But Saturday afternoon at Smithfield-Selma High School, the 2010 Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference more than exceeded all expectations with one of the closest finishes in the league's short five-year history.

Qualifying six finalists in the first seven weight classes, West Johnston claimed three titlists and rallied past the host Spartans to add the tournament crown to its dual-team conference title, edging out a 144-140 victory.

Clayton, with six finalists and a tournament-leading five champions, placed third with 138 points, followed by East Wake (99), Southeast Raleigh (98.5), Knightdale (61), Garner (53) and Harnett Central (52). Central was the only team that failed to win an individual championship.

The conference team win capped a big week for West Johnston. The Wildcats clinched the dual team league crown with a 55-21 victory over Southeast Raleigh on Thursday night. It was West's third league dual crown in the past four seasons. The Wildcats are 31-3 against GNRC teams in the past five seasons and will graduate just three seniors. Five West underclassmen walked away with top-three finishes from Saturday's individual league championships.

"The standards of the West Johnston wrestling program are really high," said West coach David Prendergast. "There are physical, academic and social criteria must be met to continue to train with the team. It is not easy to make it through a season as a Wildcat wrestler and the fact that we finished the season with 40 student-athletes and graduate only three is a tribute to their dedication and a great sign for the future here."

The Wildcats, who entered this week's N.C. High School Athletic Association's 4-A dual team playoffs as the GNRC's No. 1 representative, entered the finals trailing SSS by eight points, 135-127, with the Comets just off the pace with 113 points.

Smithfield-Selma, which recorded a 3-4 conference dual record, good for fifth in the regular season standings, jumped out front with a strong start to the tournament, winning all 12 of its first round matches.

That effort enabled the Spartans to amass 35 points and soar into a surprising lead they would not relinquish until the final round.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, who qualified four wrestlers into the finals, they could muster just one individual title, that by 140-pounder Collins Creech.

SSS had two opportunities to forge a tie and/or win the team title, but saw title bids by Nick Tedder at 171 pounds and Mike Adams (215) turned back.

Tedder had the misfortune of facing Southeast's Elijah Adams, who placed fourth in the state at 171 pounds last season, suffering a 20-4 defeat.

Atkins dropped a hard-fought, 4-2 decision to Knightdale's Sean Mason, which enabled the Wildcats to sneak off with the team title.

Creech, seeded second, earned his berth in the finals with a first-round pin over Knightdale's Aaron Williams (3:22) and a semifinal stoppage of Southeast's LeVincent Clark in 1:17.

In the finals, Creech faced West's Johnny Stover, top-seeded in the weight class, and delivered a dominating performance in a 13-4 major victory.

Creech gave a takedown clinic in the opening period, building a 6-2 lead, then used reversals in the second and third period to cruise to the win.

With their six-pack of finalists, the Wildcats were confident they had the numbers to take the overall crown.

West, however, could only manage three wins in the finals, with those coming from Jose Gutierrez (103 pounds), Richie Burford (119) and Michael Jordan (130), leaving the door wide-open for the Comets and Spartans.

Gutierrez reached the finals via a first-round bye followed by a first-period pin of Clayton's Jacob Leslie in the semifinals. Gutierrez then put on a first-period clinic against Harnett Central's David Bullock, building a 9-0 lead en route to an eventual third-period pin.

Burford picked up his title by pinning East Wake's Scott Staples with one second left in the first period of their championship encounter, after earning berth in the finals with a first round bye and a 41-second semifinal stoppage of Central's Joey Vandeberghe.

Jordan picked up the final individual crown with an 11-3 major decision over East Wake's Charlie Manarino, closing the match with an 8-3 blitz, following a first-round bye, with a first-period semifinals pin of Southeast's Brock Adams.

Falling just short in their title bids were Frankie Jiminez at 112 pounds, Jake Young at 135 and Johnny Stover at 140.

Clayton was almost perfect as it won five of six bouts in the finals, piling up 25 points to pull within six points of first place in the team standings.

That meant the Comets needed a pin to earn those six points - four for winning the match, and two bonus points for the pin.

That chore fell into the lap of James Thrasher, the tournament's top seed in the 160-pound weight class.

But Thrasher was surprised in the championship match, 10-3, by second-seeded Nick McClelland of Knightdale, the Knight's lone finalist.

McClelland dominated the match, scoring a first-period takedown for a 2-0 lead. After allowing an escape to open the second period, McClelland quickly built his margin to 6-1 before being penalized for locked hands, then cruised in the final stanza for his title.

Garner managed only one finalist, that coming from Tyler Maher at 285 pounds. Maher posted pins in defeating West Johnston's Storm Stevens in the semifinals and Southeast's Ryan Harris in the finals.

Both falls came in the first period for Maher, who shared the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award with McClelland.

Prior to Thrasher's upset loss, the Comets had been unstoppable in the finals with wins by Luke Ludke at 112 pounds, Jarel Orr (125), Anthony Venero (135), Shane Johnson (145) and Oran Rose (152).

Ludke followed up a first-round bye with a semifinals pin of Damien Harrell before posting his championship pin of West's Frankie Jiminez, which occurred late in the second period.

Orr, seeded fourth in his weight, had the toughest road to travel in winning his individual title.

After disposing of East Wake's Azzam Dhamra with a first-round pin, Orr upset SSS's top-seeded Oscar Chairez, 14-8 in the semifinal, then polished off the third seed, Mike Baker of Southeast Raleigh in the finals, securing the championship by pin with nine seconds left in the second period.

Venero used a third-period surge to snap a 5-5 tie and defeat Young, 11-7. Venero scored a reversal early in the period and added a 3-point near-fall to build a 10-5 lead before Young managed a late reversal, trimming the gap to 10-7.

But Young couldn't hold on to Venero, who added a point to his lead with an escape.

Venero had pinned Smithfield-Selma's Greg Rollins in the semifinals after a first-round bye in advancing to the finals.

Shane Johnson earned his berth in the finals against Smithfield-Selma's Henry Johnson with a second-period pin of Knightdale's Ben Pooter and an 8-0 thumping of Harnett's Mike Murray, while Smithfield-Selma's Henry Johnson advanced with pins over West's Nate Baudoux and East Wake's Cory Estes.

But in the finals, Shane Johnson proved superior, building a 7-0 first-period lead en route to a 14-3 triumph.

Oran Rose gave the Comets their final title by beating East Wake's Connor Porter in overtime.

Rose needed only 18 seconds to take Porter to the mat and win the title.