A light weight state champ from Illinois and a junior college national champ who is a UTC wrestling legacy have signed with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for the 2015-16 wrestling season.
Cody Minnick is a two-time 1A Illinois state champ and according to UTC coach Heath Eslinger he should be in the mix to replace senior and NCAA qualifier Sean Boyle at 125 and wrestle four years at that weight 125 for the Mocs.
Former Georgia high school state champ Bryce Carr (West Laurens HS) won the NJCAA national championship in February for Darton State College (Albany, Ga.) and will wrestle at 165 for the Mocs next season.
He was 34-1 this past season and the four opponents (2nd-3rd-4th-8th) he beat in the tournament were All-Americans.
Carr’s wrestling career has mirrored what his dad (Gerald Carr) did on the mat who was a three-time Georgia state champ at West Laurens (1990-91-92) and a juco national champ for Lassen J.C. (Calif.) and selected as the NJCAA tourney outstanding wrestler in 1995.
Gerald wrestled for the Mocs in 1993, was Southern Conference champion and SoCon freshman of the year and an NCAA qualifier. He also wrestled two years for Minnesota after Lassen and was also an NCAA qualifier.
“I am thrilled that Bryce will be wrestling for the Mocs next season which will make it easy for the family to attend the home matches,” said Carr Friday.
“It is also special that he won his junior college national championship 20 years after I did.”
And the dad and coach Eslinger hope Bryce can add another SoCon title to the Carr family trophy case and a trip to the NCAAs.
Notes: In 1995, Gerald Carr led Lassen JC to a tie with Garden City (Okla.) JC for the national team title…Garden City’s coach was Mark Leen who would become the UTC coach in 1996 replacing Ralph Manning.