CM Wrestlers Tear it up in Tournament

MT. LEBANON— McDonald’s, it’s the breakfast of champions.

Or at least it is for Canon-McMillan freshman Solomon Chishko.

Never one to stray much beyond his 130-pound weight class limit, the Big Macs wrestler chose to indulge himself a little on Saturday morning, shortly before he took to the mat for the day-long WPIAL Class AAA Section 4 individual tournament.

Chishko wolfed down six pancakes from the fast-food joint, and then followed it up with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for good measure.

He then went on to deliver a flawless performance in the tournament, becoming one of five Big Macs to claim Section 4 titles, and one of nine Canon-McMillan wrestlers who advanced to the WPIAL individual tournament later this week.

“There was extra,” Chishko said of his bountiful breakfast, “and I just couldn’t help myself.”

That much was evident, as Chishko (38-4) began making his way through the 130-pound bracket with a quick pin just a minute into his opening match against Trinity’s Matt Dates, and then followed that up with a 15-0 technical fall over Peters Township’s John Ivashchecko in the following round.

Perhaps still fueled by all of those flapjacks, Chishko wrapped up his section championship run with yet another technical fall—dominating Upper St. Clair’s Josh Tropp 16-0.

Chishko scored takedowns at will, and rolled into pinning position for near falls with ease, picking up the victory early in the second round.

“I was hitting a lot of tilts,” Chishko said, quite simply.

The championship was an obvious first for Chishko, but that was far from the case with Canon-McMillan’s Nick Catalano, who wrestled his way to his fourth section title in equally impressive fashion.

Catalano (40-1) ripped off opening-round pins in each of his first two matches, before picking apart

Upper St. Clair’s John Kryiacopoulous via a 21-5 technical fall in the championship match of the 145-pound bracket.

“It’s a big deal. You don’t see that every day,” Canon-McMillan assistant coach Glenn Haynes said of Catalano’s four titles. “I think there have only been three or four people at Canon-Mac who have done that.”

And much like his teammate, Catalano also seems to have quite an appetite on him.

“If I keep the pressure on someone, that’s when I score all of my points. That’s when things go my way,” Catalano said. “Yeah, it is my senior year, but this is what I’ve been working for—the end of the year This is my time. I still have a lot to accomplish.”

Colton Shorts, Connor Schram and Cody Klempay also reeled in section championships for the Big Macs on Saturday. Shorts (42-1) picked up a pin and a technical fall before taking a 5-2 decision over Peters Township’s Tyler Buckiso in the finals of the 103-pound bracket.

While Schram (40-2) ran through the 112-pound bracket with a pair of pins prior to a technical fall over Peters Township’s Mike Buckiso for to earn his title. And Klempay (39-0) rolled his way to a championship in the heavyweight bracket with
three pins—the last coming against Montour’s Ty Haddock.

Additionally, four other Big Macs wrestled well enough to earn them a ticket to the individual WPIAL tournament. Dario Dobbin (35-10) finished second at 135-pounds, while Sammy Minor and Alex Campbell took fourth place at 125 and 215-pounds respectively. And Malachai Krenzelak finished fifth in the 119-pound division.

“That’s pretty much what we expected out of them,” said Haynes, who was named the Section 4 Assistant Coach of the Year on Saturday, much as the Big Macs’ Chris Mary won Coach of the Year honors. “It feels good. That’s all. Now it’s back to work. We have more work to do.”

Canon-McMillan will be the host site for the three-day WPIAL individual tournament, which begins on Thursday. The top three wrestlers from each weight class will advance to the PIAA state individual tournament, and the Big Macs expect to claim their share of those spots.

“I’m just going to go out there, wrestle my best, and go to states,” Chishko said.

Added Catalano, “We started to peak at the right time, and we’re excited for next week.”

That, and as Chishko proved, they’re hungry too.