Renda and Mackie win gold for Brandywine Heights at regionals

Pete Renda and Adam Mackie of Brandywine Heights were the only wrestlers to represent the local area at the Southeastern Regional Tournament held March 1 and 2 at Wilson High School.

They were the only local wrestlers there, but they made the most of it. Both Renda and Mackie captured gold medals in their respective weight classes, and will both move on to the PIAA State Tournament to be held Thursday through Saturday, March 7-9, at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Renda, wrestling at the 170 pound weight class, swept through the field, winning by a forfeit, a pin and a 10-1 decision, not worrying about any kind of dramatic finish.

Mackey, wrestling at the 182 pound weight class, pinned all three of his opponents, needing only 3:52 of total time to get his three pins.

Renda won by a forfeit in his quarterfinal round match-up with Joey Waack of Schuylkill Valley.

On Saturday, Renda pinned Nick Cotopassi of Bethlehem Catholic in 3:31 to advance him to the championship bout against Michael Ortiz of Northwestern Lehigh. Renda didn’t get his pin in this bout, but he did cruise to a 10-1 victory to assure himself of a gold medal and another spot in the state tournament.

Mackey began his tournament by taking just 14 seconds to pin C.J. Steinhilber.

That sent him to Saturday’s action where he competed at the semifinal level. It took a little longer, but the result was the same. Mackie pinned Jose Ortiz of Bethlehem Catholic in 2:25 to gain him a berth in the gold medal bout.

There, the result was pretty much the same. This time it took him 1:13 to pin Stephen Loiseau of Lancaster Catholic. It meant another gold medal in Mackie’s trophy case.