CARLISLE — The 60th Carlisle Holiday Wrestling Classic was held Friday and Saturday and, among four Franklin County teams that competed, only one champion was crowned.

Luke Mentzer

Chambersburg junior Luke Mentzer posted four straight wins, including an 8-3 win over Dillon Reinert of Brandywine Heights in the final, at 126 pounds. Mentzer took down Reinert, ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 2A, in the first 5 seconds and scored from his feet, on a reversal and with back points.

His other wins included a pin in 1:09, a 15-0 technical fall and a pin in 5:20 in the semifinals over Clayton Koser of Lower Dauphin. He trailed Koser by two points in the third, but he took him down to his back and stuck him.

Two other area wrestlers made it to the finals — Shippensburg’s Diesel Koser fell 3-2 to Tucker Paynter of Trinity at 189, and Waynesboro’s Jayden Rooney lost by technical fall to Trentin Walker of Carlisle.

The Trojans had six other wrestlers place in the top 8 and finished in 5th place in the 25-team event. Karl Shindledecker did not make the trip.

Chambersburg coach Matt Mentzer said, “It was  rough week for us — the only day we could practice was Thursday, and I thought at one point we might have to cancel. We had a nasal infection — not COVID — going around, so I just told the kids to run on their own and keep their weight down.

Avery Kuhns

“I thought the kids had some rounds where they were trying to get their legs under them, and just didn’t look themselves. But then they’d come back and look good. We looked sharp at the end of today.”

The Trojans were 7-0 in the place matches, after going just 1-4 in the semifinals.

Avery Kuhns had an impressive tournament at 285. He lost 4-0 to Red Land’s Ethan Eisner in the first round, then stormed back with six consecutive wins, including three pins, and captured third place. In the third-place bout, he blanked Eisner, 5-0.

“He started out a little unsure, but gained confidence as he went on,” Mentzer said. “I’m tickled with him and he scored a lot of team points.”

Also taking third place were Aiden Hight (189) and Zach Evans (215), while Zach Sherman (106) and Rylan Carter (120) placed fifth and Ryder Davenport took seventh (160).

Mentzer, who coached in Carlisle on Friday, drove to West Virginia U. on Saturday morning to see his daughter graduate, then drove back to Carlisle for the evening session, said, “I’m really appreciative of my assistants (Chris Kochinsky, Wyatt Hull), plus (Garrett) Blue Kyner and Drake Brenize came in to help out in the corners. I owe them a lot.”

Greencastle-Antrim was seeing its first official wrestling action since the 2019-20 season, since the Blue Devils took last year off. Garrett Keener (138) put together a 4-2 record to place seventh.

Waynesboro came up with a pair of third-place finishes, with Bodie Rouzer at 138 and Kaden Rouzer at 145, while Garrett Price was sixth at 132. For Shippensburg, Patrick Reed (215) and Jonathan Viens (113) both placed eighth.

Carlisle Holiday Tournament
Team Standings
1.Gettysburg 180, 2.Central Bucks East 168.5; 3.West Perry 108; 4.Carlisle 162; 5.Chambersburg 145.5; 10.Waynesboro 111.5; 20.Shippensburg 44; 22.Greencastle-Antrim 27.
Chambersburg Results
106 — Zach Sherman, 5th place, 3-2, 1 pin
120 — Rylan Carter, 5th place, 3-2, 1 pin, 1 major
126 — Luke Mentzer — 1st place, 4-0, 2 pins, 1 tech fall
132 — Riley Beecher, 2-2
138 — Reese Spedden, 0-2
145 — Tyler Jones, 3-2, 1 major
152 — Andrew Hull, 2-2; Liam Brug 0-2
160 — Ryder Davenport, 7th place, 3-2, 2 pins
172 — Bryce Johnson, 0-2
189 — Aiden Hight, 3rd place, 4-1, 1 major
215 — Zach Evans, 3rd place, 4-1, 3 pins, 1 major; Ethan Faytol, 2-2, 2 pins
285 — Avery Kuhns, 3rd place, 6-1, 3 pins, 1 major
Greencastle Results
138 — Garrett Keener, 7th place, 4-2, 3 pins
152 — Mason Booze, 0-2
172 — Adam Booze, 2-2, 2 pins
189 — Jonathan Redos, 2-2, 2 pins
Shippensburg Results
113 — Jonathan Viens, 8th place, 3-3
120 — Ayden Estep, 2-2
138 — Alex Holderbaum, 0-2
145 — Eddie Alcantara, 1-2, 1 major
160 — Kevin Foxworth, 0-2
189 — Diesel Koser, 2nd place, 3-1, 1 pin
215 — Patrick Reed, 8th place, 2-3; Drew Fry, 1-2
285 — Nick LaRusso, 0-2
Waynesboro Results
113 — Michael Tweed, 0-2
120 — Jayden Rooney, 2nd place, 3-1, 1 pin, 1 major
126 — Peyton Keller, 0-2
132 — Garrett Price, 6th place, 3-3, 2 pins
138 — Bodie Rouzer, 3rd place, 4-1, 1 tech fall; Luke Lehr, 1-2
145 — Kaden Rouzer, 3rd place, 4-1, 2 pins
152 — Colby Bitterie, 3-2, 2 pins
160 — Lowans Garrett, 2-2, 1 pin
172 — James Crutchfield, 1-2
189 — Kyle Maldonado, 3-2, 1 pin
215 — Isaac Bautista, 2-2, 2 pins; Caden Shockey, 0-2
285 — Cort Myers, 2-2, 2 pins