Nijenhuis makes it four in a row
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Gerrit Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan takes Donovan McMillon of Peters Township for a ride during 182-pound championship action at the Tri-CADA tournament on Saturday. Nijenhuis posted a 13-3 decision on his way to his fourth title.
Gerrit Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan puts a hold on Donovan McMillon of Peters Township during 182-pound championship action at the Tri-CADA tournament Saturday. Nijenhuis posted a 13-3 decision on his way to his fourth title.
Riley Kemper of Burgettstown and Quentin Franklin from South Fayette engage in hand-to-hand combat before Kemper scored a pin to capture the heavyweight championship in the Tri-CADA wrestling tournament.
Rocco Ferraro of McGuffey maintains controls against Beth-Center's Trevor Pettit during 145-pound championship action at the Tri-CADA tournament.
Ethan Barr gets knocked off his feet but comes back and defeats Shane Kemper of Burgettstown, 5-0, in 160-pound championship action at the Tri-CADA wrestling tournament.
Costa Moore controls the action against Kyle McCollum. The Canon-McMillan grappler scored a tech fall against McCollum to capture the 120-pound weight class in the Tri-CADA tournament.
Rocco Welsch puts a punishing hold on Jacob Gardner in winning the 126-pound weight class at the Tri-CADA tournament.
McDONALD – Mark another item off Gerrit Nijenhuis’ bucket list.
The senior from Canon-McMillan joined an exclusive group Saturday at South Fayette High School when he won his fourth title in the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association Wrestling Tournament.
Nijenhuis disposed of Donovan McMillon of Peters Township with a 13-3 major decision in the 182-pound finals. The accomplishment earned Nijenhuiis the Outstanding Wrestler award.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” said Nijenhuis. “I knew this would be my fourth because I won it since I was a freshman. I didn’t let it affect my wrestling. It was a good little weekend.”
Only two other wrestlers have accomplished the feat in this event, which began in 2006: A.C. Headlee of Waynesburg and Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin.
Wallace earned his fourth after winning at 182 pounds in 2018. He won the 170-pound medal as a junior in 2017, the 160 title as a sophomore in 2016, and 145 pounds as a freshman in 2015.
Headlee got his fourth title at 132 pounds as a senior in 2015. The others came at 126 pounds as a junior in 2014, at 113 as a sophomore in 2013 and at 106 pounds as a freshman in 2012,
Nijenhuis won his first title as a freshman at 152 pounds in 2017, his second as a sophomore at 160 pounds in 2018, and his third as a junior at 182 pounds last year.
“I know Tim Wallace,” said Nijenhuis. “We were training partners back at Young Guns.”
Nijenhuis entered the tournament as the top seed at 182 pounds and received a first-round bye. He pinned Trinity’s Brian Boyd in 1:04 and Turner Lehman of Burgettstown in 1:29.
Canon-McMillan, with four champions, won the team title with 283.5 points. Waynesbuurg, which had five champions, was second with 257.5 points. The top Class AA team was fourth-place Burgettstown, which at 148.5 points was one point better than Beth-Center.
Mac Church, the flourishing freshman from Waynesburg, put himself in position to become a four-time champion by taking care of business against Jacob Houpt of Canon-McMillan in the 106-pound finals.
Church jumped out early and came away with an 8-4 decision.
“I don’t think about that stuff,” said Church of possibly winning four titles. “I just go out and wrestle. I’ll try for it. I’ll try to win just like I do in every tournament.”
Church’s teammate, Nate Jones, finished off a strong run through the 113-pound weight class with a 7-5 decision over Julian Moore of Fort Cherry. Jones also is a freshman.
Sophomore Cole Homet of Waynesburg earned his second title at the expense of Canon-McMillan’s Jimmy Baxter, who was looking for his third straight gold medal in this event. Homet trailed 2-0 early and was nearly turned for two backpoints before he roared back for an 8-2 decision at 132 pounds.
He, too, is on a path to win four titles.
Wyatt Henson made it a points bonanza, scoring 27 in the semifinals and 21 in the finals to win the 138-pound title. He stopped Micah Finley of Trinity, 21-9, in the finals and teched Will Kail of Peters Township, 27-11, in the semifinals.
Other winners were Costa Moore (120) and Evan Miller (220) of Canon-McMillan, Rocco Welsh (126) and Nate Stephenson (152) of Waynesburg, Ethan Barr (160) of McGuffey, Eli Brinsky (170) of South Fayette, Trevor Pettit (145) of Beth-Center, Cole Whitmer (195) of Trinity and Riley Kemper (Hvy) of Burgettstown.