Cranberry's Newest State Champ

Cranberry’s Newest State Champ

Bradley Smith 3/9/26

Cranberry High School senior wrestler, Dalton Wenner, claimed the title of state champion over the weekend in Hershey, Pennsylvania after a hard fought overtime match in the finals. 

“Dalton had lifelong preparation. He worked extremely hard and he never quit. I established that in him early in life,” said Dalton’s father and Cranberry Area High School’s wrestling coach, Dustin Wenner. 

 Wrestling began in the morning hours of Thursday, March 5th. It was a double-elimination tournament, which meant the wrestlers would compete in two matches. If the wrestler lost both the matches, they would be dismissed from the tournament. Dalton was seeded 13th due to his previous record, which gave him the advantage of only having to win one match to move on to the next day of the tournament. Dalton won his first match 11-1, moving him forward in the tournament.

“The atmosphere was crazy every single day, fans were excited, I just had to keep my head down and block out all the noise,” Dalton commented.

Dalton carried his momentum from the previous day into the quarterfinals. He went up against a Gettysburg High School wrestler and won by an impressive score of 14-1. Then, Dalton had an uphill battle in his match against a Bethlehem Catholic wrestler to move on to the finals.  Dalton excelled by pulling out the 6-3 win to move on to the finals. 

Dalton would have to wrestle a formidable opponent in Aiden Herndon from Cedar Cliff. Through hard work and determination, both Cedar Cliff wrestler, Aiden Herndon, and Dalton fought it out in regulation, ending in a tie, and leading to overtime. Overtime consisted of 3 rounds, the first two ending in another tie. In the third round of overtime with 10 seconds left, Dalton would get the final 2 points to win the match as the clock hit zero. Dalton won by a score of 3-1 to become a state champion. 

“The moment felt great, I waited 4 years for this moment and was able to get the job done,” Dalton added.

“Herdon beat Dalton 3 times in previous matches and we knew we had to change things up. Dalton was more physically and more mentally prepared for the match. He showed grit and he had a big heart all week and all season and it showed when he got his hand raised,” Dustin stated, “I’m still in disbelief.”

Dalton Wenner is the first Cranberry High School to attain the state champion title since 1996. In his future, he plans on attending PennWest University in Clarion and competing on their Division 1 wrestling team for the next four years.

Cranberry Chronicles would like to congratulate Dalton Wenner for this major accomplishment in his life and wish him the best of luck at Clarion.