On January 26th and 27th, West Branch High School hosted 40 schools to come and compete in a wrestling tournament. Some of the most skilled high school wrestlers in PA appeared at the tournament, including West Branch’s own, Landon Bainey. This tournament opened the doors to ten different kids achieving their 100th win. 

The Ultimate Warrior tournament is special as it gives opportunities for great wrestlers to get college looks. Mercyhurst, Clarion, and Edinboro were the colleges that attended this tournament. Standout wrestlers Chris Vargo, Garret Garcia, and Louie Gill, who is 5th in the entire country for high school wrestling, attended the tournament. However, West Branch had a stand out of their own. Landon Bainey won four matches on the first day alone, leading to him medaling on the second day, placing 2nd in the 121 lb. weight class. Landon Bainey’s final match was against Louie Gill. David Williamson, a coach for the West Branch wrestling program and the head of the athletics department, stated, “Bainey wrestled very well and his last match was the match everyone wanted to see. I am also thankful for the West Branch school board for allowing us to host the tournament and it turned out great.”

This was a rough tournament for the rest of the West Branch wrestling team. Drake Taylor was the only other WB wrestler to come out of a match with one win. Drake expresses this win by saying, “I feel pretty good about my win. It is a hard tournament that we have here so I think I did pretty good against the kids there and I have a good chance to do well next year.” Landon Bainey said the Ultimate Warrior will be at West Branch for its tenth year in 2025. West Branch will finish out their regular season on February 6th and then go to districts. During the match, Bainey has a chance to become the winningest wrestler in West Branch history.