Evan Gillespie took advantage of an opportunity that lined up perfectly for him during Saturday’s consolation finals of the District 11 3A wrestling tournament.

The Pleasant Valley junior 215-pounder has plenty of experience battling with Jim Thorpe’s Aiden Sterling, as both wrestlers practice against each other regularly.

Those tendencies from practice might have played a role during their third-place consolation match at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium, which resulted in Gillespie putting Sterling to his back in the second period for a stunning fall in 2:33 to secure a bronze medal.

“I saw him [Sterling] trying to go for the throw the entire match,” said Gillespie. “Eventually, he went for the throw and I dropped my hips and he went right to his back and I pinned him. It kind of just came to me.”

Both wrestlers are part of a three-man contingent from the Times News coverage area that advanced to next week’s Northeast Regional 3A tournament back at Liberty.

Pleasant Valley heavyweight Andrew Mihalichko secured one of the top five spots to advance with a fourth-place finish following a 13-1 major decision loss to Liberty’s Daunte Morrison to round out the Times News contingent.

It’s the first trip to the Northeast Regional tournament for all three wrestlers, as Gillespie and Mihalichko each came up a spot short last year with sixth-place finishes, while Sterling and Jim Thorpe were competing at the 2A level a year ago.

“Last year I took sixth at regionals, and I want to improve much more,” said Gillespie. “I’ve done a lot of work in the offseason, and I want to keep improving. Right now my focus is to get to states. This is definitely a confidence boost.”

A first-time ticket to Hershey will be on the line for all three this weekend, as the top five wrestlers from each weight class advance to the PIAA tournament.

Gillespie certainly has his eyes set on keeping his season alive, but Jim Thorpe head coach Dan Heaney believes Sterling will be right in the mix as well.

“The loss to Gillespie, that’s Aiden to sum it up,” said Heaney. “Sometimes he takes risks and it doesn’t work out in his favor, but he went in with the mindset to advance and get to the state tournament. He has a short memory when it comes to losses, and I feel good about his chances at regionals. He’s wrestling well right now.”

Sterling lost in the semifinals to Easton’s Kurtis Crossman 4-2, while Gillespie met with eventual champion, Connor Smalley of Notre Dame and fell by a 17-5 major decision in the semis, setting up a path for both wrestlers to battle back through the consolation bracket to meet for third.

Mihalichko had a tougher path, as he lost to Freedom’s Dan Schiffert, the eventual champ, in the quarterfinals. That set him up with a journey in the consys that led him to three straight wins before facing Morrison.

Jim Thorpe’s Stephen Korte (133) and Nikolas Schwartz (172) each found themselves in the medal rounds as well, but came up a win short to advance to regionals, as they both lost their fifth-place matches to settle for sixth.

Korte suffered his second loss of the tournament to Easton’s Ethan Krazer 4-2 in the medal round, while Schwartz was tech falled by East Stroudsburg South’s Ivan Laubach 18-2 in 3:53.

“Little bit of a heartbreaker for those guys,” said Heaney. “To move on you need to beat two or three good guys to advance, and those fifth-place matches didn’t work out for us. The depth of the weight classes in 3A is a much deeper pool than we’re used to seeing in 2A. There aren’t any easy matches at districts.”