“This season was unique for us,” says Head Coach Bryce Bitner, “only having five or six healthy guys by the end of the year .. injuries really plagued us. But I’m really proud of our guys for fighting and continuing to work hard. One of our goals was to send wrestlers back to the District and Regional Tournament, and we did do that. That’s huge for our program as we continue to rebuild it.”

After a 1-23 dual meet season, the Hornets had five wrestlers compete at the Wellsboro-hosted North Sectionals. 

Freshman Mason Greene (107) and junior Wyatt Kilburn (172) each finished 5th, just missing a spot in Districts, while sophomore Connor Linden (121) and senior Vaughn Shannon (127) also competed and senior Hayden Stevens won the Hornets a Sectional title at 215 pounds. 

Stevens went on to qualify for the North East Regional with a 7th-place finish at Districts and finished the season 29-7.

“Hayden becoming a Sectional Champ, District place-winner and Regional Qualifier was huge,” says Bitner, “and we had other things happen during the season that showed our improvement .. Vaughn Shannon and Mason Abplanalp winning their first matches .. it shows how the little things matter in this sport and to appreciate the difficulty and commitment that this sport displays.”

Greene finished the season with a 16-14 record, while Kilburn went 16-17, Shannon was 7-20, Linden was 6-19, sophomore Gavin Carson went 4-15, sophomore Kaynan Holler was 4-19 and freshman Abplanalp was 2-24.

“Half of our lineup never wrestled before in their life so it was a growing year for sure,” says Bitner, “but the kids really did improve along the way in an extremely tough sport in a competitive state. And we have a competitive junior high team coming up, so there’s lots to be excited about.”

The Hornets’ junior high team went 12-6 in dual meets, while the girls’ squad, Coached by Todd Webster, saw success on the season as well. 

The Lady Hornets went 4-2 in dual meets and competed at a number of tournaments .. placing 5th out of 13 teams at the Jarvis Invitational, 4th of 12 teams at the SVRC Christmas Classic, 11th out of 17 teams at the Matness at the MACC, 26th out of 40 teams at the Bald Eagle tourney and 15th at the District IV Championships, where freshman Phoebe Bowen (21-13) and sophomore Isla Twoey (23-10) each placed 6th. 

Bitner is thankful and excited about the entire Wellsboro wrestling program, saying, “This season was unique for many reasons, but I appreciated the ride we went on. Watching our junior high team succeed .. as well as the girls .. was fun. And them cheering on our varsity boys, who worked so hard to get better, was something special to see for a program.”

Bitner is optimistic about the program as they head to the offseason. 

“This summer we plan to hopefully have a dedicated space for us to train and be able to continue to build consistently,” says Bitner, “I think we had a good group of kids from elementary all the way through varsity that want to work and get better, so I’m hoping this summer features some good mat time, attending some camps, and having fun together as a program.”