The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team hosts the inaugural Chattanooga Duals in Maclellan Gym this weekend.  UTC welcomes Illinois and Army for the tri-event on Sunday, Nov. 10. 
 
"We are very excited to bring in two high-caliber teams," stated UTC head coach Kyle Ruschell.  "We will be testing our guys all year long and this is the first weekend that several will have the opportunity to wrestle ranked opponents."
 
Action begins at 10:00 a.m. (E.S.T.) with Army taking on Illinois.  The Mocs then face the Black Knights at Noon, followed by the Fighting Illini at 2:00 p.m.
 
"We need to prepare our guys for the national tournament, and at NCAA's this level of competition is pretty much all you wrestle," added Ruschell. "These matches let us know where we stack up and how we need to go about our day-to-day business."
 
Links for live scoring through TrackWrestling and the SoCon Digital Network broadcast for all three matches are available on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.  Chris Goforth (pxp) and Travis Jarrard (analyst) have the call on the SoConDN.
 
UTC brings a 1-0 record after last week's season-opening win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (29-14) in Miller Park.  The Mocs also had 10 individuals place at the Southeast Open on Nov. 3.
 
Army is 1-1 after participating in the Battle on the Midway in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 2. The Black Knights earned a decisive 29-9 win over Fresno State aboard the USS Midway, and narrowly came close to upsetting No. 6 Wisconsin, falling 16-15 in a thriller.
 
This is the first dual of the year for Illinois who had eight individuals place at the Michigan State Open on Nov. 2.
 
PROBABLE LINEUP FOR THE CHATTANOOGA DUALS
125: Fabian Gutierrez (Jr. - 3-1)
133: Franco Valdes (So. - 2-3) or Wade Cummings (Jr. - 2-2)
141: Aidan Murphy (So. - 0-2)
149: Mason Wallace (So. - 2-3) or Tanner Smith (So. - 3-2)
157: George Carpenter (Sr. - 4-3)
165: Drew Nicholson (So. - 3-3) or Tyler Shilson (So. - 2-2)
174: Hunter Fortner (So. - 2-2) or Dominic Lampe (Sr. - 0-0)
184: Matthew Waddell (So. - 3-1) or Ben Stacey (0-2)
197: Rodney Jones (Sr. - 2-2)
HWT: Grayson Walthall (So. - 2-3)
 
TICKETS
Season tickets for UTC Wrestling are still available on GoMocs.com, along with match tickets for the Chattanooga Duals.  Admission for Sunday is $6 for adults and $4 for youth (under 14).  Doors open at 9:00 a.m.
 
IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
On first reference, it is acceptable to refer to us as the "University of Tennessee at Chattanooga". After that, we prefer to be called "Chattanooga" or "UTC". Our nickname is "Mocs". Please do not use UT-Chattanooga, Tennessee-Chattanooga or the Moccasins.
 
HEAD COACH KYLE RUSCHELL
Kyle Ruschell was named head coach of the Mocs on Aug. 10, 2018, and is in his second season guiding the UTC program. He has an 8-7 dual record overall that includes sharing the SoCon Regular Season Title last season with a 7-7 mark and a 5-1 league tally.  He spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin. A former member of the U.S. National Team (2014-15), he was a two-time All-American for the Badgers (2007-10).
 
SCOUTING THE MOCS
UTC returns seven of 10 starters to the lineup from last year's team.  2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year Tanner Smith is back at 149, while junior Fabian Gutierrez takes over as the starter at 125. 
 
Other returning starters include sophomores Drew Nicholson and Hunter Fortner at 165 and 174, and seniors Dominic Lampe and Rodney Jones at 184 and 197.
 
Some new faces in the lineup include a pair of transfers in senior George Carpenter and sophomore Matthew Waddell.  Carpenter is a graduate transfer from Penn State, while Waddell started his career at Oklahoma.  Look for Carpenter to compete at 157, while Waddell is listed at 184. 
 
SCOUTING ARMY
The Black Knights have two wrestlers ranked in this week's Intermat Top 20 listings. Senior Ben Harvey won two matches on the opening weekend at 174 and is up to No. 8 in the rankings. Senior Cael McCormick split his matches on the USS Midway and is No. 12 at 165. 
 
HEAD TO HEAD VS. ARMY
133: UTC's Fanco Valdes posted an 8-6 decision over Army's Lane Peters on at last year's Cougar Clash on Dec. 2, 2018. 
 
174: Army's Ben Harvey beat UTC's Hunter Fortner 8-2 at the Cougar Clash on Dec. 2, 2018. 
 
MORE ARMY CONNECTIONS
• Army head coach Kevin Ward is a native of Soddy Daisy, Tenn., where he was a three-time Tennessee State Champion in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
• Army assistant coach Joe DeAngelo started his collegiate career as a freshman at UTC in 2010-11.
 
ALL-TIME VS. ARMY
The Mocs split the previous two matches with Army.  The Black Knights won the first meeting (27-13) in Albany, N.Y., on Dec. 5, 2004.  The Mocs won the last time these two teams faced off (25-9) in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 7 ,2006.
 
SCOUTNG ILLINOIS
Eight Fighting Illini wrestlers earned top-six place finishes at the MSU Open last weekend. Competing unattached, freshman DJ Shannon placed second at 174-pounds in the Open division.  Also competing unattached, senior Travis Piotrowski wrestled to a third-place finish in the 133-pound Open division.  This was the first time Piotrowski has competed at 133-pounds in his college career. Freshman Zac Braunagel was fourth 184-pounds while freshman Danny Braunagel was fourth at 165.  Redshirt junior Dylan Duncan made his collegiate debut at 141-pounds with a fourth place showing. 
 
HEAD TO HEAD VS. ILLINOIS
There are no previous meetings on record for the probable starters.  The Illini have made four trips to Chattanooga, beginning with the first meeting in 1981.  The last time these two teams met was in Maclellan Gym on Jan. 6, 2013.  A full list of the series history is below.  
Home: 0-4, Away: 0-2, Neutral 0-4
1-7-81 - Chattanooga - L - 11-40
1-11-87 - Charleston, Ill. - L - 16-27
1-11-97 - Atlanta, Ga. - L - 0-40
1-10-98 - Atlanta, Ga. - L - 8-34
1-16-99 - Chattanooga - L - 7-37
1-18-03 - Chattanooga - L - 6-31
12-13-03 - Champaign, Ill. - L - 6-38
1-8-05 - Columbus, Ohio - L - 9-27
12-18-11 - Champaign, Ill. - L - 6-30
1-6-13 - Chattanooga - L - 10-29
 
MOCS PICKED THIRD IN THE SOCON PRESEASON
Chattanooga was picked to finish third in the Southern Conference race with 39 points, including one first-place vote. The Mocs also went 5-1 in the conference last year, finishing with a 7-7 record overall. Campbell received seven first-place votes and 49 points to top the 2019-20 preseason poll. Last season, the Camels went 5-1 in conference matchups, sharing the regular season title with the Mocs and Appalachian State.  The Mountaineers were second with 41 votes.  The Citadel (28), Gardner-Webb (26), VMI (20), Davidson (14) and Presbyterian (7) rounded out the listings. 
 
SMITH & JONES MAKE PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAM
The Mocs were represented by sophomore Tanner Smith at 149 and senior Rodney Jones at 197 on the preseason All-SoCon team.  Smith was the 2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year after posting a 12-9 record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships.  He was also a member of the SoCon All-Freshman team and was runner-up at the SoCon Tournament.  Jones qualified for the NCAAs at 197 pounds last year by taking the SoCon's second automatic bid at that weight.  He defeated The Citadel's Sawyer Root on a last second reversal in the second place match to secure his first trip to the national tournament.
 
MOCS GETTING THE JOB DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
UTC topped the 3.0 mark as a team for the fourth and fifth times in 2018-19.  The Mocs had a 3.02 GPA in the fall and a 3.1 in the spring.  The Mocs put 13 on the Dean's List and 16 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the fall.  There were 14 on the Dean's List and 17 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the spring.  Huffine, Jacob Murphy and Chris Debien all had 4.0s in the spring.
 
SEASON & SCUFFLE TICKETS ON SALE
Season tickets and Southern Scuffle tickets are both on sale now on GoMocs.com.  The season begins with the Blue-Gold match on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 4:30 p.m. at McKenzie Arena.  It is part of the Ball and Brawl with the men's basketball team who hosts Covenant in an exhibition game at 2:00 p.m.
 
ATTENTION ALL WRESTLING ALUMNI
We need all UTC wrestling alumni to take the C Club Challenge for $100.  Joining the C Club directly benefits Mocs wrestling, and the program with the highest percentage of alumni who join get an extra $5,000 added to their budget.  Visit www.gomocs.com/cclub to join.
 
UTC ATHLETICS DRIVE FOR 25
The Mocs Club is kicking off its second annual Drive for 25 campaign on Saturday, Nov. 9.  The goal of this initiative is to raise $25,000 in unrestricted gifts to the Mocs Club to help support the 300 student-athletes at UTC.  Your participation enhances the academic and athletic success of all our programs and is vital to the continued growth of Chattanooga Athletics.  Any gift is helpful, so be sure to visit give.utc.edu/Drivefor25 and help support the Chattanooga Mocs.