MTSU Wrestling - New Year's Resolutions for 2009

Middle Tennessee State University has come a long way since losing its Division 1 NCAA team. Rising from nothing in 1999 to a Nationally Recognized NCWA program in 10 years is a respectable feat in an era of apathy towards "fringe" sports such as wrestling. Now in 2009, MTSU looks to set new standards for wrestling in the state of Tennessee as it unveils a Spring Schedule with matches every weekend until the National Tournament in March. The tour begins January 17th at in-state rival Tennessee Temple with Auburn as the third dual team. On January 24th, MTSU heads to Newport News for the Shipbuilder Invitational for tough matches against MAC and NEC Conference schools.

The first-ever NCWA National Duals will be held on January 30-31, 2009 at the MTSU Recreation Center beginning at 9:30am. Tickets at the door will be \$20 for adults / \$10 for Students for Saturday's 16-team main dual tournament and \$5 for all spectators for Friday's "Free-for-all" featuring 12 teams vying for 4 spots in Saturdays Duals. MTSU is looking at this as a potential annual event and looks forward to hosting such quality teams as Grand Valley State, Marion Military, Apprentice School, and the University of Central Florida (just to name a few).

For directions to the MTSU Recreation Center, visit the school website at www.mtsu.edu or http://frank.mtsu.edu/~camprec/directions.html

The season then continues on with the Classic City Championship at Georgia on February 7th, followed by the Toledo Open (2/14), the 2nd NCWA TN Duals (2/21 at Lee), and the MAC Conference Championship (2/28 at Southern Virginia).

With a roster approaching 20 wrestlers, many of whom are featured in the Top 20 of their respective weight classes, MTSU looks to build upon 2008's trip to Nationals (3 qualifiers) at this year's National Tournament at Hampton University on March 12-14, 2009.