Published: March 03, 2007 12:04 am      

Link makes his mark

Penn Cambria’s Nathan Link reached another milestone on Friday afternoon, but it wasn’t his primary goal heading into the weekend.

Link became the school’s career leader in victories with his 4-2 decision of James Curtician in the quarterfinal round of the Southwest Class AA Regional Wrestling Tournament.

But the 130-pounder has bigger goals.

“I’d rather take the regional title than get the school record, but I’ll take them both in the same weekend,” he said with a grin. “I’ve got to take one match at a time, though.”

Link, who will have Chestnut Ridge’s Gary Pfahler in the semifinals, now has 133 career victories, moving him ahead of former Panther and current Northern Cambria coach Adam Farabaugh.

“It feels awesome,” Link said. “I’ve been working toward it for all four years. It feels great to finally get it.”

Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer was thrilled to see Link reach the record.

“It’s obviously well-deserved,” Niebauer said. “It’s nice to see a kid as polite and nice as Nathan Link to get something like this.”

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Marco’s milestone: Another milestone moment occurred in the semifinal round, as Richland junior Marco Pecora earned his 100th career victory.

It didn’t come easily for Pecora, as a bloody nose forced a number of stoppages in his match with Shady Side Academy’s Kurt Brendel.

Pecora, the District 6 champion at 171 pounds, will face District 7 runner-up Charlie Wonsettler of Bentworth in the semifinal round.

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Five alive, but barely: The first day was not kind to District 5 champions.

Of the 13 district champions that lost on Friday, 11 were from District 5. Northern Bedford advanced two of its winners to the semifinals in Tyler Chesney (119 pounds) and Ben Sollenberger (152) while Chestnut Ridge had Gary Pfahler (130) and North Star had Chris Lascari (145).

District 6 and District 7 each had one champion fall in the quarterfinal round.