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Pickett, Panthers look to hang tough after rough opener

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Sermon series on Dr. Seuss’ books at Dallas United Methodist Church

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8211; It will go down as one of the longest wrestling matches ever, one of the best atmospheres at a Luzerne County sporting event and one of the fastest events you&#8217;ll ever see.</p><p>It took 85 days for the 65k Final X series between Zain Retherford and Yianni Diakomihalis to conclude its wrestle-off. But on Sunday, inside a rocking, jam-packed Marts Center in a match that lasted only about 10 minutes, Retherford secured his berth in the World Championships with a 2-1 victory.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m feeling great. That was a lot of fun,&#8221; said Retherford, a three-time national champion from Penn State.</p><p>In the continuation of a match originally held on June 8, all the points were scored in the first period. Diakomihalis took a 1-0 lead on a failed challenge by Retherford&#8217;s corner when he shot a low-double and Diakomilas tried to expose him with a chest wrap. Retherford&#8217;s corner thought that he either had a takedown or exposed Diakomihalis.</p><p>Retherford took a 2-1 lead shortly after when Diakomihalis took a shot, but Retherford countered and got two points for the takedown.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s the funkiest wrestler I ever wrestled, and there&#8217;s no way to prepare for that other than just control your ties, get to your attacks and that&#8217;s kinda what I focused on,&#8221; Retherford said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I can control.&#8221;</p><p>In the second period, the two scrambled for most of the time. Diakomihalis, who is a two-time national champion from Cornell and will be wrestling his junior year this season, was originally awarded two for a takedown, but a challenge once again was thrown by Retherford&#8217;s side and this time waved off as Retherford held on to his lead.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a few times I got in on his legs and I didn&#8217;t finish clean or I just stopped because I didn&#8217;t like what I was feeling,&#8221; said Retherford. &#8220;But I just tried to keep wrestling through each scenario, or at least get back to where we could get back up to our feet with a stalemate.&#8221;</p><p>Retherford went to high school at Benton, just about a 40-minute drive from Wilkes-Barre. He was expecting a large contingent from his hometown because the Tigers wrestling faithful are always present in large groups.</p><p>Monday afternoon was no different as the orange-clad brethren was out in force, but Retherford was still blown away by the amount of support.</p><p>&#8220;I started tearing up when I got out there. I don&#8217;t usually get emotional, but I just know half my town&#8217;s here and just hearing them scream brought back a lot of memories and I&#8217;m just really grateful for it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I never thought an event like this would happen right in my backyard.&#8221;</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t just the Benton faithful that took over Wilkes&#8217; gymnasium, an entire section was reserved for Diakomihalis&#8217; Cornell family and friends, and another section was set aside for Retherford&#8217;s friends and family from Penn State. Many familiar faces from the Nittany Lions were on hand including coach Cael Sanderson and three-time national champion Bo Nickal.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t usually get too excited, but that match I did and I saw right across from me some of the new guys (Penn State wrestlers) get excited. I saw Bo jumping up and down,&#8221; Retherford said. &#8220;It&#8217;s awesome that they came out here to support me. I love those guys.&#8221;</p><p>Retherford won the first match 10-4 nearly three months ago and was originally awarded a victory in the second match. But Diakomihalis&#8217; coach at Cornell, Rob Koll, protested the second match. An arbitrator ruled in favor of Diakomihalis and setup Monday&#8217;s wrestle-off that started with Retherford holding a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three format.</p><p>Retherford will not have much time to prepare for the World Championships as the event starts Sept. 15 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan with the 65k men&#8217;s freestyle starting on Sept. 19.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Retherford </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_copy_AP_18086702648754-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Retherford </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

WRESTLING: In front of enthusiastic crowd, Zain Retherford earns trip to worlds