Bo Bassett made sure to display his impressive skills in what was his last bout in high school wrestling before heading to Virginia Tech. The Bishop McCourt senior locked horns with Montgomery High School’s Brandt Harer, who is ranked No. 4 in the country at 145 lbs.
It was the most-anticipated faceoff of the 2026 PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships held at Giant Center in Hershey on Saturday, March 7. Both wrestlers entered the faceoff as the most dominant and nationally ranked.
Additionally, they both had won two state championships twice before and were pitted for a third straight PIAA Class 2A title. The PIAA had to ditch its traditional format and saved the 145-pound bout for the end instead of starting at 107 pounds and following ascending weight order.
After a nail-biting faceoff, Bassett pinned the Rutgers University commit in the second period in 2:49 to make his mark and conclude his illustrious varsity career. With the victory, he became the most undefeated wrestler in Pennsylvania’s history and also surpassed Chance Marsteller as the PIAA’s greatest wrestler.
While the Kennard-Dale wrestler ended his high school career with 166-0, Bassett recorded an undefeated 170-0. Harer holds a 214-3 career record. Bo Bassett entered the 2026 PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships final round after dominating the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds with a massive gap.
In the quarterfinal round, he won by technical fall with a 17-2 score against Charley Paige. After controlling most of the match, Bassett again won by a technical fall on Jacob Mackie of Oley Valley in 58 seconds.
Bo Bassett Opens Up On His Approach To Weight Cutting
Bo Bassett once opened up on his approach towards weight cutting, stating that he is a team guy and is always willing to change his weight class if it helps the team. In an interview with Tech sideline, he gave an instance and highlighted that although altering weight is difficult, he does it for the team.
“Overall, I’m a huge team guy. In high school, for example, my freshman year we had Jax Forrest. He was a little bigger than me and wrestling at 20. My options were to ask him to bump to 26 or cut down to 13 myself.
“Our best lineup was him at 20, me at 13, and my cousin Keegan at 26. That year it was go down for the team; in past years it was go up. Really, I’m a team guy – I’ll do whatever the team needs. Nobody on our team, or probably ever in our team’s history, likes cutting weight, but if we need to, I’ll do whatever it takes for what’s best. Whatever the coaches tell me, I’ll do.” (27.14 onwards)
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