Wrestling Southern Conference

SoCon Wrestlers Prepare for NCAA Championships

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Fourteen Southern Conference wrestlers will begin competition at the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday, March 17 in Philadelphia, Pa.

The 14 wrestlers will compete in 10 different weight classes, representing five different SoCon schools, including six from league champion Chattanooga. Thirteen earned automatic qualification at the SoCon Wrestling Championships on March 5, while Chattanooga's Niko Brown earned an at-large invite.

125 - Manuel Ramirez, UNCG
133 - Demetrius Johnson, Chattanooga
141 - Cody Cleveland, Chattanooga
149 - Ivan Lopouchanski, UNCG
157 - Josh Condon, Chattanooga
165 - Kyle Blevins, Appalachian State; Turtogtokh Luvsandorj, The Citadel
174 - Brandon Wright, Chattanooga
184 - Austin Trotman, Appalachian State; Jason McCroskey, Chattanooga
197 - Caylor Williams, UNCG; Niko Brown, Chattanooga
HWT - Josh Wine, VMI; Peter Sturgeon, UNCG

The complete brackets for the championships are linked at the bottom of the article.

For the first-time ever, ESPN, ESPNU and ESPN3.com will combine to air all six rounds of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship on Thursday, March 17, through Saturday, March 19, from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia.

ESPNU HD will serve as the home of the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds Friday, March 18, starting at 10:30 a.m. and the medal round on Saturday, March 19, at 11 a.m. ESPN3.com will exclusively air the first and second rounds on Thursday, March 17, beginning at 11 a.m., and provide individual coverage of all four mats of the quarterfinals. ESPN HD and ESPN3.com will present the final round on Saturday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m.

Todd Harris, Tim Johnson and Jeff Blatnick will call the matches on ESPN and ESPNU with Quint Kessenich reporting. Shawn Kenney and Jim Gibbons will call the action on ESPN3.com.

The top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-America distinction. Nineteen SoCon wrestlers have been named All-America, the last being Chattanooga's Cody Cleveland in 2008.