PIAA wrestling championships 2026: Bracket previews for Butler County’s 4 grapplers seeking medals
Four Butler County wrestlers are making the trip Wednesday for the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships at Hershey’s Giant Center.
Butler’s Santino Sloboda is contending for the program’s first state gold medal, and others joining him are also hoping to climb the podium this weekend.
The tournament will be held Thursday through Saturday, with wrestling beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, 8 a.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. Saturday while alternating between boys Class 2A, 3A and girls, and sometimes having them share the arena.
The consolation medal rounds will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, with the championship finals set for 4 p.m.
Here’s a breakdown of the event, including how you can watch and follow along, and a breakdown of each local wrestler’s brackets and potential path to a medal. State rankings are courtesy of Inside Pa. Wrestling.
Livestream: Watch on FloWrestling
Live updates: We will have a live blog running Friday morning on butlereagle.com and again Saturday, as well as full coverage both of those days.
Tickets: Single session tickets for Hershey’s Giant Center start at $10 for general admission, and all-session tickets start at $56 for the weekend. They can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.
Brackets: FloWrestling’s live bracket updates and results
Local wrestler: Butler’s Santino Sloboda (No. 2 in the state)
Top seed: Central Bucks East’s Chase Williams (No. 9)
What to know: Sloboda gets a favorable preliminary-round bye (deserved) and will likely face Bethlehem Catholic’s Andre Cerrato (No. 11) in the first round. Sloboda should take care of business in the first couple steps, but his first real test likely comes against Emmaus’ Emilio Albanese, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the state, in the semifinals. Sloboda lost in the semis last year to another District 11 wrestler. Should he make his first final, probably waiting from the other side of the bracket will be Cedar Cliff’s Kavin Muyleart (No. 3) or Williams. This bet is Muyleart makes it out of that side.
Local wrestler: Butler’s Sutton Stoner (unranked)
Top seed: Oxford’s Jon Smith (No. 1)
What to know: Stoner opens in the prelims with Parkland’s Jorge Moya (No. 9), and on deck off a bye will be Central York’s Nathaniel Replogle (No. 2), who has the third seed in the field. Getting on the podium would be a major win for Stoner, who this year already has made his first district, regional and now state tournament in his final season.
Local wrestler: Slippery Rock’s Zac Turberville (No. 6)
Top seed: Bishop McCort’s Melvin Miller (No. 1)
What to know: Turberville is making his PIAA debut as a senior, too, and opens off a bye with Canton’s Carson Rockwell (unranked). Turberville’s the favorite there, despite the 8-9 bracket seeding, but up next is likely the top-ranked wrestler in the field, Miller. Also on this side of the bracket is Berks Catholic’s Layden Acevedo (No. 7), who would be a semifinal matchup for whoever wins the Miller-Turberville quarterfinal. At least by Inside Pa. Wrestling rankings, Turberville’s top side of the bracket appears much easier; the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5-ranked wrestlers are all on the bottom half of the bracket. Turberville should be a medal contender.
Local wrestler: Seneca Valley’s Hannah Hornick (No. 8)
Top seed: Quakertown’s Caroline Hattala (No. 2)
What to know: Hornick, a senior, will make her Hershey debut against Souderton’s MacKenna Atkinson (No. 7). Win, and it’s probably Central Columbia’s Morgan Reichard (No. 10) in the quarterfinals. The Nos. 1 and 2 wrestlers in the state, Northwestern freshman Charlie Rea and Hattala, are on the opposite side of the bracket. Of note, Plum’s Alaina Claassen (No. 3), who overpowered Hornick in the district meet, was disqualified from states for a flagrant misconduct penalty after a comment to a referee, according to triblive.com.
