The faces of Salem High School’s wrestlers at the 2010 Division I state tournament will be familiar ones.

Salem graduates one senior after placing seventh at the twoday competition that concluded on Saturday, Feb. 21, with the Blue Devils scoring 77.5 points. No one stopped state champion Timberlane, which won its 10th straight state title and 15th in 16 years.

Zachary Hicks and Steve Comtois notched third-place finishes in the 112- and 171-pound weight classes for SHS, and the Blue Devils had six individuals qualify for the Meet of Champions on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Londonderry High School.

“Coming into the season, we had such a young team that I was kind of taking it week by week hoping that we’d pull it together,” said Salem head coach Todd Oljey. “It was really just getting them to believe that the stuff we were doing day in and day out was worth it – like the 2-mile runs and the long sessions.”

In addition to Hicks and Comtois, Ryan Bolduc took sixth at 103 pounds, Devin Dearden was fifth at 119, Cam Yergeau was sixth in D-I at 130 pounds, and Brett Pittera went 3-3 to earn a sixth-place finish and a spot in the MOC.

Oljey was particularly impressed with Pittera’s effort, as he earned his sixth-place finish while wrestling five matches on the second day of the tournament. Comtois fell in the semifinals by a 6-5 margin and is the only member of the Blue Devils to graduate this year.

“We’re happy in the way we’re progressing, but we know we have a lot of work to do. I look forward to them getting more experience and mat time in the offseason,” said Oljey. “We’re a young team school-wise, but they’ve been wrestling for quite a few years. They’re not young wrestling-wise.”

Oljey said there are multiple venues in the Salem area where his wrestlers train in the off-season, and training is critical to the Blue Devils’ chances next season.

“Everything up to the postseason is just practice. It’s learning along the way and peaking for the postseason,” said Oljey. “They have to come in with some sort of wrestling knowledge to get them the conditioning they need and the mat wrestling they need.”