HERSHEY - Trent Thomas has gone from a freshman wrestler with little expectations to a senior 220-pounder competing at the PIAA championships.

And now Thomas is a former member of the Pleasant Valley program following his elimination from the AAA tournament at the Giant Center Friday afternoon in Hershey.Thomas lost a 3-1 decision to LaSalle's Garrett Zobel in the third round of consolations, costing him the one victory he needed to guarantee himself a state medal.The realization of a career ending put Thomas in no mood to reminisce about the past or talk about the present.Failing to achieve his goal of coming away from Hershey with a medal may have been the only thing on his mind, but for Bears' head coach Justin Micklos, it was hard to hide how proud he was of Thomas's accomplishments not only during his senior campaign, but his short wrestling career."It kills me to see him finish his career this way," said Micklos. "Seeing how far he's come since his freshman year is just amazing. No one pictured he'd be this far when he came out for the team as a freshman. It's good to see him make it this far. We just wish he would have left with a medal."The bout with Zobel eerily resembled his 2-1 loss on Thursday to Greensburg Salem's Derek Berberick in the first round, as Zobel and Thomas both traded escapes at the start of the second and third periods for the only points of the match.Then Thomas (33-6) hit a bout of bad luck, as he needed injury time with 45 seconds left in the match for a lower leg cramp.Once the match restarted, Zobel pounced, scoring a takedown 10 seconds later for the decisive score."I mean I'm sure it had an effect on Trent," said Micklos of the cramp. "Mentally any time you get a cramp it plays in the back of your mind."Thomas wouldn't have been wrestling Zobel if he hadn't picked up a win earlier in the day when he earned a 3-1 decision over Isaiah Spriggs of Bayard Rustin in the second round of consolations. In that bout, he was able to score his first and only takedown of the tournament in the first period to catapult himself to victory.After winning regionals over Freedom's Evan Callahan, Thomas appeared ready to make a run at a medal in Hershey, but was stifled offensively throughout the tournament, including against Zobel, who represented a similar matchup to Callahan in terms of being taller and bigger as a true 220-pounder.Callahan, who admitted he didn't prepare for regionals as well as he did when he beat Thomas for the district title, moved on to Saturday's semifinal round against Michael McAleavey of Peters Township.Berberick is also in the brackets final four, only fueling the 'what if' questions that Thomas may have as he leaves Hershey his first and only time."It's hard because it shows you that Trent was right there with those guys," Micklos said. "This just wasn't his tournament this week."