Rune Lawrence looking to make history this weekend at PIAA wrestling championships
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — One of Western Pennsylvania's best all-time high school wrestlers has a chance to make history this weekend in Hershey.
Lawrence, a standout wrestler and West Virginia University recruit, has won three state championships in his first three tries and is looking to add his name to the history books.
Last month, Lawrence joined a short list of 32 student athletes to win four WPIAL wrestling titles.
If he wins gold this weekend in Hershey, he'll become just the 13th wrestler in state history to win four PIAA titles.
Wrestling roots run deep for Lawrence family
Thayne and Rune Lawrence grew up in rural Fayette County, products of hard-working parents.
"They have an old-school work ethic," Frazier High School wrestling coach Buck Watkins said. "Their dad works in the mill, mom works in education and they live on a farm. That work ethic has really pushed them. You can't teach that."
Thayne Lawrence started wrestling first while his younger brother watched. Well, sort of.
"I don't know if it was watching as much as us wrestling each other and beating the crap out of each other," Rune Lawrence said. "But no, it was honestly fun getting to watch him succeed and now he gets to sit back and do the opposite and watch me."
Family members and coaches could tell from a young age that both boys were talented, especially when they wrestled each other.
"I used to tell Thayne all the time, 'Little brother, he's gonna put it on you someday,'" said Watkins.
"Yeah, he had the upper hand sometimes, but I cheated a lot," said Rune Lawrence. "Whatever was around, he would get hit with if I was losing. So, it was never a fair fight."
Neither brother needed any foreign objects when it came to wrestling in high school. Thayne Lawrence, who now wrestles at Lehigh University, won four WPIAL titles from 2017 through 2020 before his younger brother came along and won four more.
"Rune is a little bit meaner," said Watkins. "He just wants to pin you."
"I was talking to the one dude who was reporting after I won regionals and he asked me if I got tired of pinning people," Rune Lawrence said. "I just looked at him and said, 'Isn't that the whole goal of wrestling?'"
That is, in fact, the whole goal. And this weekend, Rune Lawrence will be looking for even more pins when he wrestles for his fourth straight PIAA championship.
"We're in the best wrestling state in the country and sometimes I watch Rune wrestle and he just makes it look easy," said Watkins.
It might not be so easy in Hershey this weekend. But win or lose, coach Watkins sees the big picture when it comes to the Lawrence brothers.
"For my son to be around somebody like that means a lot more to me than a state title," Watkins said. "There are things that I see in both these boys that I want to instill in my son, and that's more important to me."
Rune Lawrence starts his quest for a fourth state championship on Thursday morning.
