ROANOKE (WSLS) Ferrum College will host the 2015 NCAA Division III East Region Wrestling Championship at the Berglund Center in Roanoke on March 1st. Roanoke Valley veteran wrestling administrator Larry Hall will serve as tournament director. Hall has served as Tournament Director for 28 consecutive VHSL state wrestling tournaments and 6 Hokie Opens in Blacksburg. Hall says it's been 30 years since they brought wrestling to the--then Roanoke Civic center, when a winter storm caused what he termed a rough weekend for the VHSL AAA Wrestling tournament.
Ferrum Head Coach Nate Yetzer sees a ton of positives for his program with the announcement. "I think it is great for our fans, I think its great for recruiting, and its great to build a fan base. I think that's super important. And it is two less days we have to travel. It's good for our guys, I think they compete better when they are around family and friends, explains Yetzer. "
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"We have a huge open floor space which is great so they can utilize six mats, which is more than they had last year and more than they can do on site so its a really big advantage to having it here. Also with the ticketing --we can do everything on-line and push advance tickets for them. It's just and advantage to what they can do on campus, "says Berglund center assistant general manager Michael Kremer.
The Ferrum wrestling program returned after a thirty year hiatus three years ago and began wrestling at the NCAA Division III level last year (2013-2014). There are 19 East Region teams coming to Roanoke from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. Workouts will begin on Saturday February 28th with wrestling for the one day event beginning at 9 AM Sunday morning.