Zander Wilson of Williamson controls the action as he wrestles Rowen Humphrey of Southern Columbia during their match at 114 pounds at the District IV Championship wrestling at Williamsport High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Zander Wilson is just a sophomore and has already established himself as a standout at Williamson for its wrestling program.

As a freshman, Wilson won North Sectional gold, District 4 gold and Northeast Class AA Regional gold en route to reaching the state tournament.

He didn’t place last year, but he’s once again back and is again wrestling well. And he’s helping make people take notice of small school Williamson.

“Yeah, it’s pretty big. Not a lot of Williamson kids get to place and everyone from the school is pretty excited,” Wilson said.

Now Wilson is hoping to capture his first state medal at Hershey as the PIAA Class AA tournament begins on Thursday morning competing at 114 pounds.

“It’s pretty big. Last year I fell a little short, I’m pretty excited for states, I’ve been working at it,” Wilson said.

The Williamson sophomore is 38-4 this year and is five wins shy of his 43 wins last year. So far he’s only tasted gold at each postseason tournament. At the North Sectional he beat Wyalusing’s Isaiah Harvey by decision, 10-5, to win gold. At the District 4 tournament, he won the title with a 18-3, 4:48 tech over Southern Columbia’s Rowen Humphrey.

And on Saturday, Wilson beat Humphrey once again by tech fall, 18-0, 2:52, to win his first regional gold medal.

And winning gold at regionals was the first goal Wilson had.

“100%. This is one of my main goals,” Wilson said. ” I succeeded, which is great.”

Wilson was able to learn things at last year’s state tournament. The Williamson standout won his first match at states last year vs. Union City’s Van Ward by major decision, 10-1, but then fell on Day 2 of competition by tech fall to Bishop McCort’s Keegan Bassett, 23-5, 3:53 and by sudden victory decision, 10-3, to Trinity’s Camron Smith.

But he knows what it takes to compete at that high level against the state’s best. He took those losses and found positives to move forward.

“I mean keep my mental (state) high, take it match by match,” Wilson said. “I can’t be complacent with winning. Stuff like that.”

It’s what’s helped him stay at a high level on the mat this winter. He considers neutral his strength and keeping on head ties and hand ties while moving his feet. And his biggest growth last year was staying healthy.

“Health wise (my growth is) pretty big,” Wilson said. “I think I’m getting faster, stronger, little bigger. Mental wise, I’m getting better. Just stuff like that.”

Wilson will await his opponent in the first round. He will face either Cathedral Prep sophomore Mason Gregor (30-13) or Everett sophomore Tucker Smith (35-10). If Wilson wins that matchup, he’d advance to the championship quarterfinals against either Highlands senior Javeon Chambers (39-8) or Halifax junior Izaya Schickley (39-3).