As the only returning state champion wrestler from the WPIAL, some might expect Thomas Jefferson senior Maddox Shaw to start feeling some pressure this time of year.
Just don’t count on it.
As calm and even-keeled as any competitor you’ll find in this year’s tournament field at the PIAA individual wrestling championships at Giant Center in Hershey, Shaw (34-2) is the type of athlete who relishes the big moments and shines under the bright lights. After dealing with some minor injury concerns earlier this season, Shaw now has a clean bill of health entering this year’s PIAA Class 3A tournament on Thursday — and according to Jaguars coach Michael Ladick, his star pupil has never looked better.
“What he did [taking time off] in December was one of the best things that he could have done,” Ladick said. “I don’t think he has ever been off since he started at 4 years old. He’s never taken a week off, never taken a day off. Then he comes in, and it’s like, ‘What kind of decision do we want to make here? Do we want to do Powerade or do we want to go the whole season?’ And he said, ‘I want to go the whole season.’”
An Ohio State recruit with a career record of 162-14, Shaw is a popular pick to capture his second consecutive state title on Saturday. After finishing third as a 126-pound freshman, Shaw took second place as a 133-pound sophomore, then he defeated Penn State recruit and former PIAA champion Dalton Perry of Central Mountain in overtime in last year’s 139-pound final.
Now, the 152-pound senior has the hopes of all WPIAL wrestling fans riding on his shoulders — and there’s no better man for the job.
“To be honest with you, he hasn’t even talked about [the pressure],” Ladick said. “It’s one match at a time. … Everyone in the fan universe is predicting fan matchups and stuff like that, and this tournament is wildly unpredictable. He is just focused on the task at hand.”
Although Shaw represents the WPIAL’s best chance of bringing home a gold medal this weekend, he isn’t the only championship hopeful from Thomas Jefferson. Fellow senior Bode Marlow is a Pitt recruit coming off a runner-up finish at the West Regional, falling to two-time PIAA champion Asher Cunningham of State College via 18-0 technical fall at 172 pounds. Despite the lopsided defeat last time out, though, Ladick said Marlow (47-3) hasn’t lost any confidence going into his final week of preparation for his last state tournament.
“I think the one thing Bode came in with on Monday was an awareness of what happened,” Ladick said. “And it wasn’t about the final score or anything like that. It was about what was transpiring during the match and where he needed to improve his positions.”
Elsewhere, Jaguars senior and Pitt football recruit Shep Turk (43-6) is fresh off his second consecutive WPIAL title, and the heavyweight followed that up with a West Regional title last week. With Turk and Shaw taking home first-place finishes at regionals to go with Marlow’s second-place finish and a third-place finish at 160 pounds by Brayden White, Thomas Jefferson earned the team championship at the inaugural PIAA Class 3A West Regional tournament.
With Ladick set to retire after the season, the Jaguars have certainly made his last ride one to remember.
“I have been on cloud nine since we won the PIAA West Regional,” Ladick said. “That was a legitimate goal of ours. Once you see it and once I knew it came to fruition, I had to sit down and soak it in.
“My father and I are very proud of TJ wrestling and what it’s become, and what it’s going to be in the future as well.”
Of course, there are several WPIAL entrants outside the Thomas Jefferson contingent with a legitimate chance of reaching the top of the podium — and Belle Vernon junior Elijah Brown is at the top of the list.
After steamrolling his way to his first WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional titles as a sophomore, Brown failed to place in the top eight at last year’s PIAA tournament. Now, one year later, the Pitt recruit is in position to become the Leopards’ first state champion wrestler in school history.
“There’s definitely a big target on my back,” Brown said. “I’ve been learning after every match, trying to get better. I think I’m wrestling the best I’ve wrestled in my entire life. I’m prepared for anything.”
Brown burst onto the scene in Fargo, N.D., over the summer, winning a 16-and-under national title in freestyle wrestling at 190 pounds. He carried that momentum over into his junior season, where Brown has carved through the most talent-rich weight class in the WPIAL. Competing at 215 pounds, Brown (44-1) owns wins over Kiski Area’s Cooper Roscosky, Ringgold’s Jake Conroy and Central Catholic’s Roman Thompson — each ranked among the top four in the state in the weight class, right behind Brown.
With Belle Vernon bumping up from Class 2A to Class 3A and Brown moving up from 172 to 215 pounds, there were plenty of questions about how his skills would translate. Turns out, Brown has only gotten better and better as the season has gone on, and he now enters the upcoming PIAA tournament with as much momentum as any wrestler in the area.
“[Winning Fargo] was a huge confidence boost going into this season, just knowing I can compete at a high level and keep my composure, even if I’m down,” Brown said. “I’m just going to try to go out there and wrestle my matches and let it fly.”
Class 2A boys
In an overall down year for the WPIAL in Class 2A, only one local wrestler emerged from last week’s PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional tournament with a first-place finish — Fort Cherry senior Braedon Welsh.
A Brown recruit, Welsh (44-1) is in the midst of a stellar senior season at 215 pounds. A two-time WPIAL champion and two-time PIAA medalist with a career record of 158-28, Welsh finished fourth in the state as a sophomore and fifth as a junior, both at 172 pounds. His only loss this season came against Kiski Area’s Mark Gray via 13-0 major decision while competing at 189 pounds on Jan. 25.
Since moving up to 215, Welsh has been nearly unstoppable — but he won’t be the favorite to bring home the gold medal in Hershey. That distinction belongs to Muncy senior Austin Johnson, a three-time PIAA finalist who won the 215-pound title as a sophomore in 2023. An Oklahoma State recruit, Johnson (41-1) holds a career record of 152-5. Johnson lost to Frazier’s Rune Lawrence, a four-time PIAA champion, by 6-3 decision in last year’s 215-pound final.
As for the rest of the WPIAL’s championship hopefuls in Class 2A, each of them will be fighting an uphill battle to reach the top of the podium. The Class 2A championship field is littered with nationally ranked wrestlers from around the state, including a trio of returning champions from District 6 powerhouse Bishop McCort.
The Crushers feature 133-pound junior Jax Forrest, the No. 2 pound-for-pound wrestler in the country according to FloWrestling, and 145-pound junior Bo Bassett, ranked No. 4 pound-for-pound. Forrest (46-0) is an Oklahoma State recruit with a career record of 129-3, while Bassett (48-0) is an Iowa recruit with a career record of 122-0. Plus, Bishop McCort has 160-pound sophomore Melvin Miller (45-1), ranked No. 14 in the country pound-for-pound.
Girls
Last year, it was Canon-McMillan’s Valarie Solorio who cemented her place in history as the “Golden Girl” of WPIAL wrestling, becoming the first-ever PIAA girls wrestling champion and capping off a perfect season with a second-period pin in the 100-pound state final.
Heading into the second annual PIAA girls individual wrestling championships, there are no returning state champions from the WPIAL, but there are a pair of returning finalists from last year’s inaugural tournament — Moon’s Haley Smarsh at 130 pounds and Canon-McMillan’s Natalie Rush at 190 pounds.
Smarsh (26-6) became a two-time WPIAL champion last month with a 12-1 major decision win against Plum’s Saphia Davis, then she claimed her second West Regional title last week to earn a top seed for her second state tournament. Waiting for her on the other side of the bracket will be defending PIAA champion Aubre Krazer of Easton, who handed Smarsh the first loss of her high school career with a second-period pin in last year’s state final. Krazer is ranked No. 9 in the country in FloWrestling’s pound-for-pound rankings.
While Rush came up short in her bid for a second WPIAL title last month, she rebounded with a 16-1 technical fall against Plum’s Alaina Claassen in last week’s West Regional final, avenging a 9-5 loss against Claassen from earlier this season. With a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers in her bracket in Reading’s Esemeralda Tellez and Quakertown’s Caroline Hattala, Rush might not be the favorite to bring home the title — but when she is at the top of her game, Rush (31-6) is capable of defeating anybody she steps on the mat against.
All in all, the WPIAL crowned 10 regional champions out of 13 weight classes last week. Kiski Area’s Ava Golding (33-0) continued her quest for an undefeated season, defeating Connellsville’s Janayah Nobles for the sixth time this season with a 5-1 decision in the 136-pound West Regional final. A third-place finisher at last year’s PIAA tournament, Golding is the lone remaining unbeaten girls wrestler in the WPIAL.
It’s tough to say which WPIAL entrant has the best chance of bringing home the district’s second state title in girls wrestling, but Canon-McMillan sophomore Marlee Solomon seems like as good a bet as any. Solomon (35-3) is a takedown machine who is ranked No. 8 in the nation in her weight class, the highest ranking of any competitor in the 112-pound bracket.
Of course, all of those rankings will get thrown out the window when the tournament begins on Thursday morning. And when the dust settles inside Giant Center on Saturday night, everybody will know who is truly the best of them all.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
