8 The Dallas Post By LEN KRYESKI Sports Writer February was quite a month for Aaron Gingo. - TheDallas wrestler finished the regular season undefeated, cap- tured his first District II class AA championship on the 18th and took top honors again one week later in the 152-pound class dur- ing the first ever northeast quali- fing regionals. ; ; Then again, the senior’s entire wrestling career has been spec- tacular. Gingo has won at least 20 bouts in each of his three years as a varsity starter. His next victory at the northeast regionals in Williamsport this weekend, will be the 70th of his illustrious ca- reer. Along the way he's placed second at districts as a sopho- more and junior and won his weight class at the Troy Tourna- ment this past December. Gingo also finished second in districts as a freshman while wrestling for the Dallas junior high team. At ‘the junior high level the competi- Dallas, PA Wednesday, March 1, 1995 The Dallas Post SportsWeek Gingo makes one goal, aims higher tion is double because teams are not split into AA and AAA classifi- cations. “I personally think he could have wrestled varsity in ninth grade,” said Dallas wrestling coach Steve Kaschenbach. “That was a weight class where he could have been right in there and gone to regionals.” Northeast regionals is next on the Gingo hit list. Last year he made some noise, but came away with nothing to show for it. He took the eventual third place winner into overtime before al- lowing a take-down and lost by just two to the fourth place fin- isher. : “My goalis to qualify for states,” said Gingo. Aaron has already achieved one goal - his district championship. he finished second each of the previous two seasons to a wres- tler he already defeated during the regular season. This year Gingo got the monkey off of his back with a 4-2 decision over Bill Hilburt of Meyers. “I personally think he could have wrestled varsity in ninth grade.” Steve Kaschenbach Dallas wrestling coach “Sure it was on his head,” said Kaschenbach. “Now he’s in the finals for the third time and he's wrestling a kid who's brother (140- pound Brian) just won a district championship. You know he's going to be trying like crazy be- cause he’s a senior, so a lot of pressure was on Aaron. I think Aaron did a heck of a job.” “At our school, in the wrestling room they have the names of the district champs on the wall,” added Gingo. “I always remember telling my Dad, I want to be a district champ.” Aaron is the son of Gene and Shirley Gingo of Shavertown. It was his father that signed him up for the Back Mountain Wrestling League while Aaron was in sec- ond grade. He became the first wrestler in his family when one of Gene's friends claimed the sec- ond grader had the proper build for a wrestler. “I remember my first practice,” said Gingo. “I didn't want to wrestle. I started crying, my Dad had to push me into it. I'm happy I stuck with it.” He not only stuck with it, he mastered wrestling through hard work and determination. A third place finish at Eastern Nationals as a fifth grader convinced Aaron and his family that wrestling was more than just a passing hobby. Even today, one of the most feared wrestlers in the Wyoming Valley Conference continues to strive for perfection. “I like to improve from the day before,” Gingo said. “I try to push as hard as I can. Practice makes perfect.” “He's the hardest working kid in theroom,” added Kaschenbach. “(It’s) between him and (112 pound Mike) Metz. They are both very, very competitive guys and they go all out. It's always a pleasure to have somebody like that in the wrestling room because there's an example of what to do.” “He leads the way, he leads the way.” Realizing the underclassman and coaches look up to him and expect him to win just makes Aaron try harder at the one thing he'll miss most about high school: wrestling practice. “We have a deal where we begin every practice, after stretching, we do our running,” said Kasch- enbach, “and Aaron is always the fastest besides our two cross- country guys. He's pushing, pushing, pushing all the time and you like to see that in practice. You like to see a kid give it his all.” The running has helped im- prove Gingo's footwork which is his main strength. Opponents know if Aaron takes them down first, it's almost a sure Gingo vic- tory. “If there is a weaker point it would be him on top holding the guy down,” Kaschenbach said, “but he has relied so much on his ability to take the guy down it really doesn’t bother him too much to give up one point.” Not one to waste an opportu- nity, Gingo fills his summer spare time by working with weights. This pastsummer he worked extra hard to increase his value to the Dallas football team. The fall sport has also supplied it's share of thrills for the two- time letter winner. One was win- ning the class AA state champion- ship last year and another was getting to meet then Governor Robert P. Casey. : This year Aaron moved into the starting lineup on both sides of the ball. He was the center for Ted Jackson's offense and contributed 125 tackles from his defensive end position. After graduation, Gingo plans to continue his school work at the university level and more than likely will study criminal justice. It's also quite possible his wres- See GINGO, pg 10 ‘Black Knights dominate tourney, Mounts send ‘two on to regionals 2 TELE Bh SB Sa ER Ten wrestlers from Lake- Lehman and two from Dallas will shoot for Class AA Northeast Regional titles this weekend. The Jon four. finishers at each weight class from this past weekend's "first ever regional qualifying tour- nament earned the right the con- tinue. | With 10 of it's 11 grapplers advancing, Lake-Lehman also has their sights on a second team regional title during the 90s. Matt Raczkowski (103), Allen Scott (119), Mike Stuart (130), Tim Sayre (135) and Mike Budzak (189) repeated as champions of their weight bracket for the sec- ond consecutive week. Heavyweight Vito Pilosi was also crowned champion by avenging his one point loss at districts to Nanticoke’s Joe Mushala. Pilosi beat Mushala with a 14-4 major decision. For the second time in two weeks, 145-pound John Wood finished second to Todd Sattof of Meyers by one point, 3-2. Joe Halowich (125) and Brian Butler (140) finished third and Ryan Gold (152) fourth to con- tinue advancement. 160-pound Paul Vandermolen was the only Lehman wrestler eliminated, losing both of his matches on Saturday. For the Mountaineers, Aaron Gingo remained undefeated by taking the 152-pound competi- tion. Once again Mike Metz finished second to Wyoming Area’s Don Morgan at 112. Three Dallas wrestlers were knocked out of regionals. John Crispell (130) and Adam Hoover (171) managed to place fifth while Mike Heffron (119) had to forfeit his fifth place bout. Vandermolen of Lehman along with Hoover and Heffron of Dal- las, are all seniors and saw their high school wrestling careers end. The Wyoming Valley Confer- ence managed to crown 11 cham- pions during the battle of the best from District's II and 12. The survivors will battle their counter- parts from District IV at Wil- liamsport High School this Satur- day. Mike Stuart had his opponent on the ropes in the pre- regional wrestling tournament last weekend. Mike Budzak won the pre-regional championship, as he had taken the district title the week before. Vito Pilosi avenged a loss at districts by beating Joe Mushala in a 14-4 major decision. Photos by Lynn Sheehan £7]
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