The Gillette News Record reports the following...

The Gillette High School wrestling team will have an early ”very early” competition on Monday night, well before the Camels open their 2008-09 season.

The Camels will host an exhibition wrestling dual at 6 p.m. Monday at the CCHS North Campus gym against Thunderbird High School of Glendale, Ariz., a Class 4A squad that has won two of the last three state titles. The Phoenix-area team is wrestling exhibitions throughout the Rocky Mountain area as they travel to Denver for the AAU National Championships.

“We’re trying to get enough wrestlers,” said Gillette head coach Tom Seamans, who said the Camels likely will compete in 20 to 22 matches.

“I don’t know if we’ll have any or our state champions here,” he added, noting Tyler Juby is at a camp in Powell, Tyler Cox is at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., preparing for the junior world championships and Brady Burgess also is out-of-town.

The Arizona squad competed against Star Valley in an exhibition on Friday, which allowed the athletes to also see Yellowstone National Park. After Gillette, they are trying to find other matches against either Sturgis or Rapid City, Seamans said.

The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge, although donations will be accepted.

*Thanks to the Gillette News Record for this story.