MARKUS GRIFFIN, in the top position, improved his record to 27-0 on the season in the 130-pound weight class to lead the Grafton Bearcats.

GRAFTON -- Coach Rod Auvil took his Grafton High School Wrestling Team to Petersburg last weekend to compete in the annual Viking Smash, where they posted a 5-4 record against most of the teams that will compete in the Region II Wrestling Tournament later this month.

In fact, South Harrison and Braxton County were the only Region II teams that did not make the trip to Petersburg last Friday for the two-day smash.

Grafton defeated Philip Barbour, 36-22, beat the X-Team (made up of reserves from several different schools), 48-36, whipped home-standing Petersburg, 48-12; doubled up the score on Moorefield, 48-24, and topped Frankfort, 47-30, for its five wins. Meanwhile, the Bearcats were losing to Liberty, 21-60, to Lincoln, 34-42, to Keyser, 11-69; and to Berkeley Springs, 3-69.

This 5-4 performance gave the Bearcats with a 10-13 dual-match record going into today’s trip to Parkersburg, and then Grafton will try to improve its 7-10 tournament record during this Saturday’s Big Ten Conference Championship Wrestling Tournament in the Lincoln High School Gym at Shinnston.

Individually, at Petersburg, Markus Griffin went 9-0, raising his undefeated record up to 27-0 on the season.

He pinned Nuzum of Philip Barbour, Raycraft of the X-Team, Seamon of Frankfort, Stearns of Liberty and Robinson of Lincoln. Plus, he received two forfeits, won a 15-0 technical fall over Rohrbaugh of Keyser, and also won a 7-1 decision over Marshall of Berkley Springs to claim the championship of the 130-pound weight class.

The other Bearcats taking part in the smash, along with their respective records were:

Eli Poston finishing 7-2 in the 285-pound bracket; the duo of Matt Marshall, at 160 pounds, and Nathan Streets, at 119 pounds, going 6-3; the trio of Steve Hurst, at 103 pounds, Briar Hickman, at 112 pounds, and Ritchie Powell, at 189 pounds, posting identical 5-4 marks; Jacob Dierkes winding up 2-7 at 145 pounds; Ryan Helmick turning in a 1-8 ledger at 160 pounds; and Jesse Twyman was 5-0, but he did not complete the nine-match, round-robin format.

Streets and Poston wound up with third-place finishes, and Marshall reached a milestone over the weekend, by winning the 50th match of his career.

A complete summary of Grafton’s action at Petersburg is featured below: