HERSHEY - A truly remarkable PIAA Wrestling Championships came to a close on Saturday afternoon, and the Times News area was well represented on the medal stand.

Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile led the way with a fourth place finish at 106 pounds in the Class AA event.Lehighton's Connor Frey took seventh at 182 pounds, while Northern Lehigh's Matt Schmall and Panther Valley's Rian Shubeck took eighth at 132 and 195 pounds, respectively.Though Gentile came up short of his ultimate goal, the junior was still more than pleased to leave the Giant Center with his first state medal."It feels good. It feels like I gave my all,'' he said. "I was really frustrated after I lost that one match. But I knew I had to fight and keep pushing.''That match, a quarterfinal loss to eventual runner-up Aaron Burkett of Chestnut Ridge, forced Gentile to regroup if he wanted to finish the tournament on the podium.Gentile bounced back by winning his three consolation matches to reach the third place bout against Benton's Alan Diltz.The pair exchanged reversals during a flurry of action late in the third period. Gentile tied it at 4-4 with less than a minute to go, but Diltz was able to hit one more reversal to claim a 6-4 win."Did I think he could get in the championship finals match? Sure," Jim Thorpe head coach Shawn Albert said. "But I'm very proud of him. Fourth place is nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure. We're very happy with him."Frey, who was a state qualifier last year, once again proved why he's among the top wrestlers at 182-pounds throughout the tournament.The junior posted a 3-2 mark in the three-day event, with his two losses coming by a total of three points - 7-6 to South Fayette's Brett Beltz in the first round and 3-1 in overtime to Pope John Paul II's Michael Collins in his fourth round consolation match.Frey's opponent in his seventh-place match was Montoursville's Garrett Hoffman, who won the Northeast Regional championship a week earlier and entered the tournament with a stunning 42-0 record.Much like he did in his first four matches of the tournament, Frey pushed the pace and forced the action, getting close on a number of deep shots.But the two proved to be evenly matched, with each only scoring on escapes, leaving the contest tied at 1-1 late in the third period.Frey's persistence paid off, though, as he scored a takedown with time running out to secure a 3-1 victory."Throughout the course of any given match, I don't know if there's anyone who works harder than Connor," said Lehighton head coach Danny Williams. "He took about eight shots to his opponent's zero and was in on some real close takedowns without any points; that can wear you down, but we just kept telling him to keep getting looks and keep out-working the other guy and it will happen and he came through with a great takedown in the last 15 seconds."It was tremendous resolve and a true testament to his character. We as coaches couldn't be more proud of him.The seventh place finish gave Frey his first state medal, an accomplishment that has him already looking forward to next season."This weekend made me fall in love with the sport again," said Frey, who also notched his school record 38th win this season when he beat Hoffman. "This gives me a lot of momentum and confidence heading into the offseason."Next year, I hope we can get even more guys on the podium."Like Frey, Schmall also showed tremendous determination in mounting a late comeback in his seventh place match against Brockway's Mason Lindenmuth, who defeated him earlier in the tournament.Much like his 7-0 first-round loss the Brockway junior, Schmall found himself in a hole, trailing 5-0 after two periods,Schmall got on the board with two stall points, then seized an opportunity as time expired to secure three back points and send the bout to overtime tied at 5-5."I was mad," Schmall said afterwards. "I knew I could beat him and I knew I wrestled badly Thursday (in the first round) so I came out with a different mindset. Going into the third period being down, I wanted to try my hardest to turn him."But Lindenmuth prevailed in the extra period with a quick takedown to come away with a 7-5 win.While Schmall was the only one of three Northern Lehigh wrestlers - Colten Rex and Ryan Farber being the others - that qualified to medal, the trio still gained valuable experience by competing on the biggest stage for high school wrestling in Pennsylvania, something head coach Steve Hluschak hopes will only make the Bulldogs stronger moving forward."Hopefully it's a good learning experience. That's how we want to use these events," Hluschak said. "Matt's a junior and hopefully he can carry this over to next year."I believe wrestling at this tournament, at the individual level, is going to help him, and our other guys, next year."Shubeck faced off against longtime friend Alex Hummel of North Schuylkill in the seventh place match, which marked the first ever meeting between the two seniors.The familiarity between the two was evident early on, with neither having much of an advantage.But Hummel seized control with a takedown early in the second to turn a 1-0 lead into a 3-0 advantage. Shubeck got on the board late in the third when his counterpart was hit with a stalling call, but it was too little too late, as Hummel held on for a 3-1 win.Despite the loss, Shubeck was happy to accomplish what was his primary goal throughout the season in his final match for the Panthers."I'm really happy to bring a medal back home," said Shubeck, who also made it to Hershey last year but did not medal. "This is what I've wanted and worked for all year, and it's great to accomplish it."After seeing Richard Nase also take eighth last season, Panther Valley coach Tim Robb couldn't have been happier to leave Hershey with medals in back-to-back years."This is great for our program," he said. "We have a lot of guys in the room that are really dedicated and want to get back here next year."This just shows what you can do if you keep working hard and really want something."