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    Lehigh University Sports Information •

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    Lehigh welcomes Drexel tonight

    BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The 102nd season of Lehigh wrestling officially begins Friday night as the 17th-ranked Mountain Hawks host the Drexel Dragons. Lehigh returns six starters from a team that posted a 16-3-1 dual meet record a year ago. The Mountain Hawks will be led by their upper weights, with four returning NCAA qualifiers, including junior Zach Rey who is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation at heavyweight. Lehigh will face a Drexel team that was 9-13 a year ago. Drexel coach Jack Childs is in his 35th and final season at the helm of the Dragon program and brings a team littered with Lehigh Valley products to town. Long Island native Joe Booth is Drexel’s lone ranked wrestler.

    After 101 seasons, Lehigh’s all-time dual meet record stands at 824-383-23, which ranks sixth among all Division I wrestling programs. Lehigh has won at least 12 duals in each of the last 11 seasons.

    Four upperclassmen will serve as captains for Lehigh in the 2010-11 season. Fourth-year juniors Brandon Hatchett and Rey along with true junior Joe Kennedy and third-year sophomore Robert Hamlin will captain the Mountain Hawks. All four wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships last season and all four are ranked in the preseason top 20 by Amateur Wrestling News. The four captains also comprise four of the five heaviest weight classes giving the Mountain Hawks strength at the back end of their lineup.

    Lehigh begins its 102nd season of wrestling Friday night. The Mountain Hawks have won both of their season openers under Pat Santoro, defeating Maryland in 2008 and Rider last year. Lehigh has opened its season against Drexel once before, winning 20-16 in Bethlehem on Nov. 16, 1994.

    Drexel also opens its season on Friday nightThe Dragons posted a 9-13 record last season and took fourth at the Colonial Athletic Association championships. Drexel qualified a pair of wrestlers for the NCAA Championships, including Joe Booth, who returns for his sophomore season. Booth was the CAA Co-Rookie of the Year last year and comes in ranked 20th nationally at 157.

    Lehigh has never lost a dual meet to Drexel as the Mountain Hawks lead the all-time series 15-0. The series began in 1992 and the teams have squared off once every season with four exceptions: 1998-99, 1999-00, 2004-05 and 2009-10.

    The Lehigh-Drexel match gets underway at 7 p.m. from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME, by visiting the Lehigh Ticket Office located in Grace Hall or by logging on to Lehighsports.com.
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