Lewisburg's Landen Michaels, Landen Wagner Headed to Hershey PIAA State Tournament

Lewisburg High senior Landen Michaels secured a trip to the PIAA Class 2A state tournament in Hershey by finishing third at the Northeast Regional in Williamsport on March 4, 2026, a result that, combined with teammate Landen Wagner’s third-place finish, sends two Braves to states. Finishing third at regionals guaranteed Michaels one of the state qualifying berths.

Michaels’ path through the bracket included a 12-8 quarterfinal loss to District 2 champion Justin Scanlon, after which he mounted a three-match consolation run. He defeated Hughesville’s Ethan Wodrig in a bout listed as (15-0, 4:13), pinned Scranton Prep’s Jake Barrett in 2:17, and beat Wyalusing’s Cole Patrick 7-4 to reach the third-place final. In the deciding match he reversed the earlier result and beat Honesdale’s Justin Scanlon by fall in 2:45 to clinch the state berth.

The season numbers underline the breakout year: Michaels went 43-12 this season — the 43 wins the most he’s had in a single season — and holds a career mark of 118-50 after surpassing 100 career wins this year. He also claimed a sectional gold medal this season and has two career silver medals. Reflecting on his development, Michaels said, “Just showing more of my hard work because freshman year I had like 19 wins and now every year since that I’ve gotten more and more each year.” He added, “So it shows how much better I’ve gotten each year with the hard work paying off.” After receiving his bronze medal, Michaels said, “It means a lot because coming up short the past two years here and all the hard work in the offseason summer and fall it finally paid off and I finally got the job done here.”

On the state draw, Michaels is slated to face Bishop McCort sophomore Austin Carfley, listed at 22-15, in the first round of the PIAA Class AA championships beginning on Thursday morning. The third-place finish and the upcoming match set up a rematch week where Michaels’ late pin of Scanlon will be a key confidence boost against Carfley’s 22-15 ledger.

Lewisburg’s second qualifier, Landen Wagner, was also listed as taking third at regionals in the program’s post announcing the Hershey berths. Photographs from Williamsport show Wagner working at 152 pounds with Montgomery’s Trace Furman positioned on his back during regional action, supporting the program’s statement that it is sending two wrestlers to states.

Notably, media and the team’s social posts alternated between the spellings “Landon” and “Landen” for Michaels’ first name; the roster spelling will be confirmed by the program ahead of the team’s trip. Both Michaels and Wagner will head to Hershey this week to represent Lewisburg at the PIAA Class 2A state tournament beginning Thursday morning.