CORRECTED: Columbia HS wrestlers give good efforts at state finals in Atlantic City

MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Columbia High School wrestlers August Katz and Oliver Kreizman gave good efforts at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s boys wrestling state individual championships at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Thursday and Friday, March 6-7.

Katz, a junior seeded 20th at the 150-pound weight class, lost a 10-2 major decision to No. 13 seed Luke Schotz, of Cranford, in the preliminary round. Katz then posted a 20-5 technical fall win over No. 29 seed Charlie Bacinsky, of Roxbury, in 5 minutes, 42 seconds in the wrestlebacks first round, before losing by a 16-3 decision to No. 14 Jackson Bush, of Delaware Valley, to end his run.

Kreizman, a sophomore, was the 18th seed in the 106-pound class. He fell to No. 15 seed Peter Trezza, of Middletown South, by a 17-1 technical fall in 2:39 in the preliminary round and dropped a tough 5-4 decision to No. 31 seed Johnny Emes, of Glen Rock, in the wrestlebacks first round.

Katz and Kreizman were the lone CHS competitors at the state championships, which consisted of the top-four finishers in each weight class from the eight region tournaments. Katz won his 100th career match during the District 13 tournament at Scotch Plains–Fanwood, where he took first place.

At the Region  4 tournament at Union High School, Katz took second place and Kreizman, as the No. 11 seed, took fourth place.

Editor’s note: This article was corrected. The region tournament took place at Union High School.