While the 2003 Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament will take place in a new location for the first time in nine years, quality scholastic wrestling will again be as familiar as Santa Claus and party hats this time of the year.
With an expanded 32-team field, the 37th annual Powerade Tournament will take place Dec. 29-30 at Canon-McMillan High School, Canonsburg.
For the past eight years (1995-2002), the tournament had taken place at Trinity High School's gymnasium. The Powerade Tournament began in 1967 under the guidance of Frank Vulcano Sr., and took place at California University of Pennsylvania for the first 28 years. Cal U dropped intercollegiate wrestling at the conclusion of the 1994-95 season.
Frank Vulcano Jr., a 1980 Powerade individual champion (185 pounds) has been the tournament director for the past 13 years and has carried his family name and the well respected tournament. Vulcano Jr. was honored as the Pennsylvania Wrestling Man of the Year at a presentation at last March's PIAA Wrestling Championships at Hershey for his contributions to the sport in a variety of ways.
The Powerade Tournament has been ranked the fourth toughest tournament in the nation according to Al Fontes, editor of Wrestling USA Magazine. Published in Missoula, Mont., Wrestling USA Magazine has been the national voice of amateur and school wrestling since 1964 and is published 12 times yearly.
Canon-McMillan recently renovated its gymnasium and there is now an auxiliary gymnasium adjoining the main gym. The opening round is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 29, and the preliminary round and first-round consolation matches will begin at 12:30 p.m. The first of four sessions will conclude with the second-round consolations at 3 p.m. The second session will begin with the quarterfinals on Dec. 29, starting at 6:30 p.m. This session will end with the third-round consolations. Session III will start at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 30 with the fourth-round consolations. The semifinals and fifth-round consolations will tentatively start at 11:30 a.m. The sixth-round consolations will start at 1:30 p.m. The fourth and final session will begin at 5 p.m. with the consolations finals.
The Parade of Champions will take place at 7 that evening, with the championship finals set for 7:10 p.m. on just one mat.
Comprising this year's Powerade tourney field, in alphabetical order, are: Albert Gallatin, Baldwin, Burrell, Canon-McMillan, Cedar Cliff (Pennsylvania District 3), Chartiers-Houston, Chartiers Valley, Cincinnati Moeller (Ohio), Colonial Forge (Va.), Commodore Perry (Pennsylvania District 10), Connellsville, Fort LeBoeuf (Pennsylvania District 10), Freedom, Greensburg Central Catholic, Hampton, Keystone Oaks, Lake Stevens (Washington State), Mt. Pleasant, Mt. St. Joseph (Md.), North Allegheny, Oxford (Pennsylvania District 1), Parkersburg (W.Va.), Penn-Trafford, Seneca Valley, Solon (Ohio), Southern Lehigh (Pennsylvania District 11), State College (Pennsylvania District 6), Trinity, Walsh Jesuit (Ohio), Warren County (Va.), Waynesburg, and West Greene.
Last December, Walsh Jesuit became the 15th different school to win the Powerade Tournament and schools from four different states claimed the top five team finishes. Clovis, from the state of California, was second while State College, the 2001 Powerade team titlist, was third. Parkersburg (W.Va.) was fourth and Connellsville was the WPIAL's highest finisher at fifth place.
Clovis is the only team not back at the Powerade tourney this December, however, six different states will be represented: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
"Obviously, we are very excited about this year's tournament, " said Vulcano Jr., who is also the athletic director at Elizabeth Forward High School. "We have many traditional powerful teams from Pennsylvania as well as elite teams from several other states competing. Though it is only December, fans that come out will experience a championship caliber atmosphere and great intensity."
There are four returning Powerade champions and attempting to win a third straight individual title will be Waynesburg's Coleman Scott. The PIAA Class AAA 112-pound champion last March and 103-pound state titlist as a sophomore in 2002, Scott was 40-1 overall last year.
Other returning Powerade champions include Connellsville's Kyle Martin (140) Solon's Jordan Brown (103) and Parkersburg's Lou Thomas (215).
Six Powerade runner-up finishers are back looking for gold medals. One of them is Connellsville's Jared King, who went 44-3 overall last year and won the 152-pound PIAA state title. Overall, 44 Powerade place winners return as do 60 wrestlers who qualified for their respective state tournament, including 27 from Pennsylvania.
Coinciding with the abundance of individual talent are many superior teams. Defending team champion Walsh Jesuit finished third at the 2003 Ohio State Tournament (Division II, largest) while Colonial Forge placed fourth at last spring's Virginia Class AAA state tourney. Warren County, the other Virginia participant, was sixth at the Virginia Class AA state tournament. Parkersburg won the 2003 West Virginia AAA state team title while Lake Stevens placed third at the 2003 Washington State Tournament.
Four of the 24 Pennsylvania participants finished among the top eight at last year's Pennsylvania AAA State team tournament -- State College (third), Waynesburg (fifth), Connellsville (sixth), and Cedar Cliff (eighth). Burrell finished eighth at the Pennsylvania AA state team tourney. Connellsville and Chartiers-Houston have each won seven team titles, roughly 39 percent of the total 36-team championships.
Three-time Powerade team champions include McGuffey, Mt. Carmel, of Illinois, and Waynesburg. North Allegheny, St. Edwards, of Ohio, and Trinity are two-time winners. Last December, Walsh Jesuit, despite not having an individual champion, joined State College, Clearfield, German Township, Mt. Pleasant, Norristown, and Washington as one-time winners.
