Wrestling 2025-26 | yardsandpoints

State champ!

Dalton Wenner shows Kiovanny Hamlin of Allentown Dieruff the lights. (Cranberry wrestling photo.)

Cranberry's Dalton Wenner defeated Aiden Herndon of Cedar Cliff, 3-1, March 7 to win the PIAA 3A state wrestling title at 139 pounds.

Wenner won on a reversal with 16 seconds left in OT to become the third state mat champion in Cranberry history. The two wrestlers traded escapes in regulation.

Ray Frantz won back-to-back titles in 1973 and 1974 at 98 and 105 pounds and Jack Rice captured the 2A 135-pound crown in 1996.

Wenner, a four-time state place-winner -- the only one in Venango County history -- topped Reef Dillard of Bethlehem Catholic, 6-3, in the semifinals Friday night while Herndon set up another rematch with Wenner by sending Patrick Woloshyn of Cedar Cliff to consolations, 4-1.

And then Wenner, who lost to Herndon in three previous meetings, turned the tables Saturday. The triumph over Herndon, a junior, was his 46th of the season and gave him a 161-25 record for his career and, by far, his best finish ever in the state tourney. He previously took a pair of sevenths as a freshman and junior and a sixth as a sophomore.

Wenner withstood some stalling calls to beat Dillard in the semis. He was warned or called for stalling three times, but made two takedowns stand up for his victory. Dillard was awarded two stalling points.

Herndon was coming off a 4-0 decision over Collier Hartman of Canon-Mac in the quarterfinals after pinning his opponent in the round of 32, where Wenner received a bye.

One of Wenner's losses to Herndon this season was by injury default. Scores of the other matches were 4-3 and 4-2, so they were close -- as with the state tournament outcome. Two of the meetings came in the Powerade Dec. 29-30 at Canon-Mac. Wenner's other loss to Herndon was in the Midwinter Mayhem at IUP on Jan. 10.

Earlier Friday, in the quarterfinals, Wenner scored a major decision -- his second of the tourney -- 14-1, over Isaiah Jackson of Gettysburg. Dillard upset Southeast region champion Blake Boyer in the quarters, avenging a 4-0 lost to Boyer earlier this season.

Herndon, the South Central regional champ, had three easy victories over Jackson this season. And he earlier took out Hartman who Wenner has beaten twice in three tries.

Wenner measured Kiovanny Hamlin of Allentown Dieruff, 11-1, on Thursday for his first major. Other place-winners at 139: 3. Patrick Woloshyn, Council Rock South, 4. Collier Hartman, Canon-Mac, 5. Reef Dillard, Beth Catholic, 6. Blake Boyer, Kennett; 7. Trey Wagner, Northampton, 8. Isaiah Jackson, Gettysburg.

Wenner, a Clarion recruit, is a four-time district champion and a three-time regional winner with one second-place finish.

The last Venango County wrestler to win a state title was Franklin's Dakota Geer, a three-time place-winner who won a 182-pound championship in 2015.

Dalton Wenner won the West AAA regional title last weekend and was named Outstanding Wrestler in the District 8-9 3A tournament two weeks ago. He brought home a gold medal from the state tournament this weekend. He's pictured here with dad and coach Dustin Wenner and uncle Darren, both state place-winners for Cranberry in the 1990s. Aiden Thompson (133), an Oil City student, joined Wenner as a district champion for the Berries this year.

state place-winners
from Venango County

District 8/9 3A O.W., RegionAL champ, 4-time
state place-winner

107 -- Jacob Carr, Sun Valley

114 -- Brayden Wenrich, Northampton

121 -- Landen Sidun, Norwin

127 -- Kavin Muyleart, Cedar Cliff

133 -- Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic

139 -- Dalton Wenner, Cranberry

145 -- Val Vielma, Connellsville

152 -- Gabriel Ballard, Northampton

160 -- Gavin Ciampoli, Altoona

172 -- McKaden Speece, Wilson (West Lawn)

189 -- Mario Hutcherson, Kiski Area

215 -- Elijah Brown, Belle Vernon

285 -- Dean Bechtold, Owen J. Roberts

Cranberry’s Dalton Wenner was a victim of five takedowns and lost by technical fall, 18-3, to Minnesota recruit Tyler Dekraker in a “B” match March 21 in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic.

The bout didn’t count in the final score – 23-19 in favor of Team USA, which has won five straight against Pennsylvania.

Wenner is Pa.’s 139-pound 3A state champ, but is not ranked nationally by FloWrestling. The other three at that weight can found on the latest (March 25) national lists.

Dekraker, from Lake Highland Prep in Florida by way of Chantilly, Va., is No. 3 at 144. He first committed to Ohio State before flipping to the Gophers.

This was Wenner’s second meeting with Dekraker, who pinned him in the Powerade tournament Dec. 30. It was the only time Wenner had been pinned in his career, according to PA-Wrestling.com stats. And the tech fall was the first against Wenner. Ever.

The Pa. entry in the “A” match was Camden Baum, the 2A state champ from Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt and a Purdue recruit. He lost 8-6 to Michigan-bound Moses Mendoza, a Californian who is the No. 1 138-pounder in the country and the No. 14 wrestler overall. Baum is No. 7 at 138. (He forfeited a match to Dekraker -- No. 20 overall -- in the Powerade, one of his two losses this season.)

Although not ranked nationally, Wenner was listed as the No. 4 wrestler in Pa. at 127 pounds to end the 2025 campaign.

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Dalton Wenner (second from right in bottom row) is pictured with the Pa. all-stars.

Wrestling

Cranberry preview

Senior Dalton Wenner, a Clarion recruit, headed the Berries. He entered the season with a 115-20 career record.

He's a three-time state medalist and District 9 champ and a two-time regional winner.

Wenner went on to claim his third regional title and qualify for states, where he is a three-time place-winner. A week earlier he was named OW of the District 8/9 3A tourney in which he needed only 68 seconds to collect three pins. It was his fourth district title. Teammate Aiden Thompson (133) won his second.

With his win against State College, Wenner became the school's all-time leader in mat victories.

He is pictured here flanked by recent grads Dane Wenner and Elijah Brosius, Nos. 2 and 3 on the list. Dalton Wenner has 140, Brosius 139 and Dane Wenner 137.

Brooks Bialo, an Oil City student in the Cranberry co-op, won the 80-pound title in the 8 and under age group in Super 32 tournament in North Carolina on Oct. 17. He pinned his opponent in the finals. Varsity teammate Dalton Wenner posted a 4-2 record at 132 pounds

https://www.pa-wrestling.com/index.htm for detailed mat info

Senior Dalton Wenner receives a banner commemorating his 150 wrestling victories during Cranberry's final dual against Central Clarion.

anatomy of a Pin

Photographer Christy Fackler captured a blow-by-blow of freshman Seth Hollerman's pin of Greenville's Caden Saeler in the 107-pound match on Dec. 16. Then on Thursday the Knights for the first time since Jan. 7, 2016, fielded a full lineup and trounced Maplewood, 65-9.