The Spartans opened up their first conference dual of the season with a win at the 157-pound weight class. Senior Mark Ring blanked The Citadel's Keith Koziel with 8-0 decision. With the win, the Glassboro, NJ native is now 4-7 overall, 1-0 SoCon.
Sophomore Byron Sigmon collected his third fall of the season at 165 lbs. Sigmon, from Claremont, NC, pinned the Bulldogs' Brenden Prince in 2:20. He improved to an even 8-8 overall record, 1-0 in the SoCon.
First-year Mikal McKee tacked on his ninth win of the season with a 15-6 major decision victory over The Citadel's 174-pound Derek Sickel. A native of Asheville, NC, McKee was the youngest Spartan wrestler to place at the 2007 UNCG Southern Scuffle held last weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum and Special Events Center. He moved to a 9-8 overall record, 1-0 SoCon.
The Spartans held a 14-0 team score advantage going into the day's fourth match before The Citadel was able to put up three points of their own.
184-pound Darius Caldwell nabbed The Citadel's first and only win of the dual with a 3-1 decision over UNCG's Nick Clark. Clark, a senior from Cohocton, NY dropped to a 2-8 overall record, 0-1 in the conference.
UNCG's only nationally ranked wrestler, senior Daren Burns blanked The Citadel in the197-pound match to put points back in the win column for the Spartans. Burns, a native of Catawba, NC won a 3-0 decision over John Buck and extended the home-gym lead to 17-3.
Currently ranked 11th at 197 lbs., Burns is now 21-3 on the season, 93-30 in his career. The win moved him even closer to surpassing UNCG's all-time career win record of 98-25 set by Joe Stanton (1993-97).
A native of Winston-Salem, junior Ryan Hsu tabbed his 12th win of the season with a close, 4-3 victory over The Citadel's Aaron Brown in the heavyweight bout.
At 125 lbs., Laurinburg, NC native, Mitchell Johnson defeated the Bulldog's Tyler Sim with a 6-4 decision. Johnson is now 6-9 overall, 1-0 SoCon.
Jeff Hedges continued to show his determination and leadership on the mats as he won a fall victory in the 133-pound bout. The senior from Havre, MT pinned The Citadel's Anthony Easter in one minute to improve to a 12-9 overall, 1-0 SoCon record.
Ben Wilmore (2-6, 1-0 SoCon) won the Spartan's eighth match of the day in the 141-pound weight class. The senior from Fort Worth, TX held the Bulldog's Michael Arias scoreless to win a 7-0 decision.
In the final match of the day, UNCG's 149-pound Marcus Hannah defeated The Citadel's Derek Royster with an 8-6 decision. Hannah improved to 7-3 overall, 1-0 SoCon.
The Spartans are back in action next Sunday, January 13 as they travel to Boone, NC to take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Matches are set to begin at 2pm.
For more news on UNCG wrestling, ticket prices, a complete season schedule, and all other Spartan athletic information log onto www.UNCGSpartans.com.
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