Mahanoy Area's Rory Dixon, right, and Bishop McDevitt's Nicky Negron size each other up during their third-place match at 160 pounds at the Class AA Southeast Regional Wrestling Championships on March 1 at Bethlehem Freedom High School. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

Owen Woll, Kyler Quick, Brenda Banks and Eve Kurtz have been here before.

The PIAA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center. The thousands of screaming fans. The roar of the crowd that swirls around the floor when an upset is brewing. The lights so bright you need to squint when you look up at the huge videoboard that hangs from the ceiling in the center of the arena. The waiting — and waiting — until you’re called to wrestle amid the hundreds of matches on each of the three days. When to eat, when to rest, when to warm up so your energy level is highest when you hit the mat. Where to find the locker rooms, the weigh-in area, the warm-up mats. How to navigate the paddock jammed with hundreds of wrestlers and hundreds of coaches and how to know which of the six mats is yours.

All of that comes into play when you get to states. And experience counts.

Competing in Hershey last season will help Woll, Quick, Banks and Kurtz as they begin quests for PIAA championships and state medals. Action will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday with the Class AA round of 32, round of 16 and first-round consolations. The girls will take over at 2 p.m. for their round of 16 and first-round consolations. The Class 3A boys will follow at 4:30 p.m. for their round of 32, round of 16 and first-round consolations. Wrestling likely will wrap up around 9 p.m.

“When you get on the mat, it’s scary, but after you do it a few times, the nerves go away and you can wrestle better,” said Quick, Mahanoy Area’s junior 189-pounder.

It helps when you have teammates to share the experience. You have a built-in roommate, warm-up partner and support system.

Three teams — Blue Mountain boys, Mahanoy Area boys and Panther Valley girls — are sending two wrestlers apiece to states.

Senior 189-pounder Bradley Renninger will join Woll in representing the Eagles.

“I’ve been friends with Owen my whole life, and we’re always the ones going back and forth at practice,” Renninger said. “It’s really just hard work that paid off in the end for both of us.”

Sophomore 160-pounder Rory Dixon and Quick will represent Mahanoy Area. Dixon has had quite a journey to Hershey. Multiple knee injuries and surgeries have halted his momentum but not his desire to be great.

“Nobody thought I was going to be able to do it,” Dixon said. “I had a little doubt in myself at one point, but I prevailed and I came through.”

Woll entered states last year with an ankle injury that hampered his movement. Time time around, the Eagles’ standout goes into the tournament at 100 percent.

“I’m feeling the best I ever have right now,” Woll said at regionals. “Training’s going good, diet’s on point, and my body is fully rested and recovered. So I’m just excited for the rest of the year.”

And junior 170-pounder Alisa Williams will get to learn from Banks, who, making her third trip to states, has seen it all in the progression of girls’ wrestling as a varsity sport.

Banks, a two-time state champion at 235 pounds, and Kurtz, eighth a year ago, are the area’s returning medalists. Banks has been utterly dominant during the postseason with five first-period falls, then a 7-0 victory over Souderton’s MacKenna Atkinson, the runner-up to Banks last year at states, in the Southeast Regional final.

Another benefit of taking wrestlers to states is the impact that can have on the rest of the wrestlers in a program.

Though the number of state qualifiers this season is on the low end, there are many underclassmen and junior high wrestlers who are close to breaking through to the regional or state level or have built a strong foundation in seventh and eighth grade to be ready to succeed at the varsity level next season. They can find inspiration in these state qualifiers.

The fact that Woll and Renninger came through the meat grinder that is District 11 Class 3A and the Northeast Regional speaks volumes about those two athletes and proves that it’s possible to advance at that level — if you work hard enough and want it enough.

“I think this is huge,” Blue Mountain coach Alex Gosch said of taking two wrestlers to states. “Moving up to Triple-A, nothing was taken for granted. This is one of those snowball effects where the kids should come down and watch at the Giant Center, see what it’s all about, get a feel for the energy and then hopefully that just rolls right into Freestyle and Greco in the spring, go to camp.

“And that’s how the culture changes,” Gosch added. “It takes time, but it takes people like that doing that to change it.”

PIAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE

At the Giant Center, Hershey

Thursday

Session I

9 a.m. — Class AA boys’ round of 32 and round of 16

12:30 p.m. — Class AA first-round consolations

2 p.m. — Girls’ round of 16

3:30 p.m. —  Girls’ first-round consolations

4:30 p.m. — Class 3A boys’ round of 32 and round of 16

8 p.m. — Class 3A boys’ first-round consolations

Friday

Session II

8 a.m. — Class AA boys’ quarterfinals and second-round consolations

10:30 a.m. — Class AA boys’ third-round consolations

11:45 a.m. — Girls’ quarterfinals

1:15 p.m. — Girls’ second-round consolations

2:15 p.m. — Class 3A boys’ quarterfinals and second-round consolations

4:45 p.m. — Class 3A boys’ third-round consolations

Session III

7 p.m. — Class AA boys’, girls’ and Class 3A boys’ semifinals

9 p.m. — Class AA boys’ fourth-round consolations, girls’ third-round consolations and Class 3A boys’ fourth-round consolations

Saturday

Session IV

9:30 a.m. — Class AA boys’ fifth-round consolations, girls’ fourth-round consolations and Class 3A boys’ fifth-round consolations

11:30 a.m. — Class AA boys’, girls’ and Class 3A boys’ third-, fifth- and seventh-place consolations

Session V 

4 p.m. — Class AA boys’, girls’ and Class 3A boys’ championship finals

Local pairings

Class AA Boys

Round of 32

160 — SE-4 Rory Dixon, Mahanoy Area, soph., 31-9 vs. SW-7 Ben Catullo, Burrell, soph., 31-17

189 — SW-4 Brady Brown, Derry Area, soph., 43-6 vs. SE-5 Kyler Quick, Mahanoy Area, jr., 34-13

Girls

Round of 16

148 — SE-2 Eve Kurtz, Pine Grove, sr., 30-5 vs. SC-3 Jahzari Abney, Dover, sr., 15-3

170 — SC-1 Angela Imorhoa, York Suburban, sr., 29-3 vs. SE-4 Alisa Williams, Panther Valley, jr., 32-8

235 — SE-1 Brenda Banks, Panther Valley, jr., 32-1 vs. SC-4 Emily Dolan, Boiling Springs, soph., 29-8

Class 3A Boys

Round of 32

189 — NE-4 Bradley Renninger, Blue Mountain, sr., 42-10 vs. W-5 Jake Stephenson, Waynesburg Central, sr., 19-2

Round of 16

152 — NE-3 Owen Woll, Blue Mountain, jr., 41-7 vs. SE-3 Chris Daniels, Central Bucks West, jr., 33-7