With the wrestling season slowly coming to an end, WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League) and PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) championships come to a start. Multiple wrestlers had qualified in the District 7 AA Section 2 Tournament, including freshman Cody Patterson and Ryan Kredel, sophomores Matthew Schultheis and Trenton McCray and senior Trent Schultheis.

Trent Schultheis has a current season record of 27-4. He recently placed first at the 2021 SouthWest AA Regional Tournament on Feb. 27. In the Championship Quarterfinals, he won 11-7 against his opponent from Cambria Heights. In the Championship Semifinals, he overcame his opponent from Burgettstown, winning 8-6.. Finally, he won in the Championship Finals by forfeit over his opponent from Quaker Valley. After placing first in the regional tournament, he has now advanced to the Super Regionals on March 6. 

“A memorable moment I had was getting a takedown in overtime to avenge my loss from the week before,” Trent Schultheis said.

On March 6 at the West AA Super Regional tournament, Trent Schultheis placed second overall. After starting the first round off at 2-0, he started the third match at 4-4, and eventually went into overtime. After placing second place at Super Regionals, he qualified for going to the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships. On March 12, he competed at states in the championship matches. During the first round, no points were gained to either opponent. His opponent was up 2-1 during the second round, and they finished the third at 3-3. By a takedown, he lost 6-3 but ended up in third place overall at states. 

Class of 2017 graduate Kody Komara recently qualified for the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) Championships for Kent State Wrestling. In the 2016-2017 varsity wrestling season, Komara placed third place at the Hershey States in his senior year. While in high school, Komara placed fifth in states in his sophomore year and second in states his junior and senior year.

“My biggest influence would be my high school coach, Coach Covert. He was always by my side on and off the mat and he would take to a bunch of extra club practices and tournaments and he taught me a lot of life lesson that helped me mature into the man I am today and the wrestler I’m becoming,” Komara said.

Coach Covert is still the high school coach for Freedom. Wrestling since he was about five or six years old, Komara has really learned a lot from wrestling for so many years. When Komara graduated in 2017, he knew he was going to Kent State to continue his wrestling career. 

After finishing his high school wrestling career, Trent Schultheis has won three section titles, three WPIAL titles, has a 32-5 senior record and has finished his high school career with a 151-35 record. He plans to continue his wrestling career at the University of Pittsburgh. Trent has become the first and only Freedom wrestler to place at states all four years of his high school wrestling career.