KNIGHTDALE - Senior wrestler Joel Potter said holiday wrestling at the Knightdale Duals beat the alternative - staying at home.

"It keeps me in shape, and keeps me busy," Potter said. "It's better than doing something like sitting on the couch all day."

The Friday-Saturday, nine-mat event had that effect on the many wrestlers present representing 24 teams at the fifth annual duals event hosted by the Knights. Five years ago the event began with eight teams. For the past three years it has become the largest dual meet in the Southeast.

"This event wouldn't be possible without the families that come and rally around it," Knightdale coach Alex Von Hoene said Saturday as his team prepared for its fourth dual match of the day against Ravenscroft. "I couldn't be more pleased with the way things have gone."

Potter, who won a third-round matchup against Southern Alamance with a rare defensive pin, said he thinks continuing to wrestle through the Christmas break will give the Knights a big chance to step it up against other teams in the Greater Neuse heading into the final stretch of the conference season. He didn't feel like his holidays had been cut short by the event. He said the competing alone keeps him wanting to come back for more.

"Just wrestling - it's a lot of fun," Potter said.

After three dual meets on Friday, and five dual meets on Saturday, the Knights (6-14 on the season) placed fourth out of the six teams in Division IV behind Garner, Leesville and Southern Alamance.

Colonial Forge took first in Division I with a 5-0 record, Orange finished second at 4-1 and White Knoll (S.C.) placed third at 3-2.

In Division II, Western Harnett finished first, followed by Southern Durham and Wakefield, and in Division III Clayton placed first, followed by Ashe County and Marion, Va.

Despite wrestling with several starters out for illness or injury, Von Hoene's pleasure came from seeing some of his younger wrestlers compete against solid competition.

"Julian Gilyard got his first win. He's making good progress, and so is Luis Nunez and Aaron Mitchell," Von Hoene said.

He noted by competing against quality programs his young wrestlers can grow and build into the competitors they are capable of becoming.

"If the only playground you've ever been to is the one in your back yard with a 6-foot slide, you wouldn't know what to do when you went to a theme park with a 20-footer. This gave our younger kids the opportunity to see what competition at a higher level is all about."

Other notables the coach mentioned were Potter, Sean Mason, who went 6-0 at the event, and Nick McClelland, who went 7-0 over the two days of wrestling.

Von Hoene said there were no soft teams at the 2010 Knightdale Duals - every team at the event came to compete.

"I'm just glad we had the opportunity to provide a quality wrestling opportunity to the teams in our area and beyond to help build our sport," he said.