Sandite sophomore Riley Weir competes at prestigious Pennsylvania tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School sophomore and State Qualifier Riley Weir traveled to Pennsylvania earlier this month for the Flowrestling Super 32 Tournament, one of the most prestigious events in the country. The rising star competed at 106 pounds against 121 competitors and finished with a 6-2 record with both losses coming to the came opponent. 

In the opening round he met Pennsylvania's Chase Stehman in a brief match that started and ended with a bang. Nine seconds into the first period Weir scored a two-point takedown and worked Stehman over for an 0:22 pin. 

Next to go down was Colorado's Dawson Collins. Once again it was Weir with the opening takedown fifteen seconds in. He scored two more takedowns and a pair of escapes in the match to secure an 8-2 decision.

Weir met his match in two-style All-American Lucas Byrd of Ohio. The USAW Cadet Greco-Roman National Runner-Up scored a pair of takedowns on Weir for a 5-1 lead before pinning him in 2:45, midway through the second period. 

In the consolations Weir took a 4-0 lead over Ohio's Blake Saito before pinning him in 4:26, shortly into the third period. From there he built a 5-1 lead on New Jersey's Kyle Kaiser before pinning him, also in 4:26. In the next round he secured his third straight pin in 0:34, scoring a takedown with nearfall points over Pennsylvania's Frankie Bonura before securing the fall. 

In the next round Weir met Doug Zapf of Pennsylvania in his closest win yet. He took an early 2-0 lead that he held till the third period, then built it up to 6-0 with a reversal for nearfall points. With 1:21 left in the match, Zapf escaped and took down the Sandite with 0:08 remaining, but Weir was able to hold on for the 6-3 decision. 

In the next round, Weir once again met Byrd, who had just lost to Elijah Varona in the quarterfinals. This time Byrd scored three takedowns for five nearfall points to build a 12-0 lead before giving up a point for unsportsmanlike conduct to end the match with a 12-1 major decision.

Byrd went on to win two more matches before falling 6-1 in the consolation finals to Brandon Kaylor for fourth place. Weir was just one round short of placement, essentially finishing in the top ten out of 121 wrestlers. 

Weir is now 31-18 for the year, and 20-10 since the high school season let out. He previously took fourth place in the USAW Junior Men's Freestyle Nationals in July.