Cody Cleveland and Jason McCroskey are ready to begin preparations for their third NCAA wrestling tournament trips. Bucky Johnson is going back for the second time. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga teammates Josh Condon and Brandon Wright will be making their initial showings.
Fresh from a Southern Conference tournament victory Saturday evening in Boone, N.C., the quintet and Mocs coaches Heath Eslinger, Rocco Mansueto, Josh Lambrecht and Mike Hatcher are hopeful that their NCAA contingent will grow by two and maybe three before the clock strikes midnight tonight.
There is a good chance that Niko Brown, Prescott Garner and Dean Pavlou will be added to the field by a NCAA coaches tournament selection committee at its meeting today.
Regardless, all of the Mocs – winners, runners-up and reserves – will practice today despite the presence at McKenzie Arena of the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
“The ultimate goal for each of our wrestlers is to be an All-American so we’ll train through that time,” Eslinger said. “Too, we started as a team and we’ll finish as a team.”