Morgan from behind during the 160-pound match at Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A Duals Champi0nships. Lehman won 45-33 to move to Thursday&#8217;s PIAA state team championships in Hershey. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_DJ-Erickson.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Erickson </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_DJ-Erickson.jpg</photo1><caption1>Erickson </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PIAA TEAM WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Thursday at Giant Center, Hershey</strong></p><p><strong>Class 2A &#8212;</strong> Lake-Lehman vs. Brookville, 2 p.m.</p><p><strong>Class 3A &#8212;</strong> Hazleton Area vs. Council Rock South, 6 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader Sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Wrestling: Hanover Area’s DJ Erickson enters record book