Wrestling Southern Conference

Khishignyam Named SoCon Wrestler of the Week

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Citadel’s Ugi Khishignyam has been named the Southern Conference wrestler of the week for the third consecutive time. This week’s award encompasses all competition from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2. The selection is made by the league office.

Khishignyam, a redshirt freshman, becomes the first wrestler in league history to earn the award three straight times. The award originated in the 2000-01 season.

Khishignyam continued his torrid pace to open the season, going 5-1 with a second-place finish at 141 pounds at the highly competitive Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 24-team tournament featured seven teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.

The No. 2 preseed in his weight class, Khishignyam breezed through his first three rounds, earning decisions over Cleveland State’s Dan King, North Carolina’s Joey Moon and Penn State’s Zachary Beitz. The quarterfinal round pitted Khishignyam against No. 14 Justin LaValle of Old Dominion, and Khishignyam earned a 5-3 sudden victory to move on to the semifinals.

There, the Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, native picked up a 3-1 win over ODU’s Chris Mecate to reach the title bout. Khishignyam’s run came to an end there, as he fell 3-2 to No. 9 Michael Nevinger of Cornell to take second place in his weight class.

Ranked No. 4 nationally at 141, Khishignyam improved to 24-3 on the season.

The Citadel (1-1, 1-0 SoCon) has now taken four of the last five weekly awards, as Bulldog Odie Delaney was the league’s wrestler of the week on Nov. 21.

The Bulldogs are back in action at the Virginia Duals in Hampton Roads, Va., on Jan. 11-12.

Also nominated: Zack Strickland (Appalachian State), Eric Montoya (Campbell), Alex Medved (Gardner-Webb) and Dean Pavlou (Chattanooga).


2012-13 SoCon wrestlers of the week
Nov. 7    Nick Soto, Chattanooga
Nov. 14    Niko Brown, Chattanooga
Nov. 21    Odie Delaney, The Citadel
Dec. 5    Patrick Myers, SIUE
Dec. 12    Ugi Khishignyam, The Citadel
Dec. 19    Ugi Khishignyam, The Citadel
Jan. 3    Ugi Khishignyam, The Citadel
-www.SoConSports.com-