Sipes trying to become part of Altoona mat history

By Todd Irwin

[email protected]

Altoona senior Luke Sipes will look to make history on Saturday in the District 6 Class 3A Tournament at the Altoona Fieldhouse.

Sipes, who has a school record 146-19, is aiming to become only the fourth Mountain Lion to win four District 6 Class 3A titles, joining Matt Sarbo (2021), Cole Manley (2017) and T.J. Brandt (2013) on that exclusive list of Altoona four-time winners.

Sipes (33-4), who was last year’s District 6 Class 3A Tournament Outstanding Wrestler, is the top seed at 160 pounds — up a weight from the previous three seasons.

The University of North Carolina commit doesn’t have to deal with Mifflin County’s graduated Parker Kearns this year. Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver (27-7) is the second seed.

“That’s a great story,” Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. “You can’t get any better than four district titles. He’s looking for one last hurrah at the district tournament. He’s looking to perform and put a show on for everybody. I think he’s pretty excited about getting out there on the mat and having that opportunity.

“He’s just been stellar in his whole career at Altoona. Even against great competition he seems to step it up and wrestle really well. That’s just a testament to the young man that he is and how he carries himself — not just on the mat but also off the mat.”

The schedule for Class 2A and 3A has been adjusted because of the impending wintry weather. The District 6 Class 2A Tournament begins at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Another consolation round — the blood round has been added.

Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with 2A consolations and 3A quarterfinals. There will be short breaks throughout the rest of the tournament. The semifinals of both classifications are set for 10 a.m.

The championship finals and third-place bouts for both classes will all be wrestled in the final session, which starts after the 3 p.m. (instead of 5:45 p.m.) District 6 Hall of Fame ceremony and parade of champions.

No matter the time crunch, there is excitement in the air.

“We are excited,” Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr said. “This is what you look forward to all year. This is why you wrestle in all of those big tournaments and get your competition points up. The postseason is when it matters. Hopefully we wrestle our best this upcoming weekend.”

Sipes’ teammate, long-time friend and neighbor Braiden Weaver, a junior, will be going for his third District 6 title. He could meet up with Hollidaysburg’s second-seeded Landon Krupka (25-14) in the finals. Krupka finished third in the tournament last year.

“He’s following right in the steps of Sipes. He’s going to push (Sipes) for the all-time wins record before he’s done. It’s ironic those two have been best buddies since they were little kids. Weaver is an outstanding wrestler also in his own right. I think if he gets his stuff together, he’s going to be really hard to beat in this tournament.”

Altoona returning District 6 camp Gavin Ciampoli (27-9) is a top seed at 139, but Mifflin County second-seeded Kamden Everly is a returning District 6 runner-up. I

“I believe Ciampoli’s bracket is a little bit tougher (than Weaver’s),” Gilbert said. “But Ciampoli has all the tools and is a great technician out there. He has the ability to score a lot of points real fast. I think all three of those guys will be able to handle themselves pretty well in this tournament as long as they get their offense going.”

Gilbert said there’s an opportunity to have five champions in the tournament. That has the veteran coach and the wrestlers thinking about leaving the Fieldhouse with a team trophy.

The Mountain Lions, who lost to Central Mountain, 39-28, in the District 6 Duals championship match, are aiming to win the team title. No Altoona team has done that since 1981. Altoona has won the team title six times.

“I think our guys are real excited about it,” Gilbert said. “The bottom line is they’ve been working all season-long to get to this point. This is just giving them another opportunity to go out there and show off the skills they’ve been working on all year-long. We’re happy to have the opportunity.

“We know we’re going to compete against great competition, but I think we have just as good of a shot as anybody to win the tournament or do well in the tournament. It’s going to come down to our ability to get some falls and our ability to place higher than we’re seeded.”

The top three at every weight class in Class 3A will wrestle in the newly formed Western Regional at Canon-McMillan High School on Feb. 28 and March 1 in Canonsburg instead of the Northwest Regional at the Fieldhouse.

There are second seeds in Altoona’s Dominic Nardozza (107) and Phillip Sarbo (133) and Hollidaysburg’s Krupka (121) and district runner-up Mitchell Baronner (172).

Baronner (29-12) is seeded behind State College returning state champion and three-time District 6 champ Asher Cunningham (25-3).

“If you look at his bracket, there are four of those guys are more than capable of getting things done,” Harr said. “I think if Mitchell is confident and goes out there and competes like he knows how to he’ll be in the finals with Cunningham. We’ll kind of see how he measures up against the top-ranked guy in the state.”

The third seeds are Hollidaysburg’s Connor Sidney (107), returning fourth-placer Brayden Sidney (114) and Scott Payne (285), as well as Altoona’s Deklan Barr (127) and Michael Colyer (215).

Hollidaysburg’s Jacob Brua, seeded fourth at 133, is a returning District 6 third-placer.