ST. MARYS — Following a one year hiatus, the eighth annual Blue Devil Alumni wrestling tournament is ready to return.

The tournament, set for a 10 a.m. start on Saturday at St. Marys High School, will have representatives from 18 different programs.

SMHS head coach Jay D. Smith’s program doesn’t boast a top seed, but has No. 2 seeds in 160-pounder Peyton Girard and 220-pounder Cody Houser. Fellow tri captain Noah Wince is seeded third at 132. Also expected to place is heavyweight Ben Wagstaff, who is seeded fourth.

“This would be our ninth year if COVID wouldn’t have happened,” admitted coach Smith, who replied when asked about the favorite to win the team title “I really don’t know.”

Joining the host Blue Devils in the field are Doddridge County, Roane County, Chapmanvile, Man, Robert C. Byrd, Wahama, Poca, Parkersburg South Blue, Frankfort, Logan, Buffalo, Mingo Central, Liberty (Harrison), Lincoln, Winfield, Gilmer County and Huntington’s reserves.

“Roane’s got some pretty good kids this year,” added coach Smith of the Raiders, who have expected champs in 106-pounder Levi Holbert, 126-pounder Sam Richards and 145-pounder Lane Watson. “They are like the rest of us, it depends on the day with all the COVID and all that.

“All these schools are dealing with it right now. Wahama (and No. 1 seed Andrew Roush at 170) has a nice team this year. We got some decent kids as well. It will be interesting. It should be a good tournament.”

Doddridge County boasts top seeds in 132-pounder Riley Curran (22-1) as well as 15-1 heavyweight Adam Burnside.

Winfield leads the way with four No. 1 seeds — Jacob Schilling (113), Gavin Legg (160), Logan Howell (21-0 at 182) and 220-pounder Evan Fuellhart.

The other expected champs heading into the tournament include Liberty teammates Ryan Morgan (120) and Raiden Childers (15-0 at 152), Man’s Jim Green (138) and Chapmanville 195-pounder Ashton Kinser.

“This is kind of the point in the year where everyone kind of knows who your better kids are and kids who are learning and improving,” continued coach Smith, who also has Chris Andrew (120), Nick Longwell (126), Tara Scoggan (138), Isaac Mayle (152), Draven Beaver (170), Owan Velasquez (182) and Gunnar Luzader (195) hoping to make their way to a podium finish.

“We got some kids right on the border of being a kid who could be seeded and we got some kids we just expect them to do well. We’ve had kids hurt. We’ve had kids with the quarantine stuff. Barring anything crazy we’ll have everybody wrestling.”

Tickets at the door for the tournament are $5. The championship and consolation finals will run at the same time and are expected start around 4 p.m.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Blue Devil Alumni Wrestling Tournament

TOP SEEDS

(10 a.m. Saturday)

106: Levi Holbert (Roane), Ryan Hughes (Frankfort), Alex Short (Buffalo), Blake Henry (Wahama)

113: Jacob Schilling (Winfield), Ben Short (Buffalo), Caden Vaughn (Frankfort), Mason Burchett (Winfield)

120: Ryan Morgan (Liberty), Connor Lambert (Wahama), Khani Walker (Hunt), Iryll Jones (Frankfort)

126: Sam Richards (Roane), Carson Adams (Frankfort), Trevor Workman (CVille), Justin Dempsey (Man)

132: Riley Curran (Dodd), Russell May (Roane), Noah Wince (SM), Gerald Parado (Lincoln)

138: Jim Green (Man), Kase Stewart (Wahama), Nicco Petrozelli (Winfield), Alex Smith (Frankfort)

145: Lane Watson (Roane), Colton Ford (Winfield), Kris Sherman (Frankfort), Makiya Powell (South)

152: Raiden Childers (Liberty), Logan Roach (Wahama), Caleb Lloyd (Dodd), Jakob George (Buffalo)

160: Gavin Legg (Winfield), Peyton Girard (SM), Ethan Williams (M. Central), Luke Watson (Roane)

170: Andrew Roush (Wahama), Tommy Fluharty (Winfield), Matt Can (Hunt), Shawn Conrad (Roane)

182: Logan Howell (Winfield), Luke Martin (Buffalo), Logan Middleton (South), Job Proffitt (Lincoln)

195: Ashton Kinser (CVille), Daniel Priddy (Poca), Ashton Ooten (M. Central), Marcus Rucker (Lincoln)

220: Evan Fuellhart (Winfield), Cody Houser (SM), Noah McNeeley (Logan), Trey Ohlinger (Wahama)

285: Adam Burnside (Dodd), Zander Huffman (Winfield), Daylan Riley (Buffalo), Ben Wagstaff (SM)

NOTE: Championship and consolation finals are expected to start around 4 p.m.