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Hazleton Area trio closes out WVC action at PIAA swim championships

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Wilkes-Barre trolley history on display at first of two events

<p>HANOVER TWP. &#8212; When Shawn Henniger woke up Saturday morning, he didn&#8217;t plan on putting on a Dallas singlet one more time. He thought his days of representing his wrestling team were over.</p><p>One phone call from his coach Mike Richards changed that. And with about an hour to go before the start of the District 2 All-Star Wrestling Classic, Henniger arrived at Hanover Area High School to represent not only his team, but Class 3A in the inaugural event.</p><p>&#8220;Just to get one more match in,&#8221; said Henniger, when asked why he took a few hours out of the day to wrestle one more time.</p><p>Henniger, who replaced Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Shane Repasky (who got ill and couldn&#8217;t participate) was District 2 and Northeast Regional runner-up this past season and qualified for the PIAA Championships. He made his trip worthy when he pinned Montrose&#8217;s Justin Kelley in the final match of the senior dual as Class 3A defeated Class 2A, 38-6.</p><p>It also gave Henniger a chance to close out his career with a win after losing the last two matches at the state tournament last weekend.</p><p>&#8220;It didn&#8217;t feel right the way my senior year ended. My shoulder started hurting me a little,&#8221; Henniger said. &#8220;But to come out here and wrestle one more time in an event like that. Absolutely.&#8221;</p><p>The meet wasn&#8217;t about a score between the teams. Nor was it about individuals filled with pressure trying to stave off elimination from a tournament just to move on to the next round.</p><p>It was about fun for wrestlers and coaches.</p><p>Before the meet started, athletes played a version of a game of spikeball on the mat to get reacquainted with each other instead of warming up. During matches, no one except for Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan wore headgear. Wrestlers picked their own walk-up music while being introduced for their respective bouts.</p><p>And coaches, like Richards, took the opportunity to record a match of Dallas&#8217; all-time wins leader Steven Newell while sitting in the corner. Something Richards wouldn&#8217;t be able to do during the regular season with so much on the line.</p><p>&#8220;It was relaxing. It wasn&#8217;t an upbeat, battle match. It was just out there to have some fun today and that&#8217;s all it was,&#8221; Henniger added. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been wrestling since I was five, and through the Penn League, I grew up wrestling these kids. So a lot of us, we&#8217;ve been together since we were five, six years-old. It&#8217;s been a lot of fun to see these guys get better. It&#8217;s gonna be sad to not see them in a long time. But it&#8217;s great to spend time with them today.&#8221;</p><p>Hanover Area coach Mike Griffith spearheaded the movement for an All-Star Classic looking to drum up more interest in the sport. He emailed coaches before districts to notify seniors that they may be selected for the event. He then selected wrestlers, sending out a tentative lineup after the district tournaments had ended. Some athletes were not available due to prior engagements and no replacements were found. Still, Griffith hopes this becomes an annual event and doesn&#8217;t fizzle out. He hopes it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and with the help of all the coaches who are on board, there&#8217;s much promise.</p><p>&#8220;I think what I&#8217;m gonna do is just keep trying to make it better,&#8221; Griffith said. &#8220;We did walk-up music. The kids are having fun with that. They were playing spikeball. You make the event fun and make it an event where kids want to keep coming to it. And hopefully, we can keep it going.&#8221;</p><p>In addition to Henniger at 285, three other state qualifiers from the Wyoming Valley Conference picked up wins on Saturday. Newell at 182, Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Noonan at 220, and Hanover Area&#8217;s D.J. Erickson at 152.</p><p>Meyers&#8217; Savon Collins closed out the book on Meyers wrestling, representing his school one final time. He lost to Abington Heights&#8217; Sam Northup in the 160-pound match via tech fall.</p><p>Hanover Area&#8217;s Jared Banesh (145) and Wyoming Area&#8217;s Robin Wrobleski (170) also wrestled, while Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Bob Long (132) was originally selected, but didn&#8217;t wrestle due to not having an opponent after it was announced earlier in the week that his opponent wasn&#8217;t available.</p><p><strong>Bartell goes into Hall</strong></p><p>Joe Bartell represented the WVC as the official on Saturday afternoon. Last weekend, Bartell was inducted into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Officials Association Hall of Fame.</p><p>Bartell, of Wyoming, was a three-sport athlete at Wyoming Area in football, wrestling and track and field. He then spent 15 years as a wrestling coach before being a referee.</p><p>As an official, he has worked 20 EIWA Championships, five Big Ten Championships, 10 East Regional Tournaments, four NCAA Division I Championships and many other tournaments.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 All-Star Wrestling Classic</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Class 3A 38, Class 2A 6</strong></p><p><strong>138: </strong>Joe Hester (Montrose) dec Jack Dardia (Delaware Valley) 11-6; <strong>145:</strong> Nathan Trotta (West Scranton) pinned Jared Banesh (Hanover Area) 1:02; <strong>152: </strong>D.J. Erickson (Hanover Area) dec Brandon Lawson (Honesdale) 7-4; <strong>160:</strong> Sam Northup (Abington Heights) tech fall Savon Collins (Meyers) 16-1, 4:56; <strong>170:</strong> Jake Kabonick (Honesdale) pinned Robin Wrobleski (Wyoming Area) 3:35; <strong>182:</strong> Steven Newell (Dallas) pinned Marc Avila (Montrose) 1:45; <strong>195: </strong>Jose Falcon (Delaware Valley) dec Bryan Ryan (Montrose) 1:45; <strong>220:</strong> Shane Noonan (Hazleton Area) pinned T.J. Meehan (Lake-Lehman) 3:10; <strong>285: </strong>Shawn Henniger (Dallas) pinned Justin Kelley (Montrose) 1:20.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">DJ Erickson picks up back points on Brandon Lawson from Honesdale in the All-Star Wrestling Classic at Hanover Area High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Wrestling1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>DJ Erickson picks up back points on Brandon Lawson from Honesdale in the All-Star Wrestling Classic at Hanover Area High School on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Honsdale&#8217;s Jake Kabonic sets up a move on Wyoming Area&#8217;s Robin Wrobleski that would end with a pin in the 170-pound bout of Saturday&#8217;s All-Star Wrestling Classic. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling3_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Honsdale&#8217;s Jake Kabonic sets up a move on Wyoming Area&#8217;s Robin Wrobleski that would end with a pin in the 170-pound bout of Saturday&#8217;s All-Star Wrestling Classic. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling5_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">T.J. Meehan of Lake Lehman fights to right himself as Shane Noonan of Hazleton Area works on him in the 220-pound bout of the All-Star Wrestling Classic. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling5_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>T.J. Meehan of Lake Lehman fights to right himself as Shane Noonan of Hazleton Area works on him in the 220-pound bout of the All-Star Wrestling Classic. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling2_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Savon Collins of Meyers bridges to keep from being pinned against Sam Northup in the 160-pound bout of the All-Star Wrestling Classic at Hanover Area High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling2_faa.jpg</photo3><caption3>Savon Collins of Meyers bridges to keep from being pinned against Sam Northup in the 160-pound bout of the All-Star Wrestling Classic at Hanover Area High School on Saturday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling4_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Steven Newell of Dallas starts to bring the shoulders of Montrose wrestler Marc Avila to the mat for a pin in the 182-pound bout of the District 2 All-Star Wrestling Classic Saturday at Hanover Area High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_wrestling4_faa.jpg</photo4><caption4>Steven Newell of Dallas starts to bring the shoulders of Montrose wrestler Marc Avila to the mat for a pin in the 182-pound bout of the District 2 All-Star Wrestling Classic Saturday at Hanover Area High School. </caption4><photoCredit4>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>District 2 All-Star wrestling classic proves a blast for Henniger &amp; friends</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

First District 2 All-Star Wrestling Classic proves a blast for athletes