Westfield High School wrestling coach Chuck Hoskins already has begun scouting out potential state title competition just three weeks into the season.

After finishing fifth at last year’s state tournament, and entering this year’s dual meet season with a core of junior and senior wrestlers, Hoskins wants his team to be ready when it runs up against some of Virginia’s finest in February.

“We went to the Sun Devil Tournament in Virginia Beach because we wanted to get a look at the teams from the east that we typically don’t get to see until states,” he said. “We got a chance to wrestle most of the best schools in the state already. At this point, we’ve wrestled eight of the top 10 teams in the state and we still have Robinson [Secondary School] in January.”

While the December and January dual meets provide wrestlers with practice, the most important stretch of the season occurs in late January when district and regional tournaments begins.

To prepare his team for the postseason, Hoskins said he entered his squad into various high level tournaments, much like Robinson’s wrestling coach Bryan Hazard did this season.

Although the Sun Devil Tournament features many Virginia-based teams, Hoskins had the Bulldogs attend the Beast of the East Wrestling Tournament this past weekend at the University of Delaware to see national talent.

The Beast of the East features wrestlers from up and down the East Coast and includes national champion wrestlers, which provided a considerable challenge for the Bulldogs.

“That was a really big, national tournament and some of us haven’t experience that before,” said Stephen Aielo, a 145-pound junior wrestler. “I went 3-2 and didn’t place there. It’s just a really tough tournament.”

“The atmosphere of the Beast of the East is so different [than Northern Region tournaments],” said Derek Arnold, a 138-pound junior wrestler. “It’s against kids that are of a higher level and it’s more about technique and position. It’s tough, but great experience.”

Hoskins said the Beast of the East tournament wasn’t so much an attempt to try to win national titles, but rather get his wrestlers exposed to national-level wrestler to help prepare for the wrestling postseason.

“It gets you exposed to top level wrestling and puts you in a situation where every match is a tough match,” Hoskins said. “It’s a grind. You can wrestle five matches on Friday, then five matches on Saturday, and of those 10 matches at least seven are state level matches.”

However, the challenge of matching up with out-of-state teams is finished. On Thursday and Friday, the Bulldogs will attend the Metro Classic Wrestling Tournament at Hayfield Secondary School, marking the first Northern Region-based tournament of the season.

Westfield is used to being the top dogs in the wrestling scene, so going to national tournaments and being humbled is, in some ways, a new experience — one that wasn’t lost on the wrestlers.

Senior Brett Campbell, a 120-pound wrestler who finished third in his weight class at last year’s state tournament, said despite missing placement by one match at the Beast of the East with a 5-2 record, the lessons learned are more important than medals and ribbons.

“We’ve been exposed to higher level wrestling and even though we may not see those kids ever again, we gain a lot of experience,” he said. “You learn something about yourself at those meets. These are high caliber wrestlers and knowing you can be with them is a good thing.”

Now the team’s focus is on their upcoming dual meet season and preparing to defend their Concorde District wrestling title. Another goal for Westfield this season is to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish at states, and perhaps contend for the Virginia state title.

Last season, Robinson broke a 16-year state title drought for the Northern Region, but Campbell is optimistic Westfield’s team might be ready to stake a claim as the state’s best.

“Our goal since freshman year is to get a state title,” he said. “This team has room to grow and a [state title] is something we are looking to get.”

ralbers@fairfaxtimes.com