Fischer is second, two others advance

The wrestling season at Columbia High School continues this week as three wrestlers took another step toward a possible state title.
The Tide's Marcus Fischer, Jordon Halter and Derek Zercher all qualified for regionals this weekend at Wilson High School following top five finishes at this weekend's District Three Class AA championships at Hersheypark Arena.
Fischer was second at 285, Halter finished third at 135 and Zercher was a fifth-place finisher at 119.
Fischer, 31-10, advanced easily to the finals at5 285 pounds where he lost to Tylor Unger of Boiling Springs, 6-2. To get to the finals, Fischer, with a first round bye, opened with a 10-1 major decision over Lancaster Catholic's Evan Schnader. Now in the semifinals, Fischer made quick work of Adam Prohaska of Halifax with a pin in 1:28.
Halter, now 35-4, grabbed the bronze medal with a pin of Damon Becker of Bermudan in 2:39.
The Columbia junior opened districts pinning Kyle Dierolf of Oley Valley in 1:34 and followed that with a 10-6 win over Donny Peters of Susquenita. In the semifinals, Halter race into a major obstacle in Peter Renda of Brandywine Heights. Renda scored a 14-4 major decision over Halter.
Needing a win to medal, Halter got it with an 8-7 win over Andrew Mellot of Boiling Springs.
At 119, Zercher settled for fifth place when he scored a 4-2 sudden victory win over Colby Albright of Susquenita.
Zercher won his first won his first bout over Lancaster Catholic's Raul Gonzalez by a 4-3 score. Zercher then went to the consolation round when he lost 15-7 to Bryan Varra of Milton Hershey. He started his comeback toward a medal with a pin in 4:06 of Colby Starner of Bermudian and then beat Zach Huss of Newport, 6-4. That win put him into the medal round where he lost via a tech fall to Trevor Hernandez of Biglerville.
Columbia took seven wrestlers to districts. A fourth grappler, John Markley just missed advancing when he lost at 152 pounds to Bruce Mullen of Newport, 14-8. Had Markley won that bout, he would have advanced as well.
Others competing were Byron Germer, Bryan Flory and Josh Elliot.