UTC’s Niko Brown celebrates a win at Maclellan Gym.The Southern ScuffleAt McKenzie ArenaAdmission — $5 18-under, $15 adultsMondayNoon — workout areas available at McKenzie Arena main floor and UTC wrestling room.7 p.m. — team and individual registrationTuesday9 a.m. — ticket office and doors open to public10 — pigtail and round of 321:30 p.m. — pigtail & consolation first rounds3:30 — Round of 16 (eight mats)5 — consolation second round6:30 — championship quarterfinals; consolation third roundWednesday9 a.m. — Doors open10 — consolations fourth roundNoon — semifinals; consolation quarterfinals2 p.m. — consolation semifinals6 — Medal-round matchesThe 2013 fieldAir Force, American University, Appalachian State, Arizona State, Army, Boston College, Campbell, The Citadel, Cleveland (Ohio) State, Cornell, Duke, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Ohio, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, Penn State, South Dakota State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UTC.
Niko Brown struggled the last time he wrestled at McKenzie Arena.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior, severely limited by torn rib cage cartilage, won his first match but then lost two straight and finished out of the medals in the 2012 Southern Conference tournament.
He’s back, though, and stronger and faster. He also is carrying a new mindset into his return to McKenzie for the loaded Southern Scuffle on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I took it as a positive. I knew I wasn’t going to wrestle really well,” said Brown, who already had battled back in the 2011-12 season from a torn MCL. “I decided that instead of moping I wanted to succeed that much more the next year. My parents were like ‘Whoa,’ because I had always blamed somebody else. At that point I asked God to get me ready for this season.”