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Wrestling Announces 2007-08 Schedule

Jim Beichner

"I think we have a very competitive schedule and we are very pleased with what we have set-up," says Beichner. "We have a number of upperclassmen coming back from last year and other guys that redshirted so we tried to beef up the schedule a little bit."

The Bulls open the season at Alumni Arena with the annual UB Open on November 4. This will be the fourth consecutive season for the event and the second-straight year that it serves as the opening meet of the season. The following two weekends UB will travel to a pair of new events, the Michigan State Open (November 11) and the Body Bar Invitational (November 17). These two highly-competitive events will give the Bulls an opportunity to see a wide variety of different competition this season.

Again this season, the Bulls will return to the Mat Town Tournament (November 24) and the Las Vegas Invitational (November 30-December 1). This season will mark the 26th year for the Las Vegas Invitational, which features more than 40 schools, including many of the top programs from around the nation.

Buffalo returns home for a tri-meet with Appalachian State and Bloomsburg on December 15. The Michigan Duals will mark the final event for the 2007 calendar year on December 30. At Michigan, the Bulls will wrestle two top ten programs, Michigan and Lehigh, as well as Eastern Michigan. The encounter with the Eagles will also serve as the first Mid-American Conference dual meet. The Bulls begin January with a tri-meet at Clarion (January 2) and at home with a quad-meet (January 5) before traveling to DeKalb, IL for a MAC dual with Northern Illinois (January 12).

For the second consecutive season, UB will host the New York State Collegiate Wrestling Championships. Last season, the Bulls finished third at the event, scoring 131.5 points.

"We are very excited to have the New York State's back here for a second year," coach Beichner said. "Last season we ran the first-ever 'B' tournament to coincide with the 'A' tournament at the New York State's which is very nice because a lot of wrestlers gained a lot of experience that weekend and we are happy that we will be able to do that for the second consecutive year."

The Bulls will end the regular season with five dual-meets, beginning with two home duals, first with Ohio on January 26 and then with defending MAC Champion Central Michigan on February 2. Buffalo then hits the road for duals with Kent State (February 10) and Edinboro (February 15) before the final home dual of the season against in-state rival Binghamton on February 24.

"It's a very competitive schedule. Its' a schedule that will test our guys and hopefully they will be able to step-up like they have in the past," Beichner said. "We believe in them, we feel like we have a good, solid foundation and we are very excited to put this group out on the mats and see how they do. We feel that we have an excellent chance to compete at a high-level this year."