Marko Advances to Regionals

The District 6 Class 2A wrestling playoffs took place last weekend at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse. The Central Dragons took 19th place of 27 teams overall and advanced senior Logan Marko to this weekend’s Southwest Regional Tournament at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Five Dragons won their first-round matches and advanced to the quarterfinals. Alex Bowman (113) won 7-3 and Ian Crouch (120) 6-5. Brandon Holsinger (132) had a 5-3 victory, while Marko (145) pinned his man in just 1:23. Michael Fowkes was the final victor at 182 pounds with a 1:35 fall.

Other than Marko, all four first-round winners lost their next two matches and were eliminated from the tournament. In the quarters, Marko won by a 9-0 major decision to advance to the semifinals. After a tough loss in the semis, Marko rebounded with an overtime pin (5:49) to advanced to the third/fourth-place round, where he lost a tough 9-7 decision to finish fourth overall.

“We have quite a few underclassmen participating and this was an eye-opener for some of them,” Central coach Dave Mark said. “The competition is fierce and talented even at this level. We had five solid wins in the first round but only Logan survived after that. Logan had two falls and a major decision which was impressive and now can take aim for next week’s competition. His goal is to place at states and he’s off to a good start.”

Coach Marko was inducted into the District 6 Wrestling Hall of Fame before Saturday night’s finals.