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    Tennessee Chattanooga wins SoCon title

    CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chattanooga won five individual Southern Conference wrestling titles Saturday and claimed its 23rd overall SoCon Championship.

    The Mocs, the only current or former SoCon member to win more than 10 league crowns, produced weight class winners at 125 pounds, 141, 157, 174 and 184. Chattanooga took the team title with 104.5 points, edging Appalachian State who finished second with 86.5 points.

    Each individual champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships, held in St. Louis March 20-22.

    "I'm disappointed that we didn't qualify more guys," UTC Head Coach Chris Bono said. "But I am very proud of our team. We had eight guys in the finals. All five of our champions had outstanding tournaments. We won't win the NCAAs, but we can make some noise and come home with a few All-America certificates if we continue to work next week."

    UNC Greensboro, which placed third with 71.5 points, had three champions and a runnerup. The Mountaineers ended up with one champion, two-time titlist Scott Ervin at 149, and put four others in the championship finals. Ervin was the Co-Wrestler of the Year and edged UTC's Joey Knox, 4-3.

    VMI rounded out the division winners as heavyweight Josh Wine, seeded third, edged UNCG's top-seeded Ryan Hsu, 4-3. Wine was the only non-No. 1 seed to earn a title.

    UTC's Javier Maldonado completed an undefeated SoCon career to win the 125-pound title. He won his third straight 125-pound championship with a 15-4 major decision over Davidson's Ben Altman. Maldonado, a senior, finished with a remarkable 22-0 record against SoCon opponents.

    Cody Cleveland was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler, recording two first-period pins for the Mocs to take home the 141-pound trophy. He pinned Davidson's Ben Wilmore at 2:08 in the semifinals and won the title with a fall at 2:16 over runnerup Marcus Cox of ASU.

    Seth Garvin and Lloyd Rogers joined Cleveland as first-time SoCon Champions. Garvin was the 157-pound winner, defeating Appalachian State's Eddie Hutchinson, 8-2. Rogers, the Co-Wrestler of the Year, registered a 12-5 victory over ASU's Neal Martin at 174.

    UTC senior Josh Edmondson claimed his second straight SoCon title with an 8-3 decision over ASU's Austin Trotman in the 184-pound match.

    UNCG placed three wrestlers at the top of the medal stand. Jeff Hedges defeated ASU's Terreyl Williams, 6-4 at 133, Byron Sigmon beat UTC's Nick Davis, 3-0 at 165 and Darren Burns was a 2-1 overtime winner over UTC's Matt Koz at 197.

    Joey Knox (149), Nick Davis (165) and Koz were runnerups for the Mocs. Senior Steve Hromada finished third at 133.

    The Southern Conference receives five wildcard entrants to the NCAA Championships. Representing the SoCon in addition to the 10 champions are Hromada, Knox and Koz from Chattanooga and Trotman and Williams from Appalachian State.

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