A common preseason exercise for wrestlers approaching a career milestone is to pull out the schedule and count down the wins to get an idea of when they will reach their goal.

Caleb Hall’s countdown to 100 career victories started and ended with his first match of the season. And with his first meet coming in the friendly confines of DeFoe Gymnasium, the Dirigo senior didn’t want to waste any time reaching the prestigious benchmark.

Hall pinned Lisbon’s Tyler Bard in the first period of the Cougars’ first regular-season dual meet to become the 13th wrestler in school history to reach the century mark.

“I knew I was pretty close,” Hall said. “Getting it at a home meet is pretty special.”

It was the latest achievement for one of the most decorated wrestlers in the school’s history. Hall was a state champion as a 103-pound freshman, finished third in Class C as a 112-pound sophomore and was a state runner-up at 119 last year.

“He just never backs down from a challenge at all,” Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert said. “If there’s a tough kid out there, he wants to wrestle him because he knows he’s going to get better.”

No matter how good he gets, Hall probably won’t have enough matches to challenge Jon Smith’s school record of 153 career wins but he could reach the top three by the time the season ends.

Hall, who hopes to continue wrestling at the University of Southern Maine, is more focused on winning a second state individual title and leading the Cougars to their first team championship since 2007. To that end, he spent the offseason improving his all-around skills, spending two weeks at the J Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camp in Pennsylvania.

“I had to work hard and learn what it takes to get to the top,” he said.

He’s helped take the Cougars to the top in four of their five meets this season and led them to their first victory ever at the McDonald’s Invitational at Mountain Valley High School last Saturday.

Hall will be the first to point out depth has been the key to Dirigo’s success so far. All 12 of its participants contributed to the McDonald’s win, including 10 medalists, so they could surpass their own lofty expectations, Gilbert said.

“We went into the tournament hoping for top five in scoring and 100 points,” Gilbert said. “The kids were just outstanding, winning matches we didn’t think we had a chance to win. Only two of the 12 didn’t place and each of them won matches to add to the point total.”

Rebuilding the Mustangs

Monmouth coach Shawn Schultz has enjoyed seeing his young squad start to come of age in the first two weeks of the season.

“It’s fun. It’s exciting to see some of these new guys winning their first matches,” he said.

After a strong seventh-place finish in Class C last year, the Mustangs were gutted by graduation and transfers. With a roster of 13 consisting of six freshmen, Schultz wasn’t sure what to expect from the youngsters. But they have held their own at some of the biggest early-season meets, including the Fryeburg and Gardiner invitationals.

“We’re a small school going up against Class A and B schools we’ve been seeing at the Gardiner tournament and the Fryeburg tournament,” he said. “It’s a good experience for them. They get to see what it’s going to be like.”

Sophomores Tyler Lewandowski (120), James Gambino (132) and Stewart Buzzell (138) and freshman Alex Turbide (113) have shown good skills and the ability to learn from their mistakes.

At Gardiner, Turbide was runner-up, while Lewandowski and Buzzell both placed third.

Holiday mat-ters

Wednesday’s foul weather forced postponement of a number of meets around the state, including the tri-meets at Mountain Valley (with Dirigo and Madison), Oak Hill (Camden Hills and Mt. View) and Oxford Hills (Lincoln Academy and Mt. Ararat). Makeup dates have yet to be announced.

Even with the postponements, there will still be plenty of action before and during the holiday break. 

Wells hosts it annual Atlantic Invitational tournament on Friday with 18 teams from all three Maine classes and New Hampshire competing, including Mountain Valley, Oak Hill, Dirigo, Lisbon and Monmouth.

The Cony Duals features another large field, including defending champion Mt. Blue and Oxford Hills. Mt. Blue will be out for revenge after Cony rallied to an upset victory in last Saturday’s Tiger Invitational.

It was still a strong showing by the undermanned Cougars. Tyler Craig (106), Khalil Newbill (120), Kevin Moore (126) and Zach Faulkner (160) all won their finals.