HERSHEY, Pa. -- Derry Area's Jimmy Gulibon, Franklin Regional's Nico Megaludis, Connellsville's Nate Gaffney and Shady Side Academy's Frank Martellotti have experienced the exhilaration of winning a PIAA wresting title.

All four enter the PIAA championships, which begin today at the Giant Center, with hopes of experiencing that feeling again.

Gulibon, Megaludis and Gaffney are among eight returning PIAA champions in the Class AAA tournament. Martellotti is among nine returning champions in Class AA.

"The competition I faced in the WPIAL tournament was tougher than last year, so I'm expecting my bracket at states to be stronger," said Gulibon (32-1), a sophomore who moved to 112 pounds after winning the 103-pound title last year.

"I just have to do my best and hope that it's good enough for another title."

Megaludis (32-0), a junior, won the 112-pound title last year after placing third at 103 as a freshman. He has won 80 consecutive matches, dating to the 2008 PIAA tournament.

"The PIAA tournament is what I've been waiting for," Megaludis said. "You work all year with the goal of wrestling in the state tournament. I'm ready to go."

Gaffney (40-2) is the defending PIAA champion at 215. He has a chance to become Connellsville's fifth two-time state champion.

"I've been waiting for this weekend since [competing in] Hershey last year," Gaffney said. "This individual tournament is about me making a statement. I want to show people that last year wasn't a fluke, and that I deserved the gold medal.

Martellotti (45-2), a 130-pound senior, won a PIAA Class AA title at 103 as a freshman in 2007, but hasn't won since. He placed third the past two years at 112 and 130.

"My only concern is to get back to the top of the winners platform," Martellotti said. "That's been my goal since I won as a freshman. I have to prove that my freshman year was no fluke."

Shady Side Academy's Matthew Cunningham and Hempfield's Paul Bewak are also hoping to experience the joy of winning a gold medal. Both were PIAA finalists last year, but both had to settle for silver after losing in the final.

Cunningham (44-4), a 171-pound senior who has won four WPIAL Class AA titles, lost in the PIAA 160-pound final last year to a wrestler he had defeated earlier in the season.

"I was so close last year," Cunningham said. "It was such a disappointment to lose in the finals. My goal is to make sure that doesn't happen again. I've been working hard to get to the top of the podium."

Bewak (34-6), a junior who lost in the PIAA Class AAA 103-pound final last year, has followed Gulibon to 112.

"Paul knows what it takes to get to the state finals," Hempfield coach Vince DeAugustine said. "He has worked very hard with the goal of getting back to the finals again."

Derry's Travis Shaffer and Shady Side Academy's Geoff Alexander are two-time PIAA place-winners who have yet to reach the final. Both are determined to take that step this year.

Shaffer (29-3), a junior, is a two-time WPIAL Class AAA champion who placed fifth in the PIAA the past two years.

"I want to win it this year, but I realize that my bracket is one of the toughest in Class AAA," Shaffer said. "I know I can do it. I just have to be mentally prepared."

Alexander (31-3), a junior, is a three-time WPIAL Class AA champion who placed fifth and sixth in his two previous PIAA appearances.

"Last year, it was a little rough going up to states," Alexander said. "This year, I'm not going to let that happen. I want to come home a champion."

Shaffer will be joined in the championships by his cousin Eric Shaffer, a 189-pound senior at Latrobe who won a WPIAL title last week.

"It's great to have both of us win WPIAL titles," Eric Shaffer said. "I'm at a loss for words. Last year, I came up one win short of a PIAA berth. To come back and win it all feels so good. It's what I worked for all year."

Fourty-two wrestlers from the WPIAL are entered in the PIAA Class AAA tournament, while 29 are in the Class AA field. Both tournaments begin today and end Saturday.

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