They may not be on the same level as the annual NCAA Men's Basketball bracket but in central Pennsylvania you will be hard pressed to find a more sought-after bracket than the ones released for the District 3 boy's wrestling championships.

The championship march started on February 18th with mid-state grapplers scattered throughout the region for the sectional portion of the District 3 Championship. For Conestoga Valley that meant a trip Northeast to Shillington where Governor Mifflin was playing host to 14 other schools. CV sent 13 wrestlers, one in each weight class, and returned with eight medals, good enough to tie Exeter for fourth place in the final team standings.

Omar Vargas and Luke Needham collected the top CV finishes, each going 2-1 after their respective first round byes. Vargas did his work in the 114-pound bracket, topping Aden Reiter (Governor Mifflin) and Isaac Eidle (Wilson) before falling to Exeter's Richard Orfield in the final.

Needham snagged a silver medal for his second place run at 160, losing only in the finals to Governor Mifflin's Samuel Moyer. The junior managed pinfall wins over Romeo Grullon (Muhlenberg) and Scott Winter (Ephrata) that lasted a combined 71-seconds.

Two other CV wrestlers kept their season alive and will join Needham and Vargas at the district championship. Luke Morley was the first, rebounding from a 127-pound semifinal loss to ELCO's Steven Rosado, with wins over Timothy Porter (Cocalico) and Hunter Goff (Twin Valley) to earn his bronze. Morley opened his sectional action by topping Wilson's Miguel Herrera.

Abdoul Akala also worked his way to a bronze medal after bowing out of the 172-pound championship bracket with a semifinal loss to Wilson's Blaise Eidle. The medal earning victories came over Jackson Schools (Governor Mifflin) and Khyre Inman (Daniel Boone) with a quarterfinal victory over ELCO's Isaiah Angley kicking things off for Akala.

Tal Stoltzfus, Miles Acosta and Teagan Ruble finished the tournament with a win and reached the medal stand but missed the top four finish needed to keep their season alive. Ruble collected his fifth place finish at 139-pounds, opening and closing his sectional round with a win over Cocalico's Jalen Frederick. In between were losses to Ephrata's Tanner McCracken and ELCO's Landen Brubaker.

Stoltzfus went 4-2 over his six matches in the 215-pound bracket, capturing his fifth place medal courtesy of a 5-1 win over Governor Mifflin's Ethan Hoffman. The sophomore added wins over Peter Brady (Cocalico), Logan Wegman (Exeter) and Jamie Harris (Daniel Boone) to counter the losses to Garden Spot's Tyler Hurst and ELCO's Kyle Miller.

Acosta did his work at 145 where he saw his championship hopes dashed via a quarterfinal loss to Ephrata's Brody Musser. Acosta picked up his second loss in the consolation semifinal where he fell to Wilson's Matteo Garcia. Acosta bounced back to top Octorara's Ian Teufert and collected the fifth-place medal that came with the win. Acosta added wins over Muhlenberg's Vincenzo Cardell and Governor Mifflin's Reese Hohl for his 3-2 day.

Conestoga Valley had one last grappler make the podium with Camden Zoll earning sixth place at 285. Zoll opened and closed his tournament with a loss to Daniel Boone's Jordan Myer, the last handing Zoll that sixth place medal. His lone win came over Joshua Lis of Exeter with Governor Mifflin's Hunter Unger handing out Zoll's final loss.

The remaining five Buckskins found the trip to Governor Mifflin less season ending. Nick Horton's lone win at 107 came over Governor Mifflin's Jayleah Pletz. Townsen Bagley picked up his 121-pound win over Reading's Nathaniel Weiss while Bryce Bowman kicked off his 133-pound journey with a win over Reading's Brandon Otero. Andrew Stoltzfoos stumbled at 152, dropping two straight matches to close out his season while Melvin Stoltzfoos (189) was the final 'Buck to wrestle in the sectional round with his lone win coming over Twin Valley's Mark Minardi.

BOWLING

The bowling team kicked off the individual portion of the postseason on February 16th and 17th with the Lancaster-Lebanon League Singles Championships. Eight Buckskins took part in the tournament with only Jocelyn Ross representing the Lady Buckskins. She finished the six-round qualifying stage in eighth place, her 1085 tally dropping her into the stepladder finals opposite Penn Manor's Lacey Slaymaker. Ross dropped that head-to-head with Slaymaker, 202-156, slotting Ross ninth in the final standings.

For the boys both Daniel Subers and Ryan Muckle made the stepladder finals but combined for just one win once there. That win belonged to Subers who topped Cedar Crest's Toby Zombro 192-157 before falling to Elizabethtown's Zach Wentzel, slotting him sixth in the final standings.

Muckle held his ninth-place qualifying spot after dropping his opening match in the finals to Elizabethtown's Mason Moore.

Josiah Casler (25th), Jason DeChristopher (35th), Evan Zimmerman (36th), Mason Tardibuono (38th) and Ethan Tardibuono (42nd) completed the Conestoga Valley contingent.