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BLACKSBURG - Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard announced Thursday that the Cyclones have worked out an agreement with the National Wrestling Coaches Association to host one of four 2012 Cliff Keen Division I National Dual Meet regionals, Feb. 12, in Hilton Coliseum. Virginia Tech is one of the six teams who were previoused announced to be in that regional.

Regional 1 in Ames will feature three schools that placed among the top eight wrestling squads at the 2011 National Duals in Iowa State (eighth), Wisconsin (third) and Virginia Tech (second). Iowa, which did not compete in the 2011 National Duals and placed third as a team at the NCAA meet, will compete in Ames. Northern Iowa and Oregon State round out the field. The Region 1 winner will advance to the National Dual Meet Championships, to be held Feb. 19 at a to-be-determined campus site.

Ticket information and further details will be announced soon.

“We’ll be in Ames twice now next season and in the midwest four times, which is where we need to be,” said Tech head coach Kevin Dresser. “We’re excited about both trips to Ames and with Iowa in our regional, it means we have our work cut out for us. I like the way we’ve progressed this summer and if we stay healthy, I’m excited to see our guys compete in a difficult and challenging environment.”

The 2011-12 wrestling season will showcase an exciting new format for the NWCA/Cliff Keen Division I National Dual Meet Championships that will feature four regional locations and a culminating championship for the final four teams that advance out of each region. The 24 participating teams for the 2012 event were selected based primarily off the final 2010-11 NWCA Team Rankings as determined by the NWCA/USA Today Division I Coaches Poll.

Region 1 - Iowa State (host), Iowa, Oregon State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Northern Iowa.

Region 2 – Cornell (host), Central Michigan, Oklahoma, Purdue, Illinois and American.

Region 3 – Rutgers (host), Minnesota, Kent State, Michigan, Missouri and Cal Poly.

Region 4 - Oklahoma State (host), Boise State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Wyoming and Tennessee-Chattanooga.

(parts of this release taken from cyclones.com)

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