Homer's Hurricane Mitch Wyatt may have finished up the regular wrestling season with a third place at the 4A state tournament, but he wasn't quite done with 2009 competition and took his game to Reno, Nev., where he managed to go 2-2 in four rounds.

Wyatt managed one pin and one decision 7-1, while losing two matches by decision 6-13 and 0-5.

Many Alaska wrestlers will face the same opponents year after year, but for wrestlers like Wyatt, going outside the state is a chance to see how his skills match up far from his home turf.

"I just wanted to see what the competition was like outside of Alaska. I know that expectations are a lot higher in other states, but I didn't know what that standard was. It really changed the world of wrestling for me," he said.

Wyatt came away from the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18-19 both humbled and inspired, looking to come back and take on the top tier in Reno in 2010.

Wrestlers from 86 high school teams competed in Reno, with 35 wrestlers from all over Alaska making the trip this year.

"I didn't get to wrestle the seeded wrestlers, but I got to wrestle some unseeded wrestlers that were really good. The seeded wrestlers I saw looked just like college wrestlers. They had a lot of the same technique and they went to a lot of wrestling camps," he said.

After just a taste of the wider wrestling world, Wyatt looks forward to next season as a chance to prove himself once again both at home in Alaska where he hopes for a state championship and in national competition. Wyatt wants to continue his wrestling career into college.

"I'm going to train hard in the off season, do some freestyle wrestling, work with Popeye and try and keep conditioned going into next year," said Wyatt.