The discussion entering last year's regional tournaments centered around what had been an alarming drop in qualifiers from the Times News coverage area, with the number of those advancing from the District 11 Class AA and AAA tournaments steadily declining over the course of nine seasons.

From 2005-06 to 2007-08, the average number of qualifiers was 25. For the next three seasons, the number went down to just over 16. And over the next three years, that number dwindled to 11.Despite the fact that only 12 moved on to the Class AA and AAA regional tournaments last season, there was optimism among coaches that the trend would reverse, and those totals would begin to rise."I will go out on a limb and predict that the number (of qualifiers) will climb and possibly double or even triple over the next two years," Lehighton head coach Danny Williams said a year ago."It takes time to establish your style of wrestling and expectations. You can bet that number will rise consistently over the next few years," added Jim Thorpe mentor Shawn Albert.With a total of 32 qualifying for this weekend's Class 2A and 3A regional tournaments, that turnaround appears to be well ahead of schedule.Part of the increase can be attributed to the number advancing to the Class AA Southeast Regional Tournament expanding from four to five this season, a spot where nine TN area wrestlers finished.Panther Valley's Tanner Kennedy (120), Darren Goida (126), Ali Capobianco (138) and Dylan Moyer (170) all placed fifth to advance to the regional tournament. Xander Kern (152) narrowly missed out on going through, taking sixth place.Having such a large number compete in a potentially season ending match wasn't just hard on the wrestlers."Having that opportunity was huge motivation for the kids, and almost a heart attack for me as a coach," said Panther Valley's Tim Robb. "To have five matches in that round is something I never want to face again, but I gladly would if it got four kids to regionals."I really wanted that fifth (to advance), and Xander had a great tournament, but four out of five isn't bad."Technically, Robb did get five with Rian Shubeck taking third at 195 pounds to move on."Going out there with a whole group of guys will be great," said Shubeck, "and hopefully we can go to states with a bunch of guys."Panther Valley isn't the only team that will benefit from having additional wrestlers competing next weekend, as Lehighton, Northwestern and Palmerton also took advantage of the fifth spot.Part of the advantage for those teams will be a number of wrestlers having someone to drill with all week in the practice room.For Lehighton, Tyler Cann took fifth over Palisades' Christian Gretzinger, a result that could help the Indians' Connor Frey, who won the title at 182 pounds."We always work together in the room, and having him advance will be great," Frey noted. "We'll all be competing to make it to states, so it'll be good to have someone there to work with that will be just as motivated as I am."It also helps to reinforce that the time they've put in together over the last few months to get to this point has been worth it."Having practice partners getting through together is really great," said Robb. "It validates their work together and it makes it much easier this week to practice as well."Northwestern and Palmerton each had two wrestlers move on with fifth place finishes. For the Tigers it was Matt Peters (106) and Baily Wehr (113) while the Blue Bombers had Jared Mooney (182) and Tre Nelson (220) both advance."The fifth place match changed the dynamic of the consolation rounds for us," said Palmerton head coach Justin Petersen. "It was easier to motivate guys that lost early in the championship bracket to wrestle tough and fight their way back to the consolation semis."And once you got there, you had two chances to win one match. I was very happy to see how are our guys wrestled all the way through."The extra spot will also serve as a driving force for those that didn't make it this season to come back even stronger next year."I think the rest of the team now has been able to see that there's a really good opportunity to move through the district tournament and advance to the next week, where it's a whole new fresh start to go after getting a spot in Hershey," said Williams. "And I think that'll give guys motivation for next year as well."MAKING HISTORY … When Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile defeated Palisades' Zack Wasser on Saturday to win the 106-pound title, he became the Olympians' third District 11 champion in school history, and the first to do it as a junior.UP NEXT … This weekend will mark the next step for TN area wrestlers in their journey to make it to the PIAA Championships in Hershey. The Class AAA Northeast Regional tournament will take place this Friday and Saturday at Liberty, while the AA Southeast event will be held at Wilson-West Lawn. Wrestling for the SE tourney will begin at 5:15 p.m. Friday with first round matches. They will be followed by round two at 7:45 p.m. before action concludes with the first round of wrestle backs at 9 p.m. On Saturday, the second round begins at 9:30 a.m. After the fourth round of wrestle backs end at roughly 2:15 p.m., there will be a break until 4 pm, when doors will reopen. The Parade of Champions for first, third and fifth place matches will take place at 4:40 p.m, followed by the finals for all three at 5 p.m.