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GREENSBORO -- Go ahead and blame Southern hospitality.

UNCG's wrestling tournament, the Southern Scuffle, has one of its strongest fields this year and appears to be gaining ground on the 47-year-old Midlands Wrestling Championships in Chicago.

The Scuffle has only been around since 2003, and it's contested on the same days as the Midlands tournament that has attracted top college wrestling teams for decades.

But this year, most of the nation's top-10 wrestlers in the 125-pound class will be at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center for the tournament, which starts today, along with seven top-25 Division I teams, two returning NCAA champions and nine all-Americans.

Rob Koll, head coach for ninth-ranked Cornell, has brought his team to the Scuffle since the tournament's start.

"I hope they keep having it," he said. "I've burned all my bridges to the Midlands, so if they don't have (the Scuffle), then I'm (in trouble)."

He recruits other teams to come to the UNCG event because of the hospitality and access provided to wrestlers.

"The difference is that you're honored to be there, at Midlands," he said. "And at the Scuffle, they're honored to have you."

Former UNCG wrestling coach Tom Shifflet, who once worked under Koll, organized the first 35-team meet.

When Shifflet left in 2006 to coach Hofstra University, the tournament remained a UNCG production.

"It originally started as a deal to bring better wrestling to the South and give people the opportunity to compete against those big teams," said Jason Loukides, the Spartans' current head coach.

"It's really growing in North Carolina, and in general," Loukides said of wrestling and the tournament.

Along with access to facilities and typically warmer weather than Chicago, Loukides said that he's heard from other coaches that food at the Scuffle is tasty.

Food is special to wrestlers, who are sometimes known to skip meals just to make weight for tournaments.

And after an 8 a.m. weigh-in today, wrestlers will take to the mats against one-another in 64-man championships across weight classes from 125 pounds to heavyweight. Finals will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cornell and Hofstra will be there along with ranked programs from No. 5 Minnesota, No. 13 Indiana, No. 22 Virginia and others.

"I recruit for the Scuffle," Koll said, "and I talked to the Indiana coach and Michigan coach, and I talked to a lot of others."

Those two colleges will be there for the first time, and UNCG hopes, for years to come.

"We just want to keep running a quality event and, strength-wise, we want to build some history," Loukides said.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com