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NTL WRESTLING: TOWANDA CONTINUES TO GROW ON THE MAT (2023-03-18)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Towanda wrestling took another step forward as they continue to get their program back to where they’re used to being.

“If you look at it from a record’s standpoint we’re pretty much parallel to what we did last year, but there were definitely accomplishments this year,” said Towanda coach Bill Sexton. “Individually, kids went a lot farther than they did last year. As a team, we went farther - we finished fourth the District Duals - a dual meet team dominated by sophomores. I’m pretty satisfied with the year.”


They went 17-7 on the year with league wins over Troy, Athens, and Wyalusing - their only loss to league champs Canton.


In the District IV Duals they would be Wyalusing again, then turn around and picked up a pair of close wins over Lewisburg (36-33) and Montgomery (33-30), the win against the Red Raiders avenging a loss from the Dandy Duals.


They also took second at the Windsor Christmas Invitational.


Their lone senior was heavyweight Audy Vanderpool, who hadn’t wrestled since junior high but reached the Northeast Regional Championships and was a 30-match winner.


“I don’t think there’s a better success story that you’ll find than Audy’s,” said Sexton. “I mean, just the fact that he lost 100 pounds should make him the biggest success story, because that’s a success story, not just for the wrestling season, but a success story for the rest of his life. He really can do that, and hopefully he’s continued to do that.”


Vanderpool finished with 17 pins at 285 pounds.


“He was an integral part of our line-up this year,” said Sexton. “In a place where we didn’t know what we were going to do. Our 2-year starter had quit, we did not have a back-up heavyweight coming in the pipeline, and he just stepped in and was very good for us.”


As for next season, the Knights will return 14 letter winners, including state qualifier Mason Higley (172, 40-9), district champion Sawyer Robinson (189, 34-11), and regional qualifiers Riley Vanderpool (139, 37-11) and Rylee Sluyter (133, 27-16).


Other key contributors are Lillie Maynard (107, 7-5), Bryghton Yale (107, 10-22), Wyatt Stranger (121, 20-12), Anthony Rifenbark (127, 8-8), Hayden Space (121, 18-17), Chase Geurin (145, 22-20), Aiden Miler (152, 10-13), and Jace Gunther (160, 13-18).


“We have all of those kids coming back,” said Sexton. “And we have some really talented eighth graders. Our junior high team did really well this year, so I’m hoping that those kids will continue to develop, and push for spots in our line-up - challenge those guys who lettered, and push them to another level.” 


The future looks good, but Sexton knows not to count his chickens before they hatch.


“I thought we had five more lettermen coming back this year, and they all disappeared somewhere along the way,” he said. “Now, more than likely, they would have been beaten out by the kids who were here, but I would much rather see that happen than hard, a kid just assuming on his own, ‘I can’t beat that kid, so I’m not going to come out.’ It made for some very shaky feelings at the beginning of the season, when you look around who should be here, and they’re not. But it worked out OK, the kids that were here wanted to be here, and they worked hard, and they got better.”




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