Ohio State recruits Vinny Kilkeary, Rocco Welsh headline Pittsburgh Classic rosters

By: Paul Schofield
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 6:04 PM

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Ohio State recruits Vinny Kilkeary of Latrobe and Rocco Welsh of Waynesburg headlined the WPIAL wrestlers named to the Pennsylvania wrestling team in the annual Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic.

The team featuring some of the best from the state will battle a star-studded United States squad Saturday, March 25 at Peters Township.

Kilkeary (131-12) is a three-time champion at Latrobe and Welsh (159-17) is a two-time winner for Waynesburg. Kilkeary will compete at 127 and Welsh 172.

Also named to the state team from the WPIAL were two-time PIAA champions Mac Church (151-13) of Waynesburg at 145, Ty Watters (98-8) of West Allegheny at 152 and Dylan Evans (139-28) of Chartiers Valley at 160.

The other two-time winner on the squad is Nazareth senior Sonny Sasso (97-10) at 215, and the other three-time winner is Wyoming Area senior Jaden Pepe (157-5) at 133.

Two Penn State commits — Cael Nasdeo (119-21) of Williamsport at 121 and Bethlehem Catholic senior Tyler Kasak (79-3) at 139 — are on the team. Also on the squad are Carlisle senior heavyweight Layton Schmick (122-23) and Saucon Valley senior Jacob Jones (152-26) at 189.

Laurel senior Abbie Miles (61-7) at 170 will compete in a girls match.

The record of the Pennsylvania team is 1,465-173 with 18 PIAA championships.

Two Penn State commits highlight the USA squad. They are Braeden Davis (155-6) of Dundee High School in Belleville, Mich., at 127, and Joshua Barr (132-1) of Davison, Mich., at 172.

There are three undefeated wrestlers: Destiny Rodriguez (84-0) of West Linn, Ore. at 170, Cael Hughes (140-0) of Glencoe, Okla. at 133 and Brayden Thompson (84-0) of Stillwater, Okla. at 189.

The combined records of the USA squad are 1,570-49 with 37 state titles.

The main event begins at 6 p.m. At 4 p.m., the WPIAL All-Stars will face a team from Ohio.

Pitt commit Grant MacKay (160) of Laurel, a two-time PIAA Class 2A champion, headlines the WPIAL squad.

The others on the squad are Kiski Area’s Isabella DeVito (124) and Ryan Klingensmith (121), Hempfield’s Ethan Lebin (127) and Lucas Kapusta (152), Waynesburg’s Brody Evans (189) and Eli Makel (215), Pine-Richland’s Anthony Ferraro (133), Burgettstown’s Joey Sentipal (139), West Allegheny’s Nico Taddy (145), Canon-McMillan’s Matt Furman (172) and Trinity’s Ty Banco (285).

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.