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January 18, 2021 Greater Latrobe wrestling battled Derry to a tough match. This cross-town rivalry was pretty close the whole way through until Derry gave up many matches due to forfeits. The final score was 43-21. 

Vinny Kilkeary @113; Lucio Angelicchio @120; Nate Roth @ 132; Gabe Golden @ 138; Jack Pletcher @ 160, Sam Snyder @172; Corey Boerio @ 189; Micah Piper @ 215, and Tyler Lynch @ 285 all came out on top with the win.  With 2 seniors, 10 juniors, 7 sophomores, and 3 freshmen the team is set up with success for the future. 

Head Coach Mark Mears claimed, “It’s nice when you have a couple of people like this… so many teams only have one person that carries the team. We have a lot of talent which makes sharing the spotlight easier and makes kids feel less pressure.” 

Being a head coach in the past Mears said, “It’s rejuvenating for me. I’m blessed with a team that wants to win, wants to put the work in, and wants to do whatever it takes.”

Jack Pletcher and Vinny Kilkeray shared some insight about the new season and how it’s going. “Good, we got our first win against Connellsville. With the new team and hopefully another for tonight [W against Derry]…” said Kilkeary. 

Kilkeary proceeded to say, “We’ve been having tougher practices and the younger kids are starting to wrestle better with the older kids. Starting to look like a team.”

Pletcher said, “There’s always room for improvements, and to become better these improvements need to be met not only on but off the mat as well.”

With all the stress and nervous thoughts right before going out, to help with getting ready for matches, Pletcher makes sure his confidence is up with listening to music to get warm and make sure blood is moving. His favorite thing after he weighs in, is a combo of sprite mixed with orange juice and lemonade. He said,  “Tastes so wonderful makes me feel good and ready.” 

Kilkeary focuses on what needs to be done to score as many points as it takes. Kilkeary, as well as Pletcher, makes sure they are in a good mind set and simply ready to win before going out.

Corona took a major toll on the season. To stay with it, Pletcher and Kilkeary still continued to work out with other members on the team, by doing Zoom meetings and having their own workouts on an app called TeamBuildr. Pletcher made it known even though he couldn’t go anywhere or do much, he still would see if there was a chance for an extra workout or practice to complete. 

To finish the season, Mears makes sure that when the team needs to social distance, they do so. They are also more aware of cleanliness and wearing masks. With their future goals and expectations, they are not going to let Corona get in the way of making it to states, having winning records, and helping the team progress into a  successful family. 

As a freshman, Kilkeary  won the championship at states for 106 Lbs at Hershey. The 2020 wrestling season also brought Gabe Willochell, class of 2020 at 132, a third place victory.

Kilkeary completed this super challenging task, and he plans to keep it going. 

Since he already won a PA state championship, pressure or a higher expectation for him to repeat the feat is always a possibility-unless you’re Vinny Kilkeary. He followed up with, “No, I wrestle like it never happened. I only look forward to what’s next and focus on what will happen.” 

With a loss of 3 tournaments, and a condensed season, Kilkeary and Pletcher plan to continue a victorious season and end in Hershey. Mears is pretty confident with having numbers at Hershey.

“We could send up to five possible kids –Gabe Golden, Jack Pletcher, Corey Boerio, Vinny Kilkeary, and Nate Roth all have a pretty good chance if they put the work in and strive to want to be the best.” Mears happily said. But it’s a very rigorous process this year due to these circumstances. 

Pletcher explained, “Some might say it’s a lot harder since they’re only taking 8 people to states especially in a super hard region of the state that we are in.”