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Steamboat Springs — All things considered, Hayden's wrestlers stacked up well against their league opponents Saturday.

Coach Ty Zabel said "every single one (of his wrestlers) was hit hard" with the flu bug before the Western Slope League tournament in Rangely. Despite some groggy heads, Hayden tied Soroco for fifth place out of the league's eight visiting teams.

Seven Hayden wrestlers finished in the top four of their weight classes. Coy Letlow's second-place finish in the 171-pound class highlighted the Tigers' efforts. Letlow lost to Paonia's Tanner Ridgway, currently the state's No. 2-ranked wrestler in that class, according to On The Mat Rankings.

Zed Wheelock (112 pounds), Mitch Doolin (140) and Jake Magee (160) each took home third-place league titles.

Russell Waugh (189), Mitch VeDepo (125) and Chris DeBowes (152) took fourth.

Paonia won the tournament and Meeker finished second, followed by Grand Valley in third and Rangely in fourth.

Zabel said the tournament gave some of his wrestlers, like Magee and DeBowes, who have recently moved up weight classes, valuable experience against league opponents. But with the regional match Feb. 9 and 10 in Palisade fixed on their radar, Zabel knows his wrestlers need to key in on the little things that will give them a leg up on opponents they have now faced multiple times.

"We're gaining a little each match and we're starting to put everything together," Zabel said. "We've done our drilling and know what we want to do. Now it's just mat strategy, changing styles for different wrestlers and putting on pressure in ways we know how - it's the learning game."

Hayden returns to Rangely on Saturday for the Panther Invitational tournament.

Basketball

Hayden's boys and girls basketball teams had a rougher go of it than the wrestlers. Both teams hosted North Park on Friday night.

The Hayden boys lost a close game, 50-49. The girls fell to the Wildcats, 60-38.

The losses put the boys at 3-7 overall and the girls at an even 5-5. Both teams played in Rangely on Tuesday night.

- To reach Dave Shively, call 871-4253

or e-mail dshively@steamboatpilot.com