Charleston, S.C. - Defending Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year Turtogtokh Luvsandorj and two-time NCAA qualifier Odie Delaney were ranked by WrestlingReport.com's preseason NCAA rankings on Tuesday.
Both wrestlers earned back-to-back bids to the NCAA Championships in their first two years at The Citadel. Luvsandorj will bump up a weight class to 174 pounds in 2011-12 and comes in at No. 13 in the preseason poll nationally. Delaney is listed at No. 22 in the heavyweight division nationally.
Luvsandorj (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) is coming off one of the most successful individual seasons in program history in which he went 38-10, defeated eight nationally ranked wrestlers, was named SoCon Wrestler of the Year and became the highest ranked wrestling in school history after cracking the top-10 in all major national wrestling polls in January 2011. The rising junior won the SoCon Tournament title at 157 pounds his freshman year before earning an at-large bid last season at 165 pounds.
Returning to action in 2011-12 after redshirting last season will be Delaney (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) at heavyweight. The redshirt junior racked up 29 wins in 2009-10 en route to capturing the heavyweight title at the SoCon Championships and a subsequent bid to the NCAA Championships. In 2008-09, Delaney became only the second true freshman in school history to qualify for the NCAA Championships when he won the 197-pound title at the SoCon Tournament and compiled 25 wins that season.
The Citadel Wrestling team will host their annual "Wrestle-Off" competition on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29 at Vandiver Hall. The 2011-12 season starts on Sunday, Nov. 6 with The Citadel Open at McAlister Field House featuring only freshmen and sophomores. The upperclassmen will take part at the Hokie Open in Salem, Va., that same day. For more information on Bulldog Wrestling, visit CitadelSports.com.