Pen Argyl High School's Mike Racciato wins outstanding wrestler award at Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Mike Racciato just wanted to win his weight class at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic.

"I'd never won this tournament and I'd come so close, third as freshman and second as a sophomore," the Pen Argyl Area High School junior said.

But Racciato not only won -- he won in real style.

The Green Knight edged 2011 New Jersey champion T.J. Miller of Camden Catholic in a tight 5-4 decision in the 145-pound final, and won the Frank Gutierrez Award as the tournament's outstanding wrestler as the event wrapped up after two days at Liberty High School.

"It feels great," said Racciato (11-1, 104-8 career), who handed Miller, a junior, just his fifth loss of his career versus 87 wins, and ended Miller's 53-match win streak. "He was very strong and got in deep on shots but I was able to scramble out of them."

Joining Racciato atop the awards stand was his teammate, Green Knight senior Dylan Evans (182), who defeated Wyoming Seminary senior Conor Wasson 5-1 in sudden victory in his final, and Saucon Valley junior Ray O'Donnell (195), who decked Council Rock South's P.J. Steinmetz in 3 minutes, 22 seconds in his championship match.

For Evans, it was his first scholastic tournament championship, and O'Donnell pinned three foes and tech-falled another en route to a crown.

Six local wrestlers -- Nazareth's Tyrone Klump (106) and Chase Zemenak (126), Liberty's Grimaldi Gonzalez (120) and Devon Lotito (132), and Northampton's Jason Stephen (138) and Cole Sheptock (152) -- lost in the final round.

Wyoming Seminary, with five champions and eight placewinners, rolled to the team title with 250.5 points. Nazareth took second with 138 and Camden Catholic was third with 132.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/12/pen_argyl_high_schools_mike_ra.html