The Gary Curtis Invitational at Highland High School Saturday will showcase some of the best wrestling that southeast Iowa has to offer, including five area teams. Washington, Mid-Prairie, WACO, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union and the home Huskies will all be on the mat today in Riverside.

The Demons come into the day after dropping a Southeast Conference dual to Fort Madison Thursday 47-28. Washington has one ranked wrestler in their lineup with Aaron Boone checking in at No. 6 this week at 120lbs in Class 2A, according to the latest poll from Iawrestle.com.

Mid-Prairie moved over .500 on the dual season Thursday, now 7-6 overall after sweeping a River Valley Conference quad with Northeast Goose Lake, Bellevue and Camanche. The Hawks are led on the year by Owen Trimpe with a 17-4 record. Other Hawks with double digit wins include Mose Yoder and Kaden Meader each with 14, Mason Howe, Dom Shively and Terry Bordenave all with 12, and Landry Gingerich, Burke Berry and Quinn Callahan all with 10.

WACO dropped a pair of duals Thursday to Louisa-Muscatine and Highland. The Warriors have two ranked wrestlers in their lineup with Gage Samo No. 9 at 106lbs and Louden Huisenga No. 6 at 160lbs in Class 1A according to Iawrestle.com. Samo is 9-1 this season, Huisenga 18-3. Other Warriors with double digits in the win column this year include 13 for John McLaughlin, 11 for Drew Diers and 10 victories for Junior Quiroz.

This is the first event since Christmas for Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union. In their last recorded action they were seventh of 23 teams at the Fort Madison Invitational in December, led by third place finishes from Ty Scorpil at 120lbs and Russel Coil at 285lbs. The Wildcats have one ranked wrestler in their lineup with Kai Malone No. 12 in Class 2A at 220lbs. He has a 16-5 overall record. Other top marks for the Wildcats include Coil 20-2 on the year, Scorpil 19-3, Cole Storm has 15 wins, Jacob Nelson and Riley Kaalberg each have 14, 12 wins each for Ian Estudillo and Ethan Palmer, and 10 wins for Bowen Thomson.

For the Highland Huskies on their home mat, they come in after sweeping Louisa-Muscatine and WACO in duals Thursday. The Huskies have a pair of ranked wrestlers in Class 1A in their lineup with Luke Guseman No. 10 at 120lbs and Carlos Valenzuela No. 12 at 132lbs. Valenzuela is 23-1 on the season and holds the team lead in wins, followed by Brock Thomann with 18, Landon Bell with 16, Guseman with 14, and Jacob Hartzler and Isaac Kleese with 11 each.

Joining these schools today will be Alburnett, Cascade, Durant, English Valleys, Louisa-Muscatine, Mount Pleasant, Muscatine, New London, Iowa City Regina, Springville, West Branch and Wilton. Action continues all day Saturday at Highland High School.