UTC WRESTLERS EARN NATIONAL ACADEMIC RANKING

        CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---The 1998-99 Chattanooga wrestling team is ranked 21st in
the 1999 National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Academic Top 25 list, the
NWCA announced
Wednesday.
        This is the second straight year that UTC has been ranked in the Top 25.
Last season, the
squad was rated No. 8.
        The 1998-99 Mocs recorded a team grade point average of 2.84 and were
included in the
list with such wrestling programs as No. 1 Princeton, No. 2 Boston College,
No. 6 Columbia and
No. 7 Harvard.
        “In Chattanooga, we are building on an outstanding tradition and continue
to make our
climb to the top of the NCAA,” UTC head coach Mark Leen said.  “In the last
three years, we
have had two top 15 recruiting classes, two top 25 academic teams and two
Southern Conference
Championships.  That is a testament to the quality of kids that we have in
our program.
        “It is exciting to know that we return virtually everyone from this year’s
team and get three
redshirts back from the 1998 Championship team.”
        The list was compiled by taking the grade point averages of each team’s
starting 10
wrestlers, along with two backups who had competed in at least one varsity
dual match.
        Chattanooga, along with Duke and Virginia, were the only three programs
from the South
represented in the poll.
        The academic honor caps an outstanding season for the Mocs who won their 17th
Southern Conference Wrestling Championship in February and sent three
wrestlers to the NCAA
Championships.
--utc--
May 12, 1999


Jeff Romero
Sports Information Director
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave.
Chattanooga, TN  37403
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W:  423-755-5292        FAX:  423-755-4610