Freshman Jayden O’Farrill Champions Southwest Regionals as Bishop McCort Dominates

ALTOONA, Pa. — Bishop McCort’s Jayden O’Farrill defeated Burrell’s Issac Lacinski by decision of 8-6 to claim the Southwest AA Regional title at 172 pounds.

O’Farrill, who only wrestled in just nine matches this year, became the district runner-up going into this regional tournament in Altoona.

O’Farrill was the fourth seed in the tournament and had his work cut out for him. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Marcus Richey, a Gettysburg commit, by fall in just over four minutes. Then, he faced the first seed, Jackson Angelo, a 43-1 junior from Frazier. O’Farrill not only beat Angelo, providing him his second loss of the year, but also pinned him in the third period.

That paved O’Farrill’s path to the finals where in a back-and-forth affair, he went down early but fought back to lead 5-4 going into the third period. He started the third on top, but gave up an early escape to Lacinski. Later in the period, Lacinski got a single leg hold and drove him. O’Farrill utilized the granby roll to take down Lacinski and score the winning points.

He, along with his teammates, claimed the victory for Bishop McCort as seven wrestlers brought home the gold as they advanced twelve wrestlers to the PIAA State Wrestling Championship which will take place in Hershey, Pa next week.

Massimo Manfra is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgm6116@psu.edu.