“Wrestlers are unique. It takes a strange kind of person to be a wrestler,” said North Penn Head Coach Rob Shettsline.

If that is the case, then North Penn has four unique and strange wrestlers that will be competing in the PIAA AAA Wrestling Championships. Will Laughlin, Owen Verespy, Ryan Cody, and Colin Shannon placed at the regional tournament to secure their spot in Hershey this past weekend.

As a way for the state meet qualifiers to celebrate their accomplishment, the four guys did the most logical thing that they could think of: they literally bleached their hair.

“Blondes do have more fun,” joked Verespy, “But I couldn’t ask to go to states with a better group of guys.”

“It feels great. These guys have worked hard all year, and we always try to take as many guys as we can to the State meet. We want to help our wrestlers with their season goals and also help them go beyond,” said Shettsline.

Senior Will Laughlin got off to a promising start with his win over Jonathan Westlake of Spring-Ford, and then lost to Brent Windle of Coatesville in the Championship Quarterfinals. Laughlin won the next two rounds and then lost to Daniel Mancini of Owen J. Roberts in the Consolation Semifinals. By forfeit, Laughlin secured a fifth place finish, earning him a ticket to the state tournament.

“Going to the state tournament has been a dream of mine for years. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, and it is going to be a lot of fun wrestling in Hershey,” said Laughlin.

“Will was aggressive. He ran into some tough kids, but he came back strong,” said Shettsline.

Junior Owen Verespy started the tournament with a close loss to Alex Raimondo from Coatesville, but he didn’t let that stop him from coming back in the next round. Verespy won the next two matches, and then lost in the Consolation Semifinals against Michael Modugno of Upper Perkiomen. Vying for a fifth place spot, Verespy came back and beat his first opponent, Raimondo, to punch his spot at the state meet.

“My fifth place match went into overtime, so I was both physically and mentally relived after I knew I had qualified,” said Verespy.

“Owen was a little rough the first day, but he came back with determination,” said Shettsline.

Junior Ryan Cody started the tournament off with a loss to Nick Chapman of Hatboro Horsham, but Cody impressively won the next three rounds of his weight class. His day ended with a loss to Bensalems’s Nick Cooper, securing him a fourth place finish.

“The tournament was a great experience, and it really challenged me against elite wrestlers in the area,” said Cody.

“Ryan had a rough first day, but again like Owen, he was able to battle back on Saturday and qualify for states,” said Shettsline.

The last, but certainly not the least qualifier for North Penn was senior Colin Shannon. Shannon battled all the way to the Championship Finals, but then took a loss to Chase Stephens of  Coatesville. Shannon finished off the day with a second place finish overall.

“Colin was a complete animal. He knows what he wants and he gets the job done. He was beating his opponent in the finals at first, but his opponent was very dangerous and Colin got caught,” said Shettsline.

“I am extremely proud of the other three state qualifiers. I’m also proud of the whole team in general because we had a phenomenal postseason. Everyone put in a lot of work this season and they deserve what they earned,” said Shannon.

In the regional tournament,  Brandon Ullman and Patrick O’Neill also competed to help North Penn with a tenth place finish overall.

“Regardless of how States goes, I want to thank the coaches for being amazing mentors to the team. I also couldn’t have asked for a better team to spend the last four years with,” said Shannon.