The Southern Conference regular season co-champion Chattanooga Mocs close out the 2018-19 dual schedule on the road at Indiana this weekend.  UTC travels to Bloomington, Ind., on Sunday, Feb. 24, for a 2:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) match against the Hoosiers. 
 
UTC clinched a share of the SoCon title with an 18-12 win over No. 25 Campbell in its last action on Feb. 10.  With the Mocs record now at 7-6 overall and 5-1 in league duals, first-year head coach Kyle Ruschell has secured at least a .500 season in his inaugural campaign at Chattanooga.
 
This is UTC's first trip to Indiana since a 30-9 loss on Nov. 28, 2009.  The Mocs are looking for their first win in the series in seven previous meetings.
 
Chattanooga is represented in the NCAA Coaches Panel rankings by junior Chris Debien at No. 32 at 141 pounds and sophomore Fabian Gutierrez at No. 23 at 125 pounds.  Debien is also No. 21 in the RPI, while Gutierrez is No. 10.  Senior Connor Tolley rounds out the group at No. 32 in the heavyweight RPI.
 
Indiana holds a 5-12 record with a 1-8 mark in the extremely competitive Big 10.  The Hoosiers have wins over SIUE (21-15), Northern Illinois (20-14), No. 12 North Carolina (19-16), Maryland (36-3) and No. 25 Stanford (30-7).  Ten of their 12 losses have been against ranked opponents.
 
Live coverage of the match is provided by FloWrestling.  Links for the broadcast are available on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
 
Chattanooga Probable Lineup
125: Alonzo Allen (Sr. – 22-6)
       or No. 23 Fabian Gutierrez (So. – 17-4)
133: Jake Huffine (Jr. – 17-13)
141: No. 32 Chris Debien (Jr. – 22-10)
149: Tanner Smith (Fr. – 9-6)
157: Ryan Resnick (Fr. – 9-12)
      or Mason Wallace (Fr. - 14-9)
165: Drew Nicholson (Fr. – 9-9)
      or Trey Watson (Sr. - 0-9)
174: Hunter Fortner (Fr. – 10-14)
184: Ben Stacey (Jr. – 5-7)
      or Dominic Lampe (Jr. - 12-11)
197: Rodney Jones (Jr. – 16-16)
285: Connor Tolley (Sr. – 16-13)
 
INDIANA HOOSIERS PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Liam Cronin (So. - 17-13)
        or Elijah Oliver (Sr. - 21-13)
133: No. 32 Garrett Pepple (Jr. - 13-10)
141: Kyle Luigs (Fr. - 9-10)
149: Fernie Silva (Jr. - 2-9)
        or Breyden Bailey (Fr. - 9-10)
157: No. 21 Jake Danishek (Sr. - 17-11)
165: No. 23 Bryce Martin (Sr. - 17-7)
174: No. 26 Jacob Covaciu (Fr. - 12-8)
184: Norman Conley (Jr. - 17-13)
197: Jake Kleimola (So. - 10-14)
285: Rudy Streck (Fr. - 4-12)
        or Fletcher Miller (Sr. - 8-6)
 
The Mocs are 0-3 all time at Indiana.  The other four losses in the series came on neutral mats. 
 
ALL-TIME VS. INDIANA (0-7)
Home: 0-0, Away: 0-3, Neutral 0-4
1-24-81 - Bloomington, Ind. - L - 14-35
1-20-89 - Bloomington, Ind. - L - 11-24
1-5-02 - Columbus, Ohio - L - 10-35
1-12-03 - Ashland, Ohio - L - 14-30
1-15-05 - Hampton, Va. - L - 14-30
1-13-06 - Hampton, Va. - L - 11-29
11-28-09 - Bloomington, Ind. - L - 9-30
 
Last Time Against Indiana
No. 11 Indiana 30 - Chattanooga 9
Nov. 28, 2009 – Bloomington, Ind. - Indiana Duals
125: No. 2 Angel Escobedo (IU) - Fall 1:44 - Demetrius Johnson (UTC)
133: Max Ortega (IU) - MD 18-4 - Josh Sandoval (UTC)
141: No. 10 Cody Cleveland (UTC) - Dec. 11-4 - Daniel Monaco (IU)
149: Matt Couglin (IU) - Dec. 13-11 - Alex Hudson (UTC)
157: Kelly Felix (UTC) - Dec. 3-1 - Ryan Konz (IU)
165: No. 13 Paul Young (IU) - Fall 2:48 - Brandon Wright (UTC)
174: No. 19 Jake Young (UTC) - Dec. 5-1 - No. 17 Trevor Perry (IU)
184: Eric Cameron (IU) - Dec. 5-2 - Jason McCroskey (UTC)
197: Matt Powless (IU) - MD 17-5 - Niko Brown (UTC)
285: No. 11 Nathan Everhart (IU) - Fall 5:37 - Tom Minwell (UTC)
 
MOCS VS. RANKED TEAMS
The win over Campbell on Feb. 10 was the first against a ranked opponent for UTC since a 19-18 victory at No. 19 Virginia on Feb. 14, 2016.  Chattanooga is 4-41 against ranked teams since the start of the 2009-10 season.  The other two wins include a 23-15 victory against No. 25 Kent State in Ypsilanti, Mich., on Nov. 15, 2014 and 22-15 over No. 12 Stanford in Maclellan Gym on Nov. 20, 2011.  The Mocs have faced at least four ranked teams in 11 of the last 13 seasons. 
 
SOCON CHAMPIONSHIPS
UTC won its 17th SoCon regular season title since the league began recognizing a season winner in 1994.  During that time the Mocs have won the regular season outright 12 times and shared the title five.  Appalachian State is the only other school with more than three, winning the regular season outright six times and sharing the title on five occasions. 
 
The SoCon Tournament has been held 80 times since 1930.  The Mocs have won a league-leading 29 tournament titles since joining the conference in 1978.  VMI is second with nine and Appalachian State is third with eight.
 
Head Coach Kyle Ruschell is the fourth-straight, first-year head coach at UTC to win the SoCon regular season.  He joins Heath Eslinger (2010), Chris Bono (2007) and Joe Seay (2006) who also won the league regular season in their first years with the Mocs.
 
WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT NOTES
125: Senior Alonzo Allen is the returning starter and defending SoCon Champion at 125.  He is battling sophomore Fabian Gutierrez for the starting role.  Allen won SoCon Wrestler of the Week after placing fifth at the Scuffle.  He is 22-6 overall and has also placed at the Hokie Open (2nd), the Wolfpack Open (6th) and the Cougar Clash (3rd). 
 
Gutierrez beat Allen in the finals of the Hokie Open and is 16-4 overall.  He climbed into the Intermat Top-20 at 125 prior to the Scuffle, where he went 3-2.  He also has a SoCon Wrestler of the Week honor to his credit this season and was No. 23 in the latest Coaches Panel Rankings.
 
Gutierrez defeated one of the Hoosier's probable starters, Elijah Oliver, 6-1 at the Hokie Open in November. 
 
133: Jake Huffine is 17-13 overall with two SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week honors and another SoCon Wrestler of the Week recognition.  He has a runner-up showing at the Cougar Clash and a sixth place finish at the Wolfpack Open.  Huffine earned UTC's Dayle May Award in January for having the highest student-athlete GPA.  He is a 4.0 student as an Accounting major. 
 
Huffine lost to Indiana's Garrett Pepple (5-0) at the Hokie Open in November.
 
141:  Junior Chris Debien posted a sixth place finish at the Southern Scuffle and was runner-up at the Cougar Clash.  He leads the Mocs with a 22-10 overall mark, including a fourth place finish at the Wolfpack Open.  The 2016 SoCon Champion has won 15 of his last 20 matches and was 6-0 in SoCon duals.
 
149:  Freshman Tanner Smith has won five of his last seven matches and is 9-6 overall.  He has two pins, a major and a tech fall in his last four wins. 
 
157:  Freshman Ryan Resnick has won four of his last six matches to move to 9-12.  Freshman Mason Wallace is 14-9 after placing fifth at the Wolfpack Open.  He was starting at 149, but moved up to 157 for three duals where he is 2-1. 
 
Indiana's Jake Danishek is currently 17-11 overall and ranked No. 21 in the most recent NCAA Coaches Panel. 
 
165: Freshman Drew Nicholson is 9-9 overall after winning his last two matches.  He was 4-2 in SoCon action.  Senior Trey Watson is also listed as a probable.  He is looking for his first win in nine matches this season. 
 
Indiana senior Bryce Martin is 17-7 overall and No. 23 in the NCAA Coaches Panel.
 
174:  Freshman Hunter Fortner is 10-14, after splitting a pair of SoCon matches last week.  Against Indiana, he is set to face fellow freshman Jacob Covaciu, who is 12-8 and No. 26 in the NCAA Coaches Panel. 
184:  Junior Dominic Lampe was back in the lineup at Appalachian State for the for the first time since the second match of the Virginia Duals.  He posted a solid 3-2 decision over ASU's Alan Clothier, preseason All-SoCon pick at 184.  Lampe lost in a nail-biter (6-9) to Campbell Chris Kober in his last match, moving to 12-11 overall.   
 
Junior Ben Stacey dropped down to 184 for the first time in his career.  He was 4-3 at 197 prior to going 0-2 at the Scuffle at 184.  He scored his first win at 184 against Gardner-Webb. 
 
197:  Junior Rodney Jones is 16-16 overall.  He has a third place finish at the Cougar Clash and a pair of sixth place showings at the Wolfpack Open and the Hokie Open. 
 
285: Senior Connor Tolley in 16-13 overall and was the SoCon Wrestler of the Week all competition on Feb. 6-12.  He scored wins over The Citadel's Michael McAleavey (6-1) and Campbell's Odgerel Batkhishig (7-4).  The win over Batkhishig clinched the SoCon regular season title for the Mocs.  Tolley was runner-up in the Wolfpack Open, falling to former NAIA All-American Ceron Francisco in the finals.  He also has a third place at the Cougar Clash and a sixth place finish at the Hokie Open. 
 
HEAD COACH KYLE RUSCHELL
Kyle Ruschell was named head coach of the Mocs on Aug. 10, 2018.  He replaced Heath Eslinger, who stepped down to pursue other interests on July 19.  Ruschell joined the Mocs staff in June as assistant coach.  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).