Cony assistant wrestling coach Shawn White, head coach of the “B team,” speaks to wrestlers during a dual meet Saturday at Cony High School. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA — The mat at your typical wrestling meet is a color clash: one team in one corner and one team in the opposite corner.

That was not the case Saturday at Cony High School.

The most intriguing team at Saturday’s dual wrestling meet at didn’t represent one school or even one program. The “B team,” as it’s come to be known, was instead a compilation of junior varsity wrestlers from the other programs competing.

Those wrestlers, who normally don’t get a shot at true competition got that chance in this meet. They did so against varsity wrestlers from some of the top programs, gaining valuable experience in the process.

“It’s all about mat time, and this is a way for these kids to get that when they normally wouldn’t,” said Cony assistant coach Shawn White, the B team’s head coach. “Getting that experience is really what it’s all about, and it means a lot for them to be able to get it outside of practice.”

Wrestling meets, regardless of where or when they’re held during the season, are all-day affairs. Starting mid-morning, they can go well into the late afternoon and often the early evening, making for long days at high school gymnasiums on winter weekends.

It’s even worse for JV wrestlers, who frequently don’t get any timeon the mats even during 10-hour days. That’s why, five years ago, Cony head coach Shawn Totman decided to create a team consisting of JV and independent wrestlers from the participants at the Cony duals.

“A lot of the kids that aren’t in the varsity lineup end up sitting around all day in these tournaments,” Totman said. “The idea just popped into my mind, ‘Why not make a team of those guys so those kids can get a ton of experience and a ton of wrestling throughout the day?’”

Skowhegan wrestling’s Landon Lee, left, competes for the B team during a dual meet Dec. 21 at Cony High School. Mike Mandell photo/Morning Sentinel

Independent wrestlers competed from Hall-Dale and Lawrence competed for the B team. The team had wrestlers representing Cony, Erskine Academy, Mt. Ararat/Brunswick, Morse, Mt. Blue, Oxford Hills, Skowhegan and Team Wolfpack (Windham, Westbrook and Gray-New Gloucester).

Team Wolfpack’s Amelia Brickel and Addison Leger (Windham) both competed for the B team at the 113-pound level. Leger said the experience she got from Saturday’s meet was vital in keeping her technique sharp — and pointed out that it put her on the map in an important way.

“It still counts as a varsity match, which is important because we have a record going,” Leger said. “We have an opportunity to get matches when we normally wouldn’t. … It was a good surprise for us to learn that we were going to get some good matches in today.”

With the JV wrestlers together on one team, of course, B team wrestlers were competing against varsity opponents. Although that made for matchups in which the B team athletes were almost universally underdogs, those showdowns, Brickel said, were still worthwhile.

“It’s very scary sometimes, but it’s a good way to get experience and also try out some of the new moves you learned during practice,” Brickel said. “It’s definitely a good way to learn through trial-and-error. Seeing better technique helps you to get better.”

The dual meet is arranged specifically for the B team to be able to compete. Eleven programs were invited to the competition so that the combined squad can be the 12th, allowing the B team to take on Madison, Mt. Ararat and Mt. Blue in one of the three four-team pools.

Dual meets could provide more opportunities for JV wrestlers to get experience in the future. The setups of such meets, Skowhegan co-head coach Tenney Smith said, is conducive to getting more wrestlers extra time in ways that tournament-style events are not.

“At tournaments, you just can’t do that; they’re seeded ahead of time, and the mats are all used up, so it’s really hard to slide in kids and get some extra matches,” Noyes said. “At a dual meet, you can those kids get matches as long as they’re close in weight, and you can sneak a couple in at the end.”

It’s a bonding experience, too. Although it can be “a bit weird” to coach wrestlers from different programs, White said, the team comes together over the course of the day. Forming relationships with kids from other programs, Leger said, is one of the best parts of the day.

“It’s good because you get to meet different people (in addition to) the same people that you practice with every day,” Leger said. “It’s important to do that and to learn from each other and support each other.”