Feb. 8, 2006

Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel (5-8, 1-2 SoCon) will host Appalachian State (8-7-1, 1-3 SoCon) in a key Southern Conference wrestling match-up Thursday night at 7:30 pm in McAlister Field House.

The Citadel is coming off of a third place performance at the All Academy Championships Saturday. Last Thursday, they beat conference foe VMI, 25-15, in Lexington, Va.

Saturday, the Mountaineers lost their third SoCon match of the season as they fell to Chattanooga, 29-4. That same night, Appalachian State bounced back to beat Cumberland (Ky.), 26-22.

"All of tomorrow's match-ups are important because they will play a major role in determining seeds for the Southern Conference Tournament," said Citadel Head Coach rOB Hjerling. "This is a really big dual meet for us."

"Appalachian always wrestles well against us. They tied us last year, so we cannot let ourselves look past them."

For the Bulldogs, senior 141-pounder Sean Markey is coming off of a championship performance at the All Academy Championship last weekend. Markey went 3-0 and was named the Ken Shelton Outstanding Wrestler at the tournament. The performance also earned Markey SoCon Wrestler of the Week honors. He is currently ranked ninth in the Intermat rankings.

Senior 197-pounder Mark Thompson also won a championship at the All Academy tournament, while sophomore Darius Caldwell placed second at 174 pounds.

"Darius had a really good tournament for us last weekend," added Hjerling. "We are starting to come together at the right point in the season and our guys are starting to peak at the perfect time."