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PCHS wrestlers drop first home match

The Park City High School wrestling team hosted its first home match of the season on Wednesday night, taking on the Ben Lomond Scots.

The Miners continue to focus on the basics, as many of the team members are first-year wrestlers. Against Ben Lomond, Coach Tony Pelegrin said the Miners took another step in the process of becoming a good team.

Though Park City dropped the match by a score of 23-15, Pelegrin was pleased with the team’s effort afterwards.

"Overall, I saw a lot of good things and I’m pretty happy with the results," he said.

Ben Lomond only brought seven varsity wrestlers to Park City, so finding the right matchups was tough. But after a few exhibitions between Park City teammates, the Miners were able to find a way to gain some experience.

"We had a lot of exhibitions because some of the wrestlers were wrestling out of their weight classes," Pelegrin said. "From the matches we had, I was actually pretty happy with it. Sometimes it’s hard to match the same quality of wrestlers in the weight classes. That’s kind of what we had here. A couple JV guys were wrestling varsity and a couple guys were wrestling up in weight class."

Though some of the JV guys struggled on Wednesday, Pelegrin said he’s glad they got the valuable experience and mat time.

"A couple of the new guys did some good things, but made a couple mistakes," he said. "Right now, early in the season, we’re still trying to keep the guys out there as long as possible. We want them to work as many moves as possible and try to get the feel for wrestling."

At this point, Pelegrin added, the Miners aren’t focusing on wins and losses. It’s all about working as much as they can to try to improve.

"Our goal, and I know a lot of coaches say this, isn’t so much the wins as it is working on some of the techniques they need to do," he said. "From that aspect, we saw a lot of positive things. There are a few things, some positions we got ourselves into, that we need to work on and do better."

Some of the older wrestlers on the team, including senior captain Josh Pelegrin and junior Beckett Ricks, picked up wins on Wednesday. Pelegrin, who normally wrestles at the 160 weight class, was wrestling Ben Lomond’s 170-pound wrestler. Still, the senior pulled off a 9-2 victory. Sophomore Jake Butler picked up a big win in overtime against his opponent, while Ricks picked up a 7-4 victory. But Tony Pelegrin wants Ricks to win bigger.

"Beckett wrestled an easier guy, so he actually needs to step it up a little bit," he said. "He’s working and trying to get down to the next weight class, so that sometimes affects a kid’s strength and endurance when they try to cut weight."

Earlier in the season, Pelegrin noted endurance and conditioning as a major focus for the Miners. On Wednesday, he said, some strides were made, but there’s still work to be done.

"Conditioning in wrestling is always subjective," he said. "You see the guys in the third period and they’re really dogged. One of them worked off his back for almost a minute, though, and that really drains your energy. Still, those were some pretty good efforts out there."

This weekend, the Miners are in St. George for a tournament. Then, after winter break, Park City will return to the mat at a tournament in Tooele Jan. 2-3.


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