Clarion University= s NCAA Division I Wrestling team travels to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, January 8^th as the Golden Eagles participate in the A Buckeye Duals@ .

Clarion will open competition at 11am against Ohio University, then meet #3 ranked Illinois at 2:30pm and finish the day meeting #24 Northern Illinois at 4:15pm.

The Ohio University meet will be broadcast on WCCR-FM (C-93) and on Redzone at redzonemedia.com.

The Golden Eagles enter the duals with a 2-4 overall dual meet record under eighth year head coach Ken Nellis. Clarion was 1-2 at the Penn State duals defeating Mercyhurst (27-13), while losing to Penn State (41-3) and Pitt-Johnstown (27-15). At the Clarion duals on December 19^th the Eagles defeated Drexel (23-16), then lost to Pitt-Johnstown (24-12) and Kent State (30-17).

Clarion will be paced by senior 141-pounder Frank Edgar (Toms River, N.J.), and junior 157-pounder Chris Horning (Syracuse, N.Y.) who are ranked 12^th in the nation. Edgar has a season record of 24-5 and a career mark of 104-51. Horning meanwhile is 16-3 this season and 58-32 in his Clarion career.

The Clarion lineup will be Toby Seger (3-11, Fr. Glenshaw) at 125, Chris Lape (7-6, So. Coraopolis) at 133, Edgar at 141, T. J. McCance (10-8, So. Butler) at 149, Horning at 157, Marcus Surin (16-5, Sr. Spring Valley, N.Y.) At 165, Chris Goings (4-10, Fr. Centerville, Va.) At 174, Dave Gardner (6-8, So. N. Huntingdon) at 184, Charlie Cilinski (1-7, Jr. Gainesville, Va.) at 197 and John Fager (9-7, Jr. West Jordan, Utah) at heavyweight.

Ohio University, led by eighth year head coach Joel Greenlee, has the Bobcats entering the duals with a 3-3 overall record. Wins were against Drexel (30-12), Findaly (27-8) and Ohio State (21-9). Losses were to Army (22-16), UT Chattanooga (26-14) and Missouri (38-9). The Bobcats will be led by 2004 NCAA runner-up Jake Percival at 157 pounds and heavyweight Jeremiah Beltran who was the MAC Champ last year and 1-2 at nationals.

Third ranked Illinois, under 12^th year head coach Mark Johnson, has the A Fighting Illini@ out to an impressive start coming off a first place finish at the prestigious Midlands Tournament. Illinois had 9 placewinners at the Midlands and featured 1 champion with 133-pounder Mark Jayne, who is currently 12-0. Also placing second was Alex Tirapelle (157-pounder) who now is 14-1. Top ten ranked wrestlers also include #2 Kyle Ott at 125, #5 Pete Friedl at 174 and #3 Brian Glynn at 184.

Northern Illinois, led by eighth year head coach Dave Grant, is off to a 2-2 start and ranked #24 in the nation. The Huskies have defeated Purdue (29-9) and Loras (35-9), while losing to Wisconsin (27-12) and Northwestern (21-13). Top wrestlers include #14 Sam Hiatt (10-2) at 133 and #20 Johnny Galloway (11-2) at 165, along with Tyler Bruesewitz (9-3) at 184 and Chad Vandiver (8-4) at 125.

CLARION NOTES: The Golden Eagles will travel to Slippery Rock next Thursday for a 7pm match at Morrow Field House before returning to Tippin Gym on Sunday, Jan. 16 to host EWL foe West Virginia at 2pm.