Thorne MA’s ‘Athlete of Week’
Published: March 10, 2010
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
ZACH THORNE
Junior Zach Thorne has wrestled for at least 10 years, and last weekend he participated in the biggest competition of his life. Thorne competed at the PIAA Northeast Regional AA Championship at Williamsport, the only Meteor wrestler to do so this year.
Only the top three wrestlers in each weight class from districts move on. Thorne placed third in the 160 lbs.-weight class at the PIAA District II competition held Feb. 27-28 at Lake Lehman.
“Districts were good. In the second round, I beat a rival I’ve had all through my career, Marvis Rosiak from Lackawanna Trail, and he had beaten me the week before,” Thorne said.
Son of Robert and Teresa Thorne of Brackney, the Montrose Area wrestler went on to the consolation round at districts, giving him the chance to qualify for regionals.
“The consolation finals for third and fourth places were really important because they only take the top three to regionals. It was a dog fight. Steve Pask from Hanover Area gave me a bloody nose, and my eyes kept getting poked. I was down 6-2 and ended up coming back to win 9-8,” Thorne said.
“The feeling of winning was really great. I immediately hugged Coach (Jim) Lewis and Coach (Derrek) Hall. I knew that the work I put in all summer and fall had finally paid off.”
Lewis said he was proud of Thorne’s performance.
“This is a huge accomplishment. Zach was in one of the tougher weight classes in our entire district. He has made a great deal of progress in the past year. He wasn't a district medalist last year, and to come into that weight class this year and place third is a major accomplishment,” Lewis said.
The goal of both coach and wrestler at regionals was for Thorne to qualify for states. Both say they knew, however, that this would not be an easy achievement. Unfortunately, Thorne suffered a loss at regionals, ending his season.
“The competition at Williamsport was tough,” Thorne says. “It just showed me that I need to work even harder to accomplish my goals.”
Thorne said he owes a lot to Team Python, a free-style wrestling program in Wyalusing with which the Meteor wrestlers worked last summer, and Coach Walt Fisk.
It really made a difference, he said.
Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Doug and Cindy Lattner, owners of McDonald’s in Montrose.
