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Wrestlers tap out of season with tournament |
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
 Photo by Holt Menzies
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by ERIK RHYNE
Sports Reporter
Conference tournaments are where championships are awarded and bragging rights are handed out.
However, Appalachian State University is trying to make it seem like another tournament, and nothing more.
“We don’t try to put pressure on [the team] or make them think it’s life or death,” wrestling head coach Paul Mance said. “It’s just another tournament. It’s a tournament that means a lot if you get yourself into the NCAA tournament. It’s a feather in your cap for the rest of your life.”
ASU wrapped up its season Feb. 27 when they blanked Campbell University 41-0.
Strong performances started prior to the match against Campbell as the Mountaineers won their last
seven matches heading down the stretch.
Their last loss came at the hands of Southern Conference foe the University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga Jan. 27, 27-9.
Appalachian will get a chance at payback when they travel to the SoCon’s Mat Jam this weekend at
the site of its last loss - in Chattanooga.
The Mocs, the favorite to win the conference title, have been ranked as high as 10th in the country.
Throughout the year, multiple wrestlers have been ranked near the top of their respective weight class.
Their dominance of the conference can be shown by looking at the All-SoCon team as five Mocs
landed on a list of 10.
Mance said it will be pretty hard realistically to knock them off; for Appalachian to win, they will need
some help.
“The only way we have a legitimate shot is if our kids wrestle well and Chattanooga has some of their
guys knocked off by other schools,” he said. “It’ll take some help from other teams to win it. We don’t
have a strong enough team to do it by ourselves.”
According to the SoCon’s official Web site, the Mountaineers last won the conference title in 2003.
For ASU to end the drought, Mance said the team members will need to keep the mindset of going in
and winning in their weight class.
“We probably have three to five other kids that have a legitimate shot of doing well there,” he said. “We
are hoping to have three champs. We’ve told the guys if they are looking at going in as a wild card,
then they’re looking at it for the wrong reasons.”
A wild card is given to only five wrestlers who do not win the conference.
Prior to the tournament, every coach in the conference will rank the top 20 wrestlers in the conference.
After the tournament is over, they will cross out the 10 that do win and evaluate who is left.
Mance said sometimes coaches would come together and discuss who is listed.
If enough coaches vote on one player, that wrestler will become a wild card and make a trip to the
NCAA Championships.
Mance said the only definite ASU has is 2008 SoCon Wrestler of the Year senior Scott Ervin.
“Scotty is a shoe-in,” Mance said. “He’s going no matter what. If he didn’t win a match at the
tournament, he’d still go. He’s been ranked in the top 12 all year. They’d be crazy not to take him.”
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