Wrestling

Wrestling Faces McKendree in Opener
         Look out Belleville, here comes the Cougars.
         The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville wrestling team opens the 2003-2004 dual meet season with a matchup against McKendree on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The match will be contested at Belleville West High School where former SIUE All-American Al Sears is the head coach.
         SIUE Coach Booker Benford will send his lineup against a McKendree program which started wrestling as an intercollegiate sport this past spring.
         Benford said he’ll look to the team’s experienced wrestlers like 165-pounder Matt Oliva (Bartlett), 157-pounder Matt Warren (East Peoria), and 184-pounder Branden Lorek (Bensenville) to set the standard. Benford said he’s simply looking for his wrestlers to compete hard for seven minutes.
         “It will be interesting to see how they do in a dual meet,” said Benford.
         SIUE will have a number of newcomers in the lineup, including 125-pounder Steve Chico (Hammond, Ind.), 134-pounder Steve Peach (Granite City), and 149-pounder Joe Rujawitz (Belleville), who graduated from Belleville West High School.
                  -siue cougars-