Tight team races develop on mats

Three teams separated themselves from the pack in Class 2A while six teams were jammed into a tight team title race in Class 3A after Friday’s action at the District 2 Individual Wrestling Championships.

The tournament, which concludes Saturday at Wilkes-Barre Area High School, qualifies wrestlers for the Northeast Regionals in each weight class, moving them to within one step of the reaching the state tournament in Hershey.

At the same time, team scoring championships are on the line.

Friday’s action served to reduce the field in each weight class to four championship contenders plus four other wrestlers with a chance to work their way back to finish as high as third.

When the day as over, Berwick and Honesdale were tied for the Class 2A points lead and Abington Heights led Wallenpaupack by just a half-point in Class 3A.

Third-place Lackawanna Trail was eight points back in Class 2A, but matched the co-leaders in sending nine wrestlers to the semifinals. No other team had more than the five semifinalists produced by fourth-place Wyoming Area.

In Class 3A, there were five teams with either six or seven finalists, all within 8½ points of the lead, and a sixth team with five finalists and only 13½ points out of the lead.

Abington Heights and Lackawanna Trail are the defending champions.

Delaware Valley and Honesdale won the district’s dual meet tournament title.

The team scores going into Saturday’s action, with the number of semifinalists for each team:

CLASS 3A

CLASS 2A