PREVIEW: Wrestling Opens Season Sunday at Southeast Open - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics

Sunday, November 1

Salem, Va.

All Day

Chattanooga

Southeast Open

Ethan Vergara

Photo by: Ray Soldano

10/30/2026 9:04:00 AM | Wrestling

Ethan Vergara and the Chattanooga Mocs start the 2026-26 campaign Sunday in Salem, Va.

The Chattanooga Mocs wrestling team opens the season Sunday at the Southeast Open. The Mocs look forward to an exciting 2026-27 campaign coming off the 19th Southern Conference Dual Season Championship in the 33 years the league has sponsored a regular season title.

Eight of the 10 starters from that squad are back along with a talented set of newcomers. Depth and competition are at a high point with this weekend's Southeast Open set to be a proving ground before the team shifts into dual matches in two weeks.

Twenty-seven Mocs will be on the mat against a strong field. It streams on FloWrestling from Roanoke College in Salem, Va.

Resources – Notes | Stats | FloWrestling: Brackets | Stream

Quotable
"It's a good opportunity for our guys to see where they're at in competing to our standard. And that's no matter what happens, we go out there, wrestle hard and start putting fear in people's eyes." – Coach Kyle Ruschell on getting the season started

"This is another marking point towards who's going to be our starters for the long term. Putting a lot of guys in the same brackets and seeing how they compete outside of our wrestling room, not just against each other. We're just putting our three new freshmen in the freshman/sophomore and everybody else needs to be ready to wrestle high-caliber opponents." – Coach Ruschell on challenging the squad within the Open Division

Lineup
125: #20 Travis Clawson, Ty Tice, Tanner Tran (Fr/So Division)
133: Brody Gobbell
141: #28 Ethan Uhorchuk, Pierce Penningthon, Cole Krutzfeldt, John Stewart (Fr/So)
149: Hunter Mason, Will Anderson, Hayden Hughes, George Emendorfer (Fr/So)
157: Cavarius Liddle, Brayden Leach, Alex Hutchcraft, Michael Kilic
165: Tavian Camper, Mason Reiniche
174: Charlie Foster, Tre McTorry III, Wyatt Gibbs
184: Landon Jones
197: #24 Kade Rule, Kendrick Curtis, Brock Rios
285: Ethan Vergara, Jackson Schwab

Did You Know?
Four Mocs placed in last year's Southeast Open. Kade Rule (197) and Will Anderson (141) both won their weight classes in the Freshman/Sophomore Division, while Ethan Uhorchuk (133) finished sixth. Cody Chittum reached the semifinals at 157 before an injury relegated him to fourth place.

Next Up
The first dual match comes in threes at the Princeton Duals on Nov. 14 with matches against the Tigers, Ohio and Duke. The home opener is Nov. 22 with Little Rock coming to Maclellan Gym.

Season Tickets on Sale
Season tickets are on sale now on GoMocs.com here. The season plan includes every match in Maclellan Gym as well as all-session passes for the Southern Scuffle. For more information on wrestling season tickets, please email MocsTicketing@utc.edu or call the ticket office at 423-266-MOCS (6627).

GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs. Wear what the teams wear in our BSN Team Store or go to the bookstore's official True Spirit Stop. The Mocs can also be followed on their official Facebook, X & Instagram accounts. Find out how to join the Mocs Club and support more than 300 student-athletes by clicking here & by checking out NIL possibilities here.