Four TIMES NEWS area wrestlers captured first-place finishes at the annual District 11 Junior High wrestling championships, held recently at Parkland High School.

Palmerton crowned two champions while Northwestern and Pleasant Valley each had one gold medalist.

The Bombers' Josh Evans gained a first-place finish at 102 pounds, while Jake Christman bested the 157-pound field. The Tigers' Cole Miller won his title at 97 pounds, while the Bears' Kenny Yanovich was tops at 92 pounds.

Evans registered a 4-2 overtime decision over Colby Emz of East Stroudsburg South to earn the right to stand atop the medal podium at 102 pounds. A returning champion, Evans was seeded No. 1 in his weight class entering the tournament.

Christman, meanwhile, pinned Joe Palmisano of Pius X in 1:23 in the 157-pound title matchup. The Blue Bomber gained three falls in the tourney en route to the gold medal.

Miller needed overtime and then an escape in the tiebreaking time period to pull out a 2-1 decision over Easton's Mason Angstadt in their championship match. The Tiger grappler was seeded No. 2 and upset the top-ranked Angstadt to gain his title.

Yanovich posted a fall of Easton's Anthony Parisi at 1:59 to cop the 92-pound crown. The Bear wrestler, who was seeded No. 1, won four of his five bouts by pin including a 12-second one in the opening round.

Nine other TN area athletes earned top five finishes.

Tamaqua's Colin Mashack took second place in the 77-pound class, falling to Northampton's Luke Karam in the finals.

Four area grapplers earned third-place finishes. They included Palmerton's Zack Christman at 107 pounds, Lehighton's Joshua Kern at 140, Northwestern's Kody Frey at 167 and Tamaqua's Luke Matsago at 212.

Richard Nase of Panther Valley and Joseph Smith of Lehighton both ended in fourth place. Nase wrestled in the 167-pound class while Smith was at 187. Northern Lehigh's Cody Bowman earned fifth at 112 as did teammate Dan Marsh at 140.

Northampton won the team standings with 273 points. The top local team was Palmerton, which took eighth among the 43-team tournament.