UNCG Wrestling To Meet Top-10-Ranked Big Ten Squads, ACC Leaders This Season

<< Back to Articles
Andre Gibson (USA Wrestling)
08/21/2000


UNCG Wrestling To Meet Top-10-Ranked Big Ten Squads, ACC Leaders This Season    UNCG Wrestling To Meet Top-10-Ranked Big Ten Squads, ACC Leaders This Season  In addition to its challenging Southern Conference slate, the UNCG wrestling team will battle a pair of nationally top-10-ranked opponents as well as four-time defending ACC champion UNC Chapel Hill in 2000-01.    The Spartans wrestle at No. 7 Michigan State November 19 and host No. 5 Illinois January 11.  The rankings cited are from last season's final National Wrestling Coaches Association poll.    Illinois finished third and Michigan State, fourth, in last year's Big Ten Championships.    UNCG will wrestle the Tar Heels January 27 in Chapel Hill, NC, and host NC State, last year's ACC runner-up, February 20 in the regular season finale.  The Spartans will host two-time defending Southern Conference champion Chattanooga February 18.      UNCG wrestlers will compete in the Michigan State Open November 18, the Penn State Open December 3 and Midlands December 28-29.    For the first time, the Southern Conference Championship will be held in conjunction with the ACC and Colonial Athletic Association championships.  The event will be held in Chapel Hill March 15-17.    The winners of each of the 10 weight classes in the Southern Conference and three wild card qualifiers will earn automatic berths in the NCAA Championship March 15-17 in Iowa City, IA.    Last year, three Spartan wrestlers--seniors Dax Pecaro and Melvin Saunders and freshman Joe Herron--reached nationals and boosted the team's number of qualifiers in seven years to 18.  Pecaro was 1-2 at nationals, Saunders was 2-2 and Herron was o-2.    In 1999-00, UNCG finished 4-4 overall and in fourth place in the Southern Conference with a 2-3 mark.  It was third in the conference tournament.