The Tornado traveled to Southside for a 27 team tournament.  After day 1 the "GT" were in first place.  Again the Tornado found themselves in first place by a narrow margin going into the place winner matches (1st-6th).  When wrestling was complete Butler ended up in 3rd place behind Trinity and Waynesburg.  There was quite a gap between the top 3 teams and the 4th place team. 

Nick Schaukowitsch was the lone champ for the Tornado.  This is not only Nick's first time winning a tournament, its also his first time placing at one.  Nick decided to go big or go home.  Nick has wrestled both 85 and 90 lbs this year and has faced some steep competition.  He has lost a lot of close matches but is working hard and his improvement is starting to show on the mat.  He broke his leg 2 years ago in the preseason and struggled last year giving up a lot of pins.  His dedication in the off-season and amazing work ethic this season is finally starting to give him the confidence he needs to go out and do well.  I couldn't be more proud of Nick and he is well deserving of success.

Butler had 4 other wrestlers make the finals but come up just short in their bid for a title.  Byron Manchester, Justin Kabay, Jacob Pomykata, and Greg Schultz all made the finals and finished as runner up. 

Cade Savochka is starting to heat up and has been wrestling very well lately.  He has started to push himself in the practice room and his attitude before and during matches has been sharp.  He went 4-1 on the weekend to place 3rd at 130 lbs.  He lost a razor sharp 2-1 semi finals match in which he did all the work.  Look for Cade to continue to improve and do well. 

Shawndell Zapata suffered his first loss of the season in the semi finals but rebounded to finish in 3rd place.  He is now an impressive 22-1 on the season 

Cooper Baxter lost 2 close matches and ended up taking 4th at 165 lbs.  Its important to note that I bumped Justin Kabay, Cooper Baxter, and Jacob Pomykata all up a weight class from what they weigh in order to allow Byron Manchester to get into the lineup.  I approached those guys prior to sending the lineup in and asked if they were willing to do that to help the team as I thought we had a shot to win this tournament.  They all agreed without hesitation.  With Byron taking second and all 3 of the other guys placing this certainly helped us in taking 3rd place. 

In today sports where the focus is a lot of times on what is best for me, it is great to see these guys make a sacrifice for their teammates.

I could not be more proud of this team!

Butler returns to action Tuesday night as they travel to Vandegraft to take on a very solid Kiski squad.  That will be their last match of the season.  This coming Friday/Saturday will be the final tournament of the year as we travel to Norwin High School for the 50+ team District VII Tournament.  All WPIAL teams both AAA and AA are invited to this event.  

Please see the attached pictures from the Southside Tournament.

Thanks for your support and Go "GT" Wrestling!

Congratulations to our Varsity team for going 4-1 and placing 2nd at the Uniontown William Jenkins Duals today.  Also, congratulations and best of luck to our 3 senior Varsity wrestlers Christian Sequete, Justin Stewart, and Rob Hays.  

Donnie Geibel