The wrestling team took another step in their postseason journey and oh what a step it was. The Buckskins made the trek to Governor Mifflin High School on February 19th to take part in one of four District 3-3A Sectional Tournaments. The end result was a second-place team finish to Daniel Boone, 167-159.5, as well as advancing eight wrestlers to the District 3-3A Championship.

Eight total Buckskins may have reached the medal stand but only one managed to make it to the top of his weight class. Mukhammed Karayev was that lone wrestler, and he did his work in the 285-pound bracket. He started his gold medal march with a bye before ripping off back-to-back-to-back falls with the first two coming in a combined 105 seconds. Karayev needed 2:18 to claim gold, topping Garden Spot's Mason Musser in the finals.

Trent Ruble picked up the first of three silver medals for CV, doing his work in the 113-pound bracket. Ruble also received a first-round bye and worked his way into the championship bout with a standard decision over Ephrata's Noah Tlumach and a major decision over Oley Valley's Vincent Dick. His run ended with a loss to Wilson's James Garcia.

Luke Morley was up next at 120, taking silver after a finals loss to Gavin Richard (Daniel Boone). Morley earned his title shot with wins over Liam Kernan (Octorara) and Davis Keppley (Conrad Weiser) after enjoying a first-round bye.

Keaton Fischer made it three silver medals for Conestoga Valley after falling to Octorara 's Michael Trainor in the 145 finals. Fischer also had a first-round bye, starting his day off with a pinfall over Wilson's Dominic Delgado in the quarterfinals and following it with a 19-0 dismantling of Conrad Weiser's Branden Manderbach.

Abdoul Akala collected one of CV's two bronze medals, doing so in the 160-pound bracket. Akala's title run ended with a semifinal loss to Exeter's Nick Nettleton, but the freshman was able to bounce back with wins over Hunter Focht (Octorara) and Matteo Garcia (Wilson) to secure the bronze. He started his day with a bye and a win over Daniel Boone's Khyre Inman.

Conestoga Valley's other bronze went to Jonathan Lopez in the 189-pound bracket. Lopez also lost his title shot in the semis, falling to Ephrata's James Ellis. Lopez rebounded to take out Governor Mifflin's Jackson Schools and Cocalico's Turk Baum to collect his bronze. The senior started his tournament in the first round with a pinfall over Wilson's Gabe Napoli and followed by topping Muhlenberg's Tucker Bellanca in the quarterfinals.

CV finished with two fourth place finishes, one by Nate Kirchner at 172 and one by Luke Needham at 152. Kirchner started well with a pinfall win over Octorara's Braeden Wood but was tripped up by Cole Lang (Governor Mifflin) in the quarterfinals. The senior ran off three straight wins to land in the consolation finals where he lost to Garden Spot's Blake Weaver. Those wins came over Erik McLaughlin (Cedar Crest), Finn Strauss (Exeter) and Sam McCracken (Ephrata).

Needham came into the day seeded seventh at 152 and left with a fourth-place medal after falling to Austin Brass of Ephrata in the consolation finals. Needham followed the same path as Kircher, posting a first-round win over Toby Haldeman (Cocalico) before a quarterfinal loss to Daniel Boone's JT Hogan derailed his title hopes. Wins over Matthew Dipiero (Exeter), Samuel Moyer (Governor Mifflin) and Blaise Eidle (Wilson) setup the showdown with Brass.

BOWLING

The bowling team continued their postseason run with Jocelyn Ross taking center stage on February 16th for the Lancaster-Lebanon League Girls Championship at Clearview Lanes. Ross bowled well enough in the six qualifying rounds to sneak into the stepladder finals as the ninth seed. Her title run ended before getting started with a 190-139 loss to McCaskey's Julee Getz in the opening round of the finals. Ross posted a qualifying score of 1042 thanks to games of 203, 185, 152, 191, 154 and 157.

A quartet of boy's was up next, partaking in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Boy's Championship at 222 Dutch Lanes on the 18th. Ryan Muckle was the lone Buckskin to make it out of the qualifying round, matching Ross' ninth place thanks to his 1172 (158, 199, 198, 215, 211 and 191). Once in the final Muckle had the unfortunate pleasure of tangling with eventual champion Zach Wentzel of Elizabethtown, dropping that match-up 221-143.

Ethan Tardibuono missed the finals cut with his qualify score of 1037 while Luke Snader (912) and Josiah Casler (879) finished off the pace to bring their season to a close.