All of the sweating, running and drilling comes down to this week for the top wrestlers in Pennsylvania.

It’s time for the PIAA Championships, which are being held Thursday through Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey. Four Franklin County wrestlers have qualified, and all are hoping to bring home a medal.

At least two, according to the seeds, have a great chance.

Chambersburg sophomore Luke Nichter (35-6), who placed sixth last year, is the No. 2 seed at 170 pounds, and Shippensburg senior Cole Forrester (34-0) has the No. 3 seed at 220.

In addition, the Trojans’ Drake Brenize (senior, 32-7 at 152), pictured above, and Tate Nichter (freshman, 28-9 at 145) are hoping to win enough bouts to get onto the podium.

Chambersburg coach Matt Mentzer said, “At this point, the pairings don’t matter if you’re going up there to win it all. This is where our tough schedule should pay dividends.”

Luke Nichter was 3-3 at states last year, and suffered a tech fall in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Trent Hidley of Mifflin County. This year, he couldn’t meet Hidley (39-0), ranked as one of the top wrestlers in the nation, until the final.

But he’d still have to get past several barriers before that, including Kyle Homet of Waynesburg (39-6), who beat Nichter by a point at the Beast of the East, and perhaps Nazareth’s Cade Wilson (40-4).

“There are some really good kids at that weight, and they’re all capable of beating each other,” Mentzer said. “Homet has a similar body style and style of wrestling as Luke; hopefully Luke has improved during the year.”

Forrester is ranked behind No. 1 Ian Edenfield of Laurel Highlands (30-5), who was the PIAA runner-up last year, and Greg Bensley of Pocono Mountain West (23-3), based on the season’s results and prestige points, which accrue based on the strength of your opponents.

A year ago at 195, Forrester was 2-2 and missed a medal by just one win.

Tate Nichter, should he win his first-round match, would almost certainly meet one of the country’s best, Ohio State recruit Sammy Sasso of Nazareth (43-1), in the quarterfinals.

Mentzer said, “I’d really like to see how Tate stacks up in that one. Sasso is good in every position, but our kid is pretty good, too. I’m looking forward to seeing it — you want those kinds of matches.”

Brenize, who was 0-2 at states last year, is the only area wrestler who is scheduled to wrestle a preliminary round bout (there are four in each weight class). And he’s up against Hempfield Area’s Luke Kemerer (37-2), who took a sixth-place medal last year.

“There are a whole bunch of even kids at 152,” Mentzer said. “I’d say there are 10 to 15 kids in that weight you could throw a blanket over, and Drake has beaten some of them.

“Like everybody else, he’ll have to be prepared to win the one- or two-point matches to get where you want to be. With our schedule, we’ve tried to get them to wrestle the best kids we can, and we hope that pays off this week.”

Class AAA wrestling begins at 4 p.m. Thursday, with prelims and first round, plus consolations. The quarterfinals and consolations are Friday at 2:15, semifinals and consys are Saturday at 9 a.m., and the championships and place matches are Saturday at 7.

PIAA Class 3A
Preliminary & First round pairings
145 — SC-2 Tate Nichter, Chambersburg (28-9), bye; first round vs. NW-3 Logan Long, Central Mountain (30-8)
152 — SC-4 Drake Brenize, Chambersburg (32-7) vs. SW-3 Luke Kemerer, Hempfield Area (37-2); winner vs. SE-1 Daniel Mancini, Owen J. Roberts (38-4)
170 — SC-1 Luke Nichter, Chambersburg (35-6), bye; first round vs. winner of NE-4 Steven Newell, Dallas (39-3) vs. NE-3 Tanner Weaver, Central Mountain (33-6)
220 — SC-1 Cole Forrester, Shippensburg (34-0), bye; first round vs. winner of NW-3 Malik Houtz, Central Mountain (23-10) vs. NW-4 John McCarthy, Delaware Valley (32-6)