One step closer

Two Columbia wrestlers have moved one step closer to the ultimate prize in high school wrestling -- the chance to wrestle for a state championship.

One has been a career wrestler, the other has been wrestling for just two years. Meet Columbia's two regional qualifiers -- seniors Joey Ronca and Jake Sentz. They medaled at the two-day District Three Class AA championships at the old Hersheypark Arena. Sentz, the second year grappler placed third at 285 pounds to continue his season. Ronca, the career wrestler, settled for fourth place at 135 pounds.

There were seven Columbia wrestlers who made the trek to Chocolatetown and only one other wrestler, John Markley (130) made it to the second day of competition.

Sentz brings home the bronze medal following a pin in 2:28 over Tyler Unger of Boiling Springs in the third place bout. Sentz (27-16) started off  the championships on a positive note Friday morning, showing Malcolm White of Wyomissing the lights in 3:24, putting him into the quarter-finals against Milton Hershey's Chris Ramirez. It was a quick ending for the Columbia wrestler, who was pinned by the Spartan wrestler in just 13 seconds.
To keep his goal of reaching the regionals alive, Sentz had to work his way back through the consolation bracket. He started that remarkable run off by pinning Dakota Hoagland of Halifax in just 81 seconds. His next victim was Nic Aguliar of Biglerville and Sentz moved on with another fall in 2:58.
He was now in a position to medal and moved into the third place bout with a 9-6 win over Raul Leyva of Littlestown. The two had split their previous meetings at the Hanover Duals back in December and at last week's sectional tournament. The third time was a charm for Sentz.

Ronca settled for fourth place at 135 after falling for the second time in the championships to Tyler Thumma of Boiling Springs in the third place bout. Thumma scored a 14-3 major decision over Ronca.
While placing at districts was a highlight for the Tide senior, he also recorded a personal milestone in the opening round of the championships against Hamburg's Bryan Weidenhammer. A pin in 4:14 over the Hamburg wrestler was Ronca's 100th career win. It was also the third time this season that Ronca (36-8) had beaten Weidenhammer.
That put Ronca, the newest member of Columbia's century club, into his first match with Thumma. The Bubbler wrestler was at his best, scoring a pin in 3:44.
Now in the consolation bracket, Ronca had a tough first match against Robbie Moretz of Halifax, scoring a 5-4 win. Ronca continued his march toward the medal stand with a dominating 14-2 major decision over Sean Emerich of Kutztown and followed that with another major decision by a 12-2 score over Noah Blascone of Bermudian Springs.
That win set the stage for a rematch with Thumma, with third place on the line.

At 130 pounds, Markley fell short in his bid to get in the medal round when he lost to York Suburban's Kyle Arnold in the third round of consolations.
Markley opened the championships with a a second period pin over Kyle Christianson of Kutztown in 3:36, but was the victim of a tech fall in the quarter-finals to Joe Spisak of Boiling Springs, 16-0, in 2:41. Now in the consi round, Markley stayed alive for a match by pinning Annville-Cleona's Seth Lehman in 4:35.

The other Columbia wrestlers never made it to the second day.

At 119, Derek Zercher easily won his first round bout with Annville Cleona's Tim Renninger by a 13-6 score to advance to the quarter-finals. Zercher lasted 70 seconds in his next match in which he was pinned by Pete Renda of Boiling Springs and then was eliminated from the tournament when he lost a 13-9 decision to Wyomissing's Cody Rank.

At 140, Jordon Halter, who will probably be the next Columbia wrestler to reach the 100 win plateau lost a tough 6-5 decision in the opening round to Zeb Sheaman of Tulpehocken by a 6-5 score and then saw his sophomore season end when he was pinned by Sam Rhoads of Boiling Springs in 2:33.

At 160, sophomore Nate Warner lost a 3-0 decision in his opening match to Pequea Valley's Mitch Ball and then was eliminated following an 11-2 major decision loss to Schuylkill Valley's Ryan Maurer.

At 215, senior Brandon Felus saw his wrestling career end after losing to Dylan  Powell of Juniata in the opening round by a 6-2 score and then suffered a 13-2 major decision loss to Sam Matter of Boiling Springs in the consolation round.

The regional championships, featuring wrestlers from Districts 1, 3 and 11 begins Friday night at Wilson High School. The top five finishers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.