The Hopewell High School wrestling team made its debut at the Powerade Christmas Tournament and finished a respectable 15th in the 44-team field.

"I actually had people ask me 'Are you sure you want to do this?'" Hopewell coach Jason Martsolf said. "Powerade is one of the strongest tournaments in the country and I wanted to see how we handled the competition. I'm very pleased with the result.

"We were 10th in the team standings after the first session, then entered the second day in eighth place. We dropped to 15th by the end of the tournament, but I'm very pleased with our performance. My goal was to finish in the middle of the pack and we did better than that."

Hopewell had three wrestlers earn place-winner status by finishing among the top eight in their weight classes, including Matt Hundenski, who was third at 160 pounds.

"Matt's win in the consolation for third place gave him 114 career victories," Martsolf said. "He now owns the school record for career wins and still has two months to go. Chris Jodikinos [a 1991 graduate] previously held the record with 113 wins."

Hundenski's only setback in the two-day tournament was a 5-0 semifinal loss to Benton's Eric Hess. He battled back to place third with a 3-1 overtime victory against Penn-Trafford's Trevor Gibson.

"I didn't know what to expect," Martsolf said. "I think we did a nice job."

Hopewell's other two place-winners were Brian Foy and Brandon Fedorka. Foy placed eighth at 171, while Fedorka was seventh at 215.

"We had three place-winners and a couple others who fell a win short of placing," Martsolf said.

West Allegheny and South Side Beaver were also participants in the Powerade Tournament. Both had two place-winners.

Aaron McKinney placed fifth at 152 for West Allegheny, while Indians teammate Troy Reaghard finished seventh.

"I was hoping to have a few more place-winners," West Allegheny coach Mike Johnson said. "We could have done things better, but I'm still happy with our performance. We have to keep improving."

David Demor finished sixth at 145 for South Side Beaver, while Rams teammate Nathan Reckner was seventh at 103.

Hopewell, West Allegheny and South Side Beaver will meet again at the Midwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, which will take place beginning tomorrow at 4:15 p.m. at Moon Area High School.

Hopewell is the defending team champion. West Allegheny won the title in 2008 and South Side Beaver won in 2007.

"I expect it to be a battle between the three of us for the team title," Martsolf said. "My goal is always to be one up on the previous year. The only way we can do that is to win a second straight title."

Hopewell has four returning champions, including the trio that placed at Powerade. Hundenski is a two-time MAC finalist and one-time champion. Foy and Fedorka are one-time champs, along with Tim Dusch.

"We used a pool format last year," Johnson said. "I'm hoping we use the same format this year. It allows each kid to wrestle more matches. That gives everybody more experience."

West Allegheny has two returning champions, McKinney and Reaghard. Reaghard is a two-time champion.

"We got everybody back from the football team one week before the Powerade Tournament," Johnson said. "The late start has slowed our progress, but we should improve as the season goes on."

South Side Beaver's lineup features Demor, Reckner and Colin Checkan, who fell one win short of placing at Powerade.

Demor is a defending champion, while Checkan is a two-time runner-up.

Also entered in the 13-team field are Montour, Freedom, Ambridge, Center, Blackhawk, Moon, Laurel, Mars, Summit and Beaver.

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