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The Moffat County High School wrestling team has less than three weeks before it hits the mats in the state regional tournament.

Last weekend, the Bulldogs got a taste of what they will be up against when the postseason arrives.

MCHS (4A) placed fifth out of nine teams Saturday in Rifle, capping off the event with a 42-30 dual meet win against 5A Eaglecrest High School.

"The kids that are in the main lineup all the time wrestled well," Bulldog coach Roman Gutierrez said. "I feel we're right on track to where we want to be as far as conditioning and technique and stuff. We just have to get a couple more kids going in the right direction in a couple of places and get them picked up in a couple of spots."

The main lineup Gutierrez spoke of consists of sophomores Cody Nelson (103), Cody Adams (171) and Charlie Griffiths (130), juniors A. C. Crofts (119) and Halen Raymond (heavyweight), and seniors Jesse Breslin (152) and Troy Vernon (160).

Nelson went undefeated for the fourth consecutive meet, piling up a 5-0 record with three pins.

Nelson "is wrestling really well right now," Gutierrez said. "He's sort of been on a roll the last couple of weeks."

Griffiths, Raymond and Breslin worked their way through their respective brackets unscathed, as well, combining for 14 wins.

None of Breslin's first four matches - all victories by pin - lasted longer than a minute and 40 seconds.

"Charlie had a real close match with the Rifle kid," Gutierrez said. "They are always really close. Jesse wrestled well, I think he pinned just about everybody, and then he had a really good match against Eaglecrest at the end."

Vernon was pinned in his first match, but he regrouped to win his final four, three by pin.

"Troy wrestled pretty well," Gutierrez said. "He didn't wrestle very well in his first match against the Thomas Jefferson kid. I think he was ahead of him, got reversed, and put on his back and pinned. But, he's real sharp on the top. He has pretty good bottom. His weakest link is his feet, but we're working on that."

Junior Scott Mann, who earned a varsity spot at 145 in wrestle-offs last week, tore through the opposition on the way to a 5-0 record.

Mann's final three matches ended the same way. Victory by pin in less than two minutes.

Todd Stewart (140) and Cody Adams each worked their way to 3-2 records, while Ben Winslow (215) and Nate Moon (135) finished 2-3.

The two victories for Moon were the first for the Bulldog junior this season.

Crofts ran into some trouble Saturday.

The junior finished 1-4. Each of his losses were by pin.

The Bulldogs next meet is 6 p.m. Thursday at Eagle Valley.

Notes

Ethan Kinner (back spasms), Cody Adams (knee), Matt Linsacum (N/A) and Nathan Tomlin (concussion) sat out the event with injuries.

John Vandelinder can be reached at 875-1793 or jvandelinder@craigdailypress.com