The Pleasant Grove Vikings are scheduled to open their new wrestling season this weekend with a trip to Fillmore for the Ironman Duals.

"We go there every year, because we're guaranteed 10 dual matches," said Pleasant Grove coach Brock Moore. "Every one of those duals are going to be hard. That invitational will feature the toughest teams from 1A up to 5A."

The Vikings have 45 grapplers contesting for the privilege of competing as varsity representatives at the two-day meet.

Moore said, "We lost 15 seniors to graduation last year. Some of those young men will be coming back to help coach at practices. Wrestling is just in their blood. They help make the Pleasant Grove wrestling program what it is."

The coach pointed out "we have back only two guys who wrestled varsity last year. They are Brock Nicholes and Alex Nicholes. They can stand up to anybody. They don't let anything discourage them. They say nothing at practice; they just get to work."

Moore said his young wrestling team has been involved with two-a-day practices, "and sometimes three-a-day practices."

When Pleasant Grove opens the Region 4 schedule in December, it will find the league a little bit different from what it was last year. This year, the Lehi Pioneers have replaced the Mountain View Bruins in the region line-up. The Bruins have been placed in Region 7, Utah County's 4A league.

Region 4 wrestling still promises to be strong overall. Under a new coach this year, the Lone Peak Knights will be bringing back a lot of talent that they had last year.

American Fork is returning five state wrestling veterans. Spanish Fork is in a rebuilding mode, but their up-and-coming talent are said to show much promise for the next two years. Lehi is bringing a lot of experienced wrestlers with it into its new league.

Moore said his assistants this year are Leo Biggs, Kelly Sanderson and Chris Burton.