Sometimes coaches like to divide their sports season into three shorter seasons: pre-season, regular season and post-season. For Tooele County prep basketball and wrestling teams the pre-season will end this week and the regular season will begin in January.

As the pre-season closes the two hot basketball teams in the county are the Grantsville High School girls team and the Dugway boys team. Tooele High wrestlers also are looking strong in pre-season tournaments.

The Grantsville girls have faced quality competition in the pre-season and are 7-2 with a game scheduled at Salem Hills on Tuesday and a home game against 3A powerhouse Carbon on Jan. 6 to close out the pre-season.

The Cowboys’ two losses came against defending 3A state champion Judge Memorial and 5A Spanish Fork. The Judge Bulldogs are 8-1 on the season with several victories over 4A teams and their only loss was a double-overtime setback to Highland. Spanish Fork is 5-4, but have played the best teams in the state including Mountain View and Bingham.

The Dugway boys are unbeaten on the season with a 6-0 record, but coach George Bruce says his team has yet to be tested. Once again they should run the table in region play and then have some battles against top teams when they go to the state tournament. The Mustangs will be tested on Tuesday night when they entertain Duchesne which is a top 10 team in 1A basketball. Dugway has several returning players from last year and seems to work well together as a team with stifling pressure on defense.

Tooele’s boys team will finish with a 6-4 pre-season record if it handles Juan Diego Monday in an 11 a.m. game in a tournament at Logan. The Buffs have used teamwork and have made some big plays to win close games. They should make a run for a berth in the state tournament. Region 7 foes Provo and Orem are both undefeated, but the rest of the teams seem to be on par with the Buffaloes this season.

The Grantsville boys team closes out the pre-season on Tuesday when they travel to play North Sanpete. The Cowboys are 2-7 with wins over Union and 2A South Summit. Bear River is unbeaten in Grantsville’s Region 11, but the other teams’ pre-season records look similar to Grantsville’s which bodes well for a shot at the playoffs for the Cowboys.

Wendover girls finished the pre-season with a 6-5 record and should make the state playoffs while the Wendover boys, 3-5, should be able to finish second to Dugway in Region 18 which would give them a berth in the state tournament. Dugway’s girls are 3-7 and will need to battle hard to make it to the state tourney.

The Tooele High girls are extremely young with few experienced players and are 0-9 on the season. A lone victory this year would be cause for celebration.

Tooele’s wrestling team has been exceptional in the pre-season and now faces tough competition in dual meets against Region 7 foes. The Buffaloes have five or six wrestlers who could place high in the 4A state tournament. The Grantsville wrestling team features two or three outstanding individuals.

County swim teams are slightly ahead of the other teams and already are into region competition. Tooele coaches are extremely pleased with the progress of newcomers to the team this year and the future looks bright for battling the top 4A teams in the future. The Grantsville swim team is just starting to build its program.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com