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BLACKSBURG - Members of the Virginia Tech wrestling team will be back in action this weekend as the squad will send wrestlers to the Midlands Championships in Illinois and the Southern Scuffle in Tennessee. Eleven Hokies are scheduled to compete in the 49th Annual Midlands Championships on Dec. 29 & 30 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., on the campus of Northwestern University while the rest of the squad will head to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1 & 2, hosted by Tennessee-Chattanooga.

The Midlands is one of the top tournaments of the year and will give the Tech starters a chance to pick up some quality wins that will help them come postseason. Ticket information, 2011 results as well as past results and other information can be found on Northwestern’s athletic website.

The Scuffle moves from Greensboro to Chattanooga this year after UNCG dropped its wrestling program. Tech’s backups will face a tough field that will test them as the continue to try and improve at the college level. Updated results and brackets can be found at trackwrestling.com throughout the two days.

Following the tournaments, the team will jump back into dual meet action, hosting No. 13 Maryland on Jan. 8 at Cassell Coliseum. NASCAR star Kevin Harvick will serve as the guest coach for that match.

Below are the probable participants for both tournaments as submitted by the coaching staff. These could change based on injuries and other factors leading up to the events.

Midlands Championships (Dec. 29-30)
125: Jarrod Garnett (unattached)
125: Erik Spjut
133: #4 Devin Carter
141: Zach Neibert
149: Nick Murray
157: Cameron Hurd
165: #13 Pete Yates
174: Chris Moon
184: John Dickson
197: Nick Vetterlein
285: Chris Penny

Southern Scuffle (Jan. 1-2)
125: Matt Peters
133: Jordan O'Donnell
133: Tom Reynolds
149: Chris Mears
149: Lex Ozias (unattached)
157: Matt Stephens
157: Chad Strube
165: Issah Meade
174: Austin Gabel (unattached)
174: Bubba Scheffel (unattached)
184: Angelo Malvestuto
197: Darren Hankins
285: Dan Garwood
285: Bobby Lavelle (unattached)

For updates on Virginia Tech wrestling, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Wrestling).