The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is set to host the 2014 Southern Scuffle, presented by Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling. Action takes place on Jan. 1-2 in the McKenzie Arena on the campus of UTC.
This is the third edition of the Southern Scuffle in the Scenic City and the 11th year of the tournament overall. It moved to Chattanooga from Greensboro, N.C., prior to the 2012 event.
Doors open at 8:00 a.m. (E.S.T.) on both days with action beginning at 9:00 a.m. Tickets are on sale now on GoMocs.com and start at $15 per day for general admission. New for this year is reserved seating for all seats below the Gold Circle. Reserved seats are $25 per day or $40 for a two-day pass.
PARTICIPATING TEAMS
There are 34 teams in the field, including 10 of the top 25 in the current Intermat team rankings. The ranked teams are No. 1 Penn State, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Cornell, No. 12 Iowa State, No. 13 Missouri, No. 17 Virginia, No. 18 Pittsburgh, No. 21 Oregon State and No. 22 Stanford.
Four other teams finished in the top-25 at last year's NCAA Championships, including Central Michigan (18th), The Citadel (20th), North Carolina (22nd) and Kent State (24th).
The remaining field features the Mocs, along with Air Force, American, Appalachian State, Arizona State, Army, Boston, Bucknell, Campbell, Chattanooga, Cleveland State, Drexel, Duke, Hofstra, Navy, N.C. State, Northern Colorado, Ohio, Old Dominion, Penn and South Dakota State.
ABOUT DEFENSE SOAP
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ABOUT FLIPS WRESTLING
Flips Wrestling is part of the Flips Audio brand of headphones. This unique design allows for individuals to enjoy their audio devices themselves, or flip the headphones out for an amplified sound. Flips Wrestling markets to the unique uses of intense training. For more information on Flips Wrestling, visit www.flipswrestling.com. Flips Wrestling is proud to be a Presenting Partner of the 2014 Southern Scuffle!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Wednesday, January 1st
8:00 a.m. - Doors open for spectators
9:00 a.m. - Championship Round of 64
12:00 p.m. - Championship Round of 32 and 1st Round of Consolations
3:00 p.m. - 2nd Round of Consolations
5:45 p.m. - Championship Round of 16 - 3rd Round of Consolations
Thursday, January 2nd
8:00 a.m. - Doors open for spectators
9:00 a.m. - Championship Quarterfinals
11:30 a.m. - Consolation Round 5
12:30 p.m. - Consolation Round 6
1:30 p.m. - Championship Semifinals and Consolation Quarterfinals
3:30 p.m. - Consolation Semifinals
5:00 p.m. - Flips Wrestling Clinic, featuring Jordan Oliver (Maclellan Gym)
7:00 p.m. - Championship Finals and Medal Matches
CHATTANOOGA PROBABLE LINEUP:
125: Byron Smith (Fr. - 4-6)
133: No. 17/15 Nick Soto (Jr. - 15-4)
141: Michael Pongracz (Fr. - 10-5)
149: Shawn Greevy (Jr. - 7-4) and Austin Sams (So. - 6-10)
157: Michael Hooker (Fr. - 8-8) and Alex Hudson (Sr. - 16-3)
165: No. 4/7 Corey Mock (Jr. - 18-0) and Trey Stavrum (Jr. - 5-4)
174: Levi Clemons (Jr. - 10-8) and Barrett Walthall (Fr. - 5-6)
184: John Lampe (So. - 7-2) and Clay Dent (So. - 0-3) and
D.J. Franklin-Smith (Fr. - 1-2)
197: Scottie Boykin (Fr. - 7-8)
LIVE VIDEO PROVIDED BY FLOWRESTLING
UTC and Flowrestling.org have partnered to bring extensive live coverage of the 2014 Southern Scuffle, presented by Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling. The broadcast is available to all Flo Pro subscribers. Links to sign up for the live stream are available on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE BY TRACKWRESTLING
Live scoring of each match, along with constantly updated brackets will be available on TrackWrestling.com throughout the tournament. Links for TrackWrestling.com's coverage are on GoMocs.com's wrestling schedule page.
MOCS IN THE RANKINGS
UTC junior Corey Mock is 18-0 on the year and No. 4 in the AWN poll at 165. He is also No. 7 in the Intermat listings. Junior Nick Soto is currently No. 15 at 133 in the Intermat Top-20 and No. 17 in the AWN rankings. As a team, the Mocs are 32nd in the Intermat College Rankings.
SOTO KNOCKS OFF NO. 1, WINS RENO TOC
Junior Nick Soto (133) had excellent results on last weekend's west coast swing. He defeated No. 1 Ryan Mango (15-8) in the dual win over No. 15 Stanford on Dec. 20, and followed that with a win at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 22.
MOCK WINS RENO TOC
Junior Corey Mock (165) was also impressive on the Stanford-Reno trip. He fought off an illness to hold on for a 4-2 win over No. 14 Jim Wilson against Stanford. He then posted five wins to take the title at the Reno TOC.
MOCS IN THE SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
This is Chattanooga's fifth appearance in the Southern Scuffle. The Mocs were 13th in the 2005 tournament and a team-best sixth in 2006 when the Scuffle was in Greensboro, N.C. UTC finished seventh in 2012 when the Scuffle moved to Chattanooga and 14th last season.
UTC's best individual performance at the Scuffle was Nick Soto's second place showing at 133 as a freshman in 2012. Below is a list of all the UTC placers in previous Scuffles.
2005
Javier Maldanado - 125 - 8th
Matt Keller - 133 - 5th
John Davis - 184 - 4th
2006
Javier Maldanado -125 - 5th
Shawn Cardell - 125 - 8th
Matt Keller - 133 - 7th
Matt Keefe - 141 - 5th
Aaron Martin - 149 - 6th
Lloyd Rogers - 174 - 8th
Josh Edmundson - 184 - 8th
2012
Nick Soto - 133 - 2nd
Dean Pavlou - 149 - 6th
Dan Waddell - 157 - 4th
Brandon Wright - 165 - 8th
Niko Brown - 197 - 7th
2013
Dean Pavlou - 141 - 7th
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE NOTES TO KNOW
• This is the 11th year of the Southern Scuffle. It was held in Greensboro, N.C. from 2003-10 and moved to Chattanooga in 2012.
• Appalachian State, Duke, N.C. State, North Carolina, Old Dominion, The Citadel and Virginia are the only teams that have competed in the Southern Scuffle every year since it began in 2003.
• Records do not show a Southern Scuffle in 2011, but the event did not skip a season. The 2010 tournament was held in late December while the 2012 event was Jan. 1-2.
• Only four different teams have won the Southern Scuffle, including Cornell (2008, 2009 & 2010 (tie)), Minnesota (2004, 2005 & 2007), Missouri (2003 & 2006) and Penn State (2010 (tie), 2012 & 2013).
• There are eight former Scuffle Individual Champions in the field, including Cornell's Mike Nevinger (141), Minnesota's Chris Dardanes (133-'12) and Tony Nelson (285-'12), Oklahoma State's Jon Morrison (133) and Chris Perry (174) and Penn State's David Taylor (165-'12, 157-'10), Nico Megaludis (125) and Ed Ruth (184, 174-'10 & '12)
• There are four NCAA Champions in the field, including Minnesota's Tony Nelson (285), Oklahoma State's Chris Perry (174) and Penn State's Ed Ruth (184) and David Taylor (165).
• Minnesota holds the record for points in the tournament with 192 in its win in 2005.
• The Golden Gophers also hold the largest margin of victory in the event with a 182-130.5 advantage over second place Edinboro in 2007.
• Penn State senior Ed Ruth won the Scuffle at 174 in 2010 & 2012 and again at 184 in 2013. He trying to join Cornell's Kyle Dake (2009-13) and Minnesota's Cole Konrad (2003-06) as the only four-time champions in the history of the event.
• There are five No. 1 wrestlers in the field, according to the Dec. 17 Intermat Top-10 individual rankings. These include Minnesota's Nick Dardanes (149), Scott Schiller (197) and Tony Nelson (285) and Penn State's David Taylor (165) and Ed Ruth (184).
• All totaled, there are 34 All-Americans, eight NCAA finalists and a host of Scuffle placers competing. The following is a breakdown of those accolades by weight:
125
2 Nahshon Garrett Sophomore Cornell
2013 All-American - Scuffle 3rd
3 Nico Megaludis Junior Penn State
2x NCAA Finalist - 2013 Scuffle Champion - 4th-'12
6 Josh Martinez Sophomore Air Force
Scuffle 4th
9 Corey Keener Freshman CMU
11 Nathan Kraisser Sophomore UNC
12 Evan Silver Sophomore Stanford
14 David Terao Sophomore American
Scuffle 8th
15 Anthon Zanetta Senior Pittsburgh
17 Eddie Klimara Sophomore Okla. St.
19 Earl Hall Sophomore Iowa State
Jerome Robinson Junior Old Dominion
Scuffle 5th
133
3 Jon Morrison Senior Okla. St.
2013 All-American - 2013 Scuffle Champion
5 Ryan Mango Senior Stanford
2013 All-American
10 David Thorn Senior Minnesota
2013 All-American - Scuffle 3rd-'12
11 Joe Roth Senior CMU
12 Shelton Mack Senior Pittsburgh
14 Mark Grey Freshman Cornell
Scufle 7th
15 Nick Soto Junior Chattanooga
Scuffle 2nd - '12
18 Jimmy Gulibon Freshman Penn State
Scuffle 4th
20 Mack McGuire Sophomore Kent State
George DiCamilo Sophomore Virginia
Scuffle 5th
Zach Watson Freshman Virginia
Scuffle 6th
141
2 Zain Retherford Freshman Penn State
4 Chris Dardanes Junior Minnesota
2x All-American - Scuffle 2nd - 1st-'12
6 Mike Nevinger Senior Cornell
2x All-American - 2013 Scuffle Champion - 7th-'12
7 Evan Henderson Junior UNC
2013 All-American
8 Chris Mecate Sophomore ODU
Scuffle 4th
10 Zach Horan Sophomore CMU
11 Anthony Collica Freshman Okla. St.
13 Luke Vaith Senior Hofstra
19 Edgar Bright Freshman Pittsburgh
Julian Feikert Junior Okla. St.
Scuffle 8th
Ugi Khishingnyam Sophomore The Citadel
2013 All-American - Scuffle 2nd
149
1 Nick Dardanes Junior Minnesota
2013 All-American - Scuffle 3rd
3 Drake Houdashelt Junior Missouri
2013 All-American - Scuffle 4th - 3rd-'12
4 Josh Kindig Junior Okla. St.
7 Andrew Alton Junior Penn State
9 Chris Villalonga Senior Cornell
Scuffle 5th - 5th-'12
10 Scott Sakaguchi Senior Oregon State
2013 All-American
11 Gus Sako Sophomore Virginia
16 Dylan Cottrell Freshman App. State
17 Tywan Claxton Junior Ohio
James English Senior Penn State
Scuffle 3rd
Luke Frey Sophomore Penn State
Scuffle 7th
Cam Tessari Junior Hofstra
2012 All-American
157
2 Alex Dieringer Sophomore Okla. St.
2013 All-American - Scuffle 3rd
3 Dylan Ness Junior Minnesota
2x NCAA Finalist - Scuffle 6th - 2nd-'12
5 Dylan Alton Junior Penn State
2013 All-American
6 Kyle Bradley Senior Missouri
Scuffle 4th - 4th-'12
8 Ian Miller Sophomore Kent State
11 Brian Realbuto Freshman Cornell
12 Blaise Butler Sophomore Virginia
13 R.J. Pena Senior Oregon State
2013 All-American
14 Nestor Taffur Senior Boston U.
17 Josh Kreimer Senior Air Force
18 Tristan Warner Junior Old Dominion
19 Spartak Chino Sophomore Ohio
Scuffle 6th
Bobby Bury Sophomore Navy
Scuffle 7th
Matt Frisch Sophomore The Citadel
Scuffle 8th
James Vollrath Senior Penn State
Scuffle 2nd
165
1 David Taylor Senior Penn State
2012 NCAA Champion - 2011 &'13 NCAA Finalist
2-Time Scuffle Champion
2 Tyler Caldwell Senior Okla. St
2x NCAA Finalist - 3x All-American
Scuffle 3rd
3 Nick Sulzer Junior Virginia
2013 All-American - Scuffle 4th - 5th-'12
6 Michael Moreno Junior Iowa State
2013 All-American
7 Corey Mock Junior Chattanooga
9 Zach Toal Senior Missouri
Scuffle 5th - 6th-'12
16 Dylan Palacio Freshman Cornell
17 Joe Booth Senior Hofstra
18 Danny Zilverberg Senior Minnesota
Scuffle 5th
19 Jim Wilson Freshman Stanford
20 Casey Kent Sophomore Penn
Harrison Hightower Junior Ohio
Scuffle 8th
Zack Strickland Sophomore App. St.
Scuffle 6th
174
2 Chris Perry Senior Okla. St.
2013 NCAA Champion - 2x All-American
2013 Scuffle Champion
3 Matt Brown Junior Penn State
2013 NCAA Finalist - Scuffle 3rd - 2nd-'12
5 Logan Storley Junior Minnesota
2x All-American - Scuffle 2nd - 3rd-'12
7 Cody Walters Sophomore Ohio
2013 All-American - Scuffle 7th
8 Tyler Wilps Junior Pittsburgh
10 Steven Doty Senior Virginia
11 Mike Ottinger Junior CMU
12 Matt Miller Sophomore Navy
13 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj Senior The Citadel
Scuffle 6th-'12
14 Tanner Weatherman Sophomore Iowa State
Marshall Peppelman Senior Cornell
Scuffle 8th - 7th-'12
Blake Stauffer Sophomore Arizona St.
Scuffle 6th
184
1 Ed Ruth Senior Penn State
2x NCAA Champion - 3x All-American
3-Time Scuffle Champion
4 Kevin Steinhaus Senior Minnesota
2-Time All-American - Scuffle 3rd - 3rd-'12
6 Max Thomusseit Junior Pittsburgh
7 Gabe Dean Freshman Cornell
9 Boaz Beard Senior Iowa State
12 John Eblen Junior Missouri
Scuffle 7th
13 Lorenzo Thomas Sophomore Penn
16 Sam Wheeler Sophomore Kent State
19 Jon Fausey Senior Virginia
Kevin Radford Junior Arizona State
Scuffle 6th
197
1 Scott Schiller Junior Minnesota
Scuffle 5th - 5th-'12
2 Kyven Gadson Junior Iowa State
2013 All-American
3 Morgan McIntosh Sophomore Penn State
6 Taylor Meeks Junior Oregon State
2013 All-American
9 Daniel Mitchell Senior American
12 Brandon Palik Senior Drexel
13 Phil Wellington Sophomore Ohio
Scuffle 4th
14 J'den Cox Freshman Missouri
15 Blake Rosholt Senior Okla. St.
2013 All-American
17 Nick Bonaccorsi Sophomore Pittsburgh
20 Conner Hartmann Sophomore Duke
Scuffle 6th
Jace Bennett Junior Cornell
Scuffle 7th
285
1 Tony Nelson Senior Minnesota
2x NCAA Champion - 3x All-American
Scuffle 2nd - 1st-'12
5 Nick Gwiazdowski Sophomore N.C. State
2013 All-American - Scuffle 3rd
11 Jeremy Johnson Senior Ohio
2x All-American - Scuffle 5th - 5th-'12
12 Jimmy Lawson Junior Penn State
Scuffle 7th
15 Austin Marsden Sophomore Okla. St.
16 Kyle Colling Junior Arizona State
17 Amarveer Dhesi Freshman Oregon St.
18 Joe Stolfi Junior Bucknell
MOCK RACKS UP EARLY SOCON HONORS
Junior Corey Mock was the Southern Conference Wrestler of the Month for November. Mock, a transfer from North Carolina, went 10-0 to open his UTC career in November.
Competing at 165 pounds, Mock was a two-time SoCon Wrestler of the Week in November. He was unbeaten in his first month of competition for the Mocs, going 10-0 with two pins and three wins over ranked opponents.
Mock took his first weekly honor in the first week of the season after posting a 5-0 mark with wins over No. 11 Joseph Booth (Hofstra), No. 16 Chris Moon (Virginia Tech) and No. 12 Ramon Santiago (Rider) at the Hokie Duals on Nov. 10.
Mock earned his first pin of the season against Shorter on Nov. 16, sticking Seth Broom in just 1:06. The Chapel Hill, N.C., native then completed his month with a 4-0 showing at the Navy Classic on Nov. 23, winning the title at 165 en route to his second weekly SoCon honor. He dominated at the tournament, earning a technical fall, a pin and a major decision to reach the final before topping Navy's Peyton Walsh in the title bout, 3-2. Walsh was the first wrestler to score on him this season.
Mock is currently ranked No. 4 nationally at 165 in the Amateur Wrestling News Top-20. He is No. 7 in the country in the Intermat rankings.
MOCS PICKED TO WIN SOCON TITLE
The Mocs were selected as the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference title by the league's coaches. UTC has won 27 SoCon titles since joining the league in 1978. Head coach Heath Eslinger's squad claimed the regular season and tournament crown in 2013, received four of eight first-place votes and 46 points overall, narrowly edging Appalachian State.
TWO MOCS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SOCON
Head coach Heath Eslinger's squad boasts two members on the preseason All-SoCon team. After winning the league title at 125 last season, junior Nick Soto is the preseason pick at 133. He won that title as a freshman in 2012. Fellow junior Kevin Malone was the coaches' preseason selection at heavyweight.
