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Since January, Moffat County junior Levi Weber has had this weekend on his calendar. He's run a lot of stairs and laps around the high school since then, too.

"Since I found out I couldn't wrestle at state, I really hoped to be ready for this," he said. "I missed out on the last quarter of wrestling so this is my state."

Weber tore his bicep during wrestling practice after winning his weight class at the Centennial Duals in Las Vegas. He'll return to the mat this weekend at the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Denver.

"The Rocky Mountain Nation--als are eight times larger than the state tournament," he said. "I've been working hard to be ready."

Weber will join four other Bulldog wrestlers, juniors Brice Boling and Jake Breslin, sophomore Drew Turner and Jesse Bres--lin, at the tournament. Moffat coach Roman Gutierrez was encouraged to see his wrestlers make the trip.

"To have a better year next year the guys need as much mat time as they can get," he said. "It's a little extra bonus, and they are basically starting next year this weekend."

Boling and Turner said the tournament is a combination of finishing off this year and starting next.

"It keeps us wrestling," Boling said.

"It's a huge meet, and you see some great competition," Turner said. "If you do well, it helps your confidence for next year."

More than 35 states will be represented at the three-day meet starting today at the National Western Events Center in Denver. It's common for the brackets in each weight class to be more than 100 deep.

"I want to be in the parade of champions," Boling said.

Eight Bad Dog youth wrestlers also will represent Craig in the tournament. Bad Dog coach Billy Bingham said he expected to see some of his wrestlers in Sunday's championship action.

"We used to go down there and go two-and-out," he said. "But I expect some of our wrestlers to get pretty deep in their brackets."

Devin Mosman has already won national titles in the Who's Bad and Monster Match national tournaments. If Mosman, who wrestles in the 6-and-younger age division, wins the title, he'll earn the prestigious Triple Crown of youth wrestling.

"This is by far the toughest national tournament," Bingham said. "If you think you're good, there's going to be somebody just as good there."