Delsea's Reger looking to wrestling pinnacle

Eric Reger joined a select group with his fourth district wrestling title.

He joined an even more exclusive club with his second region title.

Now the Delsea senior wants to become a member of the most special fraternity of all: state champions.

"You look on the board, and there's five four-time district champions," Reger said of the list of top wrestlers in Delsea history. "If you add all the names of the two-time region champions and the state place-winners, the group gets more select."

Reger, the No. 1 seed at 152 pounds, will attempt to become Delsea's latest state champion during the state wrestling championships this weekend at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Wrestling starts tonight with preliminaries at 5 p.m. and pre-quarterfinals at 7. Tomorrow's action includes quarterfinals at 10 a.m. and semifinals at 5 p.m., with the championship bouts set to start around 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Reger is one of several South Jersey wrestlers who are considered top contenders in their weight class. That group includes 2009 state champions Rob Deutsch (33-2) of Eastern at 119 pounds, and Anthony Baldosaro (29-2) of Eastern and Taylor Walsh (32-4) of Camden Catholic at 145 pounds.

Baldosaro is Delsea's last state champion. He won the 140-pound title as a crusader in 2008, then transferred to Eastern and won the title again last season as a member of the Vikings' team.

Before Baldosaro, Donnie Fisch won back-to-back titles for Delsea at 135 pounds in 2002 and 2003. Delsea's Joe Alexander also won consecutive titles (103 in 1997 and 112 in 1998), and Larry Smashey won a crown for the Crusaders at 145 pounds in 1998.

Reger (30-3) is trying to join that group. He won his second consecutive Region 8 title on Saturday at Absegami. He also is a four-time District 31 champion.

Reger is 26-1 since going 4-2 at the Beast of the East tournament Dec. 19 in Delaware.

"I'm feeling smooth," Reger said after his victory at the region tournament. "I feel like I've been getting better and better."

Paulsboro's Joe Duca (38-0) is the top seed at 125 pounds. He was second in the state at 119 pounds last year.

Other high seeds include Gateway's Chuck Zeisloft (32-0) and Camden Catholic's Matt Sausman (18-1) at 119 pounds; Willingboro's Tyler Scotton (36-0) at 130; Eastern's Hank Stinson (31-3) and Willingboro's James Green (31-1) at 140; Eastern's Preston Keiffer (34-1) at 160, Paulsboro's Zach Greenwald (37-1) at 215; and Lower Cape May's Chaz Lear (28-0) at heavyweight.