The North Sectional tournament features numerous area wrestlers who are ranked in the state and all are looking to make runs to advance to next week’s District 4 championships at Williamsport’s Magic Dome.

But, to get to districts and further, you first have to place high at the tournament at hand.

A breakdown of the North Sectional tournament by weight today at Athens. All state rankings are rankings entering Friday.

107 POUNDS

North Penn-Liberty’s Bodhi Nickerson is ranked No. 15 in the state at 107 and is the top-seeded wrestler at the weight. He’s 22-7 and has a first-round bye into the semifinals and faces either Wellsboro’s Mason Green (15-12) or Wyalusing’s Logan Wood (22-14). Garret Parks (21-6) of Troy wrestles Towanda’s Mason Harbst (14-14) and Sullivan’s Maverick Pennella (10-12) wrestles Levi Vermilya (20-11) of Canton.

Nickerson took third at last year’s sectional tournament and is hoping to leave Saturday with a gold medal.

114 POUNDS

Williamson’s Zander Wilson is a favorite to win the North Sectional championship at 114 with a 30-4 record and he enters the tournament ranked No. 14 in the state. Wilson had an outstanding season a year ago as a freshman by going 43-3 and reaching the state tournament and he’s following it up with another tremendous year.

Wilson will wrestle either North Penn-Liberty’s Charles Aumick 914-5) or Sullivan’s Luca Zelewicz (14-7). On the bottom half of the bracket, Northeast Bradford’s Mason Alexander (26-3) wrestles against Isaiah Harvey (27-5) of Wyalusing.

Whoever wins the bottom semifinal between Alexander and Harvey will face Wilson in the final and that bout should be a good one for those in attendance. Alexander is ranked No. 20 in the state, which means fans could see a good matchup of top-20 ranked wrestlers.

121 POUNDS

Bryce Pequignot of North Penn-Liberty is 26-3 and is the top-seeded wrestler in the field as he enters ranked No. 10 in Pennsylvania this year. Pequignot will inch closer to 100 career wins as he is at 95 entering Saturday’s tournament. A 3-0 effort at the sectional will put him two away entering districts.

Pequignot is also closing in on a third consecutive 30-win season and will look to win his third straight sectional title. The Mountie will wrestle Wellsboro’s Conner Linden in the quarterfinals.

Troy’s Anthony Jordan wrestles Williamson’s Walker Hyde, Towanda’s Braydon Fessenden will wrestle Austin Jones of Wyalusing and Sayre’s Bryan Roof III wrestles Canton’s Carson Castle. Pequignot is the only wrestler with more than 10 wins in the bracket.

127 POUNDS

Williamson senior Hunter Simonds (29-8) is the top seed and has a bye into the quarterfinals where he’ll wrestle either North Penn-Liberty’s Aivan Whitteker or Canton’s Henry Proesus.

Elsewhere in the quarterfinals, Towanda’s Jayden Stranger (14-14) wrestles Wyalusing’s Bostyn McMicken (17-17), Troy’s Keagan Kerr (17-10) wrestles SUllivan’s Dylan Gilbert (8-12) and Northeast Bradford’s Hunter Comstock (21-8) has a bye and awaits either Wellsboro’s Vaughn Shannon or Sayre’s Amicio Lamanna.

133 POUNDS

Sullivan County’s Andrew Kapec enters the tournament ranked No. 19 in the state and is the only state-ranked wrestler at 133. He receives a bye with a 28-7 record and faces either Northeast Bradford’s Maddex Rooker or Canton’s Gavin Sharp. Kapec is a two-time sectional silver medalist and is hoping to break through as a junior and claim his first sectional gold medal.

He recently went over 100 career wins as well as he has 102 and counting.

Towanda’s Bryghton Yale (20-9) wrestles North Penn-Liberty’s Bentley Chilson and Williamson’s Kolton Putt faces Wyalusing’s Cole Patrick (33-2).

Patrick is also eyeing his first sectional title after taking two silvers and a bronze previously. A matchup between Kapec and Patrick for the sectional title in a matchup of two wrestlers hoping to win their first gold could be a great bout for fans to watch.

139 POUNDS

Towanda’s Hagen Jones is the top seed with a 23-7 record while Sullivan’s Wyatt Bagley is seeded No. 2 with a 24-10 record. Jones faces either William Chappell of Northeast Bradford or Mason Abplanalp of Wellsboro.

Troy’s Wilder Koch wrestles Wyalusing’s Griffin Sheldon, Williamson’s Kohen VanDelinder wrestles Canton’s Owen Moore and Bagley will face Libertty’s Logan Bitner.

Bagley took silver at last year’s North Sectional after not medaling the year prior.

145 POUNDS

Towanda’s Gage Evans (27-5) has a bye into the semifinals and wrestles either Wyalusing’s Reuben Kinney or Northeast Bradford’s Alex Gomez. Canton’s Tommy Preston (26-8) is the second seed and faces Williamson’s Ryder Dacheux. Elsewhere, Troy’s Logunn Heasley (18-9) wrestles Sullivan’s Chase Preston.

Preston was a bronze medalist at last year’s sectional tournament and his junior year is his best yet win wise. His 26 wins is six more than he had last year as a sophomore.

152 POUNDS

The 152-pound bracket is Jonathan Earle’s to lose. The Wyalusing senior is 32-7 and is ranked No. 29 in the state and will be a tough opponent for anyone to beat. He receives a bye into the semifinals. He has 107 wins so far and his 32 wins this year are a career-high for him as he is still eyeing a handful more this postseason.

Surprisingly, Earle has yet to win a sectional title after taking third and second in his career so far. Troy’s Hunter Watson is the second seed (20-11).

160 POUNDS

Canton’s Carson Rockwell is the No. 14th-ranked wrestler at 160 and is the lone state-ranked wrestler in the field. He has a bye into the semifinals and faces either Holden Patrick of Wyalusing or Tucker Evans of Sullivan. Rockwell is a three-time sectional medalist and is slowly approaching 100 wins for his career as he is at 94 entering today.

The other quarterfinal sees Northeast Bradford’s Kale Howland face Memphis Brockway of Williamson. That winner faces Towanda’s Reese Sluyter, a sophomore who’s 23-8 and seeded No. 2.

172 POUNDS

This field is as wide open as any in the tournament. No wrestler has more than 20 wins and the only with 20 on the dot is Canton’s Blane Wesneski, who’s 20-11 as a junior and seeded No. 2. The top seed is Sayre’s Jordan Brown (17-7). This field has no state-ranked wrestlers either.

Wyatt Kilburn of Wellsboro 914-5) wrestles Kolton McPeak (15-13) of Towanda and Wyalusing’s Conner Earle 917-19) faces Sullivan’s William Bogart-Rodriguez.

Wesneski wrestles Thomas Moon of Troy and Brown of Sayre will await either Liberty’s Travis Stubblefield or Northeast Bradford’s Kelton Raymond.

189 POUNDS

Williamson’s Steven Olson is having a great sophomore campaign. He’s 30-7 and surpassed last year’s win total by eight and counting. He’s also looking to make his first trip to districts after a sixth-place finish at last year’s sectional tournament, just missing on advancing.

Olson lost to Montoursville’s Gage Wentzel, ranked No. 2 in the state, on Jan. 31 with a pin in 2:24. That’s also his lone loss since Jan. 9 when he lost to South Williamsport’s Jayden Hamm.

Olson will be tough to beat. The second-seeded wrestler at 189 is Northeast Bradford’s Asher Kolesar (20-6). Olson will wrestle either Towanda’s Dillon Sbragia or Wyalusing’s Ethan Vanderpool while Kolesar will face Leland Pepper of Canton or Liberty’s Wyatt Nybeck.

215 POUNDS

Wellsboro’s Hayden Stevens is ranked 27 in Pennsylvania at 215 as he’s 24-3 this year. Stevens’ losses this year came in his first three contested bouts. He fell to Athens Brendan Cooke by decision, 9-4, Northeast Bradford’s Ben Ellis by decision, 6-4, and was pinned by Wyoming Valley West’s Gunner Giza in 2:21.

Opening the year 1-3 — a forfeit win was sprinkled in — is far from ideal, but Stevens has wrestled well ever since and is hoping for more success in the postseason.

Stevens wrestles Towanda’s Finn Brennan in the quarterfinals. Wyalusing’s Daniel Fox (24-11) is the top seed and faces Troy’s James Deakin. Liberty’s Skyler Everrets wrestles Canton’s Trapper Burr and Williamson’s Riley Rall (18-13) wrestles Sullivan’s David Lentz.

285 POUNDS

Luke Sottolano of Williamson is ranked No. 7 in the state and is the highest-ranked wrestler in Pennsylvania in the entire North Sectional tournament. He’s 34-2 and is the top seed at 285 and has a bye into the semifinals and faces either Towanda’s Dom Miller or Wyalusing’s Brenden Wells.

Sottolano blew past 100 wins in his career with 118 and counting and is coming off a silver-medal preformance at last year’s sectional tournament. He hasn’t lost since a 4-1 decision to returning state qualifier Eoghan Savage of Upper Dauphin on Jan. 10.

What does all that mean? That the 285 title is Sottolano’s to lose. In the bottom half of the bracket, Troy’s Reed Palmer (22-9) faces Sullivan’s Carter Reis (23-11) and whoever wins that semifinal will have a tough battle with Sottolano for sectional gold.