Grays Harbor College will host the NCWA Northwest Conference men’s wrestling championship tournament on Saturday at Sam Benn Gym.

The Chokers, who won the NCWA Washington State and Western Duals tournament championships, are a heavy favorite to win this meet for the second year in a row. Eleven schools are scheduled to compete, with the first matches beginning at 10 a.m.

The top-four placers in each weight division will move on to the NCWA Nationals in Allen, Texas on March 9-11.

Grays Harbor has eight wrestlers ranked either first or within the top-three spots in the NWAC Northwest, including Aberdeen assistant coach Jimmy Jones, a sophomore at 165 pounds, and Elma assistant coach D.J. Morrow, a sophomore at 184 pounds. Both Jones and Morrow are top ranked within their divisions.

Also ranked for GHC are: 1996 state champion Domenic Curulla, a 38-year-old freshman from Elma ranked first at 125; Josh Pine, a freshman from Las Vegas ranked second at 157 who is GHC head coach Phil Pine’s nephew and the son of former Elma head coach Kevin Pine; Kaleb Hafner, a freshman from Tekoa ranked first at 197; Hoquiam grad Gary Aube, a freshman ranked third at 197; Elma grad Brek McGoughy, a sophomore ranked first at 235; and, Joe Leal, a sophomore from Longview ranked first at 285.

Schools expected to send wrestlers are Washington, Washington State, Western Washington, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, Portland State, Idaho, Montana State, Montana Western and Montana Tech.