If you’re not going to win your own wrestling invitational, then finishing second to a strong Centerville team is an acceptable consolation prize.

That’s how Mason coach Craig Murnan saw his Comets’ performance in Saturday’s 10-team James V. Horning Memorial Invitational. Centerville won the title with 253.5 points, nine ahead of the host team, which got four wrestlers into the finals and earned one championship, senior Thomas Danis’ win at 182 pounds.

“We wrestled pretty well,” Murnan said Tuesday. “With the level of competition and where we’re at right now, we were happy with our overall performance. We left a couple of matches on the table that, if we had won them, could have put us in the team title, but Centerville’s the No. 1 team out of the Dayton area. We knew it was going to be tight. The kids competed well. We’re at a good point in the season where we’ll be able to sit back and make adjustments.

“Manis had an outstanding weekend,” Murnan added. Manis improved to 30-6.

Mason’s other three finalists were sophomore Patrick Kearney at 106, sophomore Jordan Collins at 145 and senior Adam Quick at 285. Murnan found Kearney’s performance particularly impressive.

“He continues to have a good season,” the coach said of Kearney, who improved to 24-7. “He went up against a two-time state placer in a very entertaining match. He got the short end of the stick, but there were a lot of lead changes. He knows now that he can compete with the best in the state. He’s wrestling really well.”

Mason, the No. 2 seed in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Region 7 Team Tournament, was scheduled to meet Lebanon on Wednesday night at Mason. The winner is scheduled to meet the winner of the match between third-seeded Lakota East and sixth-seeded Edgewood in a quarterfinal match next Wednesday at a site to be determined.

The Comets also are scheduled to wrestle in a dual meet Saturday at Lakota East, which also will be the site of the GMC tournament on Feb. 2. Kearney and Quick are the defending GMC champions in their weight classes.

The Division I sectionals are scheduled for Feb. 15-16. Murnan believes Mason, the three-time defending GMC champion, will be ready.

“We’re trying to get one other weight class healthy,” he said. “We’re trying to get up to full strength and gear up for the end of the season. We’re a young team, but we’re happy with the progress we’ve shown all season. We’re trying to keep them mentally fresh and healthy going into the sectional, district and state.”