Brandywine Heights boasts three champion wrestlers at District Sectionals

With three first place winners, the Brandywine Heights wrestlers placed sixth as a team at the District 3-AA Section 2 Tournament held at Hamburg on Saturday, Feb. 16.

The top six wrestlers in each weight class advance on to this weekend’s District 3-AA Championships in Hershey. Brandywine Heights will send seven wrestlers to the district championships while Kutztown will send three.

Brandywine’s Cole Swackhamer (160), Pete Renda (17) and Adam Mackie (182) all came home with gold medals from last weekend’s Sectionals. Teammates Dan Schmeck (132) and Hunter Gimbor (106) both finished third in their weight class, while Lucas Reichard (120) and Colin Conrad (285) each got in under the wire by finishing sixth.

Kutztown will have three wrestlers at this weekend’s District Championships. Kody Reichert (182) an Lucas Warning (220) each brought home fourth place medals as the sectional tournament, while Cody Madtes (195) finished fifth.

At 160 pounds, Brandywine’s Cole Swackhamer earned a gold medal, but he had some tough bouts along the way. He started out with a 1-0 victory over Craig Spitler of Northern Lebanon in the quarterfinals.

It wasn’s any easier in the semifinals when he needed an overtime period to defeat Justin Ulrich of Annville Cleona, 14-12. In the championship bout, Swackhamer topped Chris Eaton of Wyomissing, 2-1.

Pete Renda went all the way to gold at 170 pounds. He started with 35 second pin of Jonah Fritz of Tulephocken. In the semifinals, Renda defeated Cody Miller of Hamburg, 15-4, then topped Joey Waack of Schuylkill Valley in the championship bout on a technical fall in 5:56.

The third Bullet champion was Adam Mackie at the 182 pound weight classs. He needed just 19 seconds to pin Tulpehocken’s Jake DiGenova in his first bout. In only took 26 seconds to pin Kody Reichert of Kutztown in the semifinals. It was a little tougher in the championship bout, but he still came away with a 3-1 victory over Stephen Loiseau of Lancaster Catholic.

Hunter Gimbor started his third place trek at 106 pounds with a 58 second pin of Dustin Breidegan of Northern Lebanon. But in the semifinals. Gimbor lost a 3-2 overtime decision to Tyshawn White of Bishop McDevitt.

That sent Gimbor to the consolation round where he needed just 14 seconds to pin Christian Rivera of Columbia, then defeat Josh Renninger of Annville Cleona 6-0 in the third place bout.

Dan Schmeck also got third place for Brandywine, beginning with a pin of Kutztown’s Ivand in 1:10. In the semifinal round, Schmeck’s gold medal hopes were dashed when he lost to Hamburg’s Chris Kummerer, 6-2.

In the consolation bracket, Schmeck pinned Quinn Blatt of Northern Lebanon in 1:48, then in the bout for third place, he pinned Angel Canela of Wyomissing in 53 seconds.

At 120 pounds, Brandywine’s Lucas Reichard lost his opening round bout to John Lobeck of Lancaster Catholic when he was pinned in 1:13. In the consolation bracket, Reichard earned an 8-3 victory over Kody Kreiser of Northern Lebanon, then lost to Taylor Ball of Pequea Valley, 9-3.

Since the top six advance on, Reichard was still alive in the tournament. In the battle for the fifth spot, Reichard lost to Jeffery Carroll of Columbia, 6-4.

Brandywine’s other sixth place finisher, Colin Conrad began his trek in the 285 pound weight class by pinning Dong Choe of Lancaster Catholic in 1:34 of their first round bout. In the quarterfinals, Conrad lost a 1-0 decision to Andres Munoz of Columbia.

In the consolation round, Conrad pinned Wes Bankus of ELCO in 2:41. But then lost a 3-0 decision to Ben Wertz of Wyomissing, sending him to the fifth place bout. There he was pinned by Anthony Deyo of Northern Lebanon in 1:23.

Kutztown’s Kody Reichert started his fourth place trek by pinning Brandon Light of Annville Cleona in 2:40. He then ran into a buzz saw when Brandywine’s Adam Mackie pinned him in 26 seconds.

In the consolation round, Reichert pinned Queshawn Jenkins of Bishop McDevitt in 1:45, then lost the third place bout to Derek DiAngelis of Northern Lebanon, 6-2.

Lucas Warning also finished fourth for Kutztown as he began by pinning Marquell Berger of Wyomissing in 1:44 of their first round bout. In the quarterfinals, Warning earned an 8-5 decision over Chris Langston of Brandywine Heights.

In the semifinals, Warning lost a 10-3 decision to Vanyel Leytham-Peterson of Columbia sending him to the consolation round. There he pinned Dan Skehan of Lancaster Catholic in 1:49 to send him to the third place bout. But he had to settle for fourth place as he lost a 3-2 decision to Hamburg’s Luke Kamp.

Cody Madtes began his fifth place trek by pinning Deyante Lake of Bishop McDevitt in the quarterfinals in 20 seconds. But in the semifinals, Madtes was pinned in 2:55 by the eventual gold medalist, Josh Naylor of Wyomissing.

Madtes lost his first consolation round game when he was pinned in 1:31 by Jonathan Tindall of Schuylkill Valley. That sent him to the fifth place bout where he won by default.