Parkland sends two to Hershey

It has been quite the turnaround for Parkland wrestler Adrian Gacek. The junior didn’t even place at districts a year ago and now he’s prepping for his first journey to the PIAA tournament.

Gacek, along with teammate Alex Neely, are the lone representatives for Parkland this year in Hershey, as wrestling gets underway Thursday at the Giant Center.

It’s a welcoming sight for Gacek, a New Jersey transplant who now gets to see what Hershey is all about.

“I’ve always loved the competition here and have dreamed about going to Hershey since coming over to Parkland,” said Gacek. “After not making it out of districts last year, it just feels great to now be moving on.”

Gacek (160) took third at last week’s Northeast Regional tournament at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium following a 3-0 decision over Christian Reid of Liberty in the consolation finals.

After falling to Bethlehem Catholic’s Landon Muth 6-4 in the semifinals, Gacek was able to battle back in the consolation rounds to finish strong. It’s all been part of the evolution of his improvement over the past year.

“I always knew that I had the ability,” Gacek said. “I just need the drive and focus. My conditioning and strength is what I’ve really improved on. Last year, I would die out in the third periods and now I’m energized for the third period.”

Neely (189) improved by a spot from districts to clinch fourth place at regionals following a 5-3 loss to Whitehall’s Melquan Warren in the consolation finals.

With Pleasant Valley’s James Syracuse, a district bronze medalist, bowing out of regionals with a knee injury during the consolation round, it opened up a path for Neely, a senior, to clinch one of the needed four spots to advance to Hershey.

Neely opened some eyes in the semifinals against Nazareth’s district and regional champion Sonny Sasso, scoring three takedowns in the first period, before succumbing to the undefeated Sasso by fall in 1:44.

Gacek is happy that he isn’t making the trip to the Giant Center solo and hopes Neely can make some noise.

“It helps tremendously having Alex come out,” Gacek said. “After scoring three takedowns against Sasso, I just thought ‘he’s going to go somewhere.’ I’m really happy we both get to experience this together.”

Wrestling gets underway at 4pm Thursday in 3A action with Friday’s quarterfinal round starting at 2:15pm, running straight through the third round of consolations at 5pm.

Saturday’s semifinals will start at 9am. The finals and the rest of the medal rounds will take place at 7pm.