NTL WRESTLING: ATHENS CROWNS TWO CHAMPS — COOKE AND BARRETT; PLACES SECOND AT JARVIS TOURNAMENT (24 PHOTOS) (2025-12-06)

Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — Junior Brendan Cooke and sophomore Treyton Barrett each won weight-class titles here Saturday at the annual Jarvis Memorial Wrestling Tournament, while four of their teammates were runners-up.

Seniors Karson Sipley and Brenden Comstock, a first-year wrestler, junior Lucas Persun and freshman Chase VanDyke each placed second for the Wildcats, and juniors Connor Davidson and Zaine Campbell, and senior Ryan Howard were each fourth-place finishers.

The Wildcats placed second in the team standings with 130 points, well off the pace of team champ Selinsgrove, which had 181 points. Eastern Lebanon was third with 96.5 points, and Muncy was fourth with 83.5 points.

Cooke, the top seed, was 4-0 to win the 215-pound bracket. He opened with a pin of Eastern Lebanon's Zach Wiczalkowski in 1:34, then decked Muncy's John Johnson in 48 seconds to finish pool play at 2-0.

Cooke, won via no contest in the semis, won the 215-pound crown with pin of Dallas' Jayden Benscoter in 1:07.

Barrett, the top seed, was 4-0 to win the 145-pound pool. He received a forfeit in his first scheduled bout, then put on a clinic with seven takedowns in 82 seconds in a 21-6 technical fall win over Falconer's Nick Russell.

Barrett scored a quick takedown, then added three sets of near-fall points to build a 13-0 lead on the way to a 16-1 technical fall win over Eastern Lebanon's Nolan Staudt in 83 seconds.

In his final bout, against second-seeded Ryan Harpster of Selinsgrove, Barrett scored a takedown midway through the first period, then finished the opening two minutes on his back and trailed 8-3 entering the second period.

After Harpster scored an escape to take a 9-3 lead, Barrett recorded a pair of takedowns to close the gap to 10-9 entering the final two minutes.

Barrett scored another takedown 25 seconds into the final stanza and quickly for a fall at 4:38.

Sipley, the second seed at 172 pounds, was 4-1 to finish second in the bracket.

Sipley cruised through pool play at 3-0 with a pair of first-period falls and a medical forfeit.

In the semifinals, Sipley built a 9-1 lead with three takedowns before pinning Falconer's Riley Best in 3:17.

In the finals, Finneytown's Brady Volz took a 9-3 lead before pinning Sipley at 3:48.

Persun, the top seed, finished 3-1 to place second in the 152-pound pool. He had pins in 72 and 10 seconds in his first two bouts, but dropped a 15-5 major decision to third-seeded Gabe Paradis of Selinsgrove.

Persun then received a medical forfeit from top-seeded Bobby Booth of Dallas in the final round of pool play.

Comstock, the third seed in the six-man pool, was 4-1 to finish second in 285-pound pool. He made a very memorable debut with a 10-second fall over the second seed in his first-ever match, then won via no contest in round two.

In the third round, Comstock scored a 29-second-fall, but suffered his first varsity loss to Selinsgrove's Jack Peters. He closed out the day with a 45-second pin of East Stroudsburg's Zaiden Rivera.

VanDyke, the third seed, was 1-1 to finish second in the 107-pound pool. He opened with a takedown and four sets of near-fall points for a 16-0 technical fall over Selinsgrove's Martin Wilson in 1:49.

VanDyke, who trailed 12-8 at the time, lost via fall to top-seeded Gannon Swank of Muncy at the final buzzer.

Davidson, the second seed at 189 pounds, finished fourth with a 2-2 mark. Davidson, who was battling an illness, opened with pins in 19 and 49 seconds.

Davidson dropped a 9-5 decision to Eastern Lebanon's Brinley Donmoyer in his final pool play bout, then dropped a 13-8 decision to Sayre's Jordan Brown in the third-place match.

Campbell, the third seed at 133 pounds, was 2-3 to finish fourth in his pool. He injured his knee in the opening match, and ended up injury defaulting out of the tournament in his fourth bout of the day.

Campbell led state-ranked Kane Kline, 9-3, in his opening bout, but lost via fall at 3:27 after injuring his knee.

In his next two bouts, Campbell won in a 37-second fall, and via an 18-1 technical fall in 82 seconds.

In round four, Campbell was tied at 4-4 with Falconer's state-ranked Dylan Newman when he defaulted out of the tournament.

Howard, the fourth seed at 160 pounds, was 1-3 to finish fourth in the pool. He won via 55-second fall in his first bout, and led second-seeded Micah Alice of East Stroudsburg, 5-4, when he was pinned at 3:51.

Wyatt Clink, the fourth seed, was 3-2 to finish fifth in the 139-pound bracket. Clink led 11-5 in his first bout, but lost via third-period fall. His only win in pool play was a pin of East Stroudsburg's Henry Zuniga in 1:44.

In the consolation semifinals, Clink pinned Finneytown's Nolan Needs in 1:06, then pinned Zuniga again — this time in 1:22 — in the fifth-place match.

Freshman Uriah Souder, the sixth seed, was 1-3 to finish sixth in the 127-pound pool. His only win was a 43-second fall over Dallas' Joe Megan. 

Souder led the fifth-place match against Josiah Vasquez of East Stroudsburg, 8-5, when he was pinned midway through the second period.

Athens, 1-0, returns to action Tuesday at Williamson.

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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Brendan Cooke. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens junior Connor Davidson. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.