Sept. 24, 2003

Charleston, SC - Citadel head wrestling coach Rob Hjerling announced the 2003-04 Bulldog grappling schedule Wednesday afternoon. Five home matches and seven open tournaments, including the 2004 All-Academy Championships in Annapolis, MD, highlight the 2003-04 slate.

"This schedule will give all of our wrestlers an opportunity to see where they stand on a national level," stated Hjerling. "It should prepare them for the post-season and they should be ready to step up at the NCAA Championships."

The Bulldogs will open the season at the WVU Open on November 8, and then travel to Navy for the Navy Classic. The Citadel grapplers' first home meet will be on December 2 when Hjerling's squad hosts Davidson in the Southern Conference season opener.

Following the home opener against the Wildcats, the 2003-04 squad will travel to Reno, NV, to participate in the Reno Tournament of Champions. The Reno TOC is one of the top invitational tournaments in the nation, which is filled with nationally ranked teams including the 2003 defending NCAA Champions Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The Southern Scuffle and Virginia Duals pit the Bulldogs against more nationally ranked competition to include Southern Scuffle participant Minnesota, who won the 2001 and 2002 NCAA. In the Virginia Duals, four of the 16 participating teams are ranked and four others are listed has honorable mention.

"The guys are eager to consistently wrestle against nationally ranked competition and all-Americans," added Hjerling. "Our schedule gets tougher every year and it will continue to do so as our team gets better every season."

The SoCon slate also includes home matches with Appalachian State, the 2003 defending Southern Conference Champion, and Chattanooga, while the Dogs will go on the road to take on SoCon foes VMI and UNC Greensboro. Mat Jam, the Southern Conference Championship Tourney, will be held on March 6 and will be hosted by Virginia in Charlottesville, VA.

The Citadel will also compete against Virginia on February 21 as well as Cornell and James Madison. Virginia is the reigning ACC Champion, while Cornell finished 10th as a team at last year's NCAA Championship.

Duke and Anderson are featured in The Citadel's other two home matches. The Blue Devils will come to McAlister Field House on January 24; only four days after the Bulldogs host Anderson on January 20.