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Steamboat Springs — The regional wrestling tournament - the gateway to the state championships in Denver - is more than three weeks away, but pressure is nonetheless picking up for Routt County high school wrestling teams.

Both Hayden and Soroco send squads today to the Western Slope League tournament at West Grand High School in Kremmling. There's still time to improve afterward, but for many area wrestlers, it is crunch time.

"This tournament is very important," Hayden coach Ty Zabel said. "It's important in gaining head-to-head advantages for the regional tournament. We want to get in there, do real well and get those head-to-head victories to help with regional seeding."

Hayden will be a long shot to win the tournament. That honor likely will fall to either Rangely, which soundly beat the Tigers a week ago, or Paonia, which Hayden has yet to match up with.

Still, the team is coming off one of its best weeks of the season. Four Hayden wrestlers won their weight divisions last week in a tournament at Rangely, and another finished second.

"I'm hoping that we have a finish this weekend very similar to last," Zabel said. "We ought to put several kids in the finals. If everyone wrestles to their potential, we can do quite well."

Soroco High School's squad also has high hopes entering the tournament. Rams coach Jay Whaley said four of his six athletes are potential medal winners.

Leading the pack for the team will be freshman Lauryn Bruggink, who this week became the first girl to be ranked in Colorado's "On the Mat" rankings as she landed at 11th.

"The toughest kid in the weight is Chad Terry from Hayden. Then there's a Paonia boy she hasn't seen yet, but she's beat everyone else," Soroco coach Jay Whaley said about the 103-pound draw.

Soroco will field a team made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores, so the long-term importance of matches this weekend may not have sunk in yet.

"They don't know what to expect," Whaley said. "But, they're good, hard-working and ready to go."