March 18, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - After spending much of the season ranked among the nation's best in their respective weight classes, North Carolina juniors Justin Dobies and Keegan Mueller open the 2008 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Thursday in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center. Action will begin at noon Eastern Thursday and will continue through Saturday night's finals.

ESPNU/ESPN360.com will air the quarterfinals live at 11 a.m. Friday, March Additionally, ESPNU will be producing and syndicating live coverage of the semifinals beginning at 7 p.m. that same day. On Saturday morning, ESPNU will carry the medal rounds live at 11 a.m. ESPN/ESPN360.com will air the championships live later that evening at 8:30 p.m.

Both Dobies and Mueller are making their first-ever appearance at nationals.

The Atlantic Coast Conference heavyweight champion, Dobies brings a 29-6 record into his first appearance at nationals. He will square off against eighth-seeded Ryan Gritter (25-4) of Central Michigan. Dobies, who is in his first season at heavyweight after wrestling at 184 over the last three years, is ranked 15th in the latest InterMat rankings, while Gritter checks in at No. 8.

Mueller, who is 28-4 at 165 pounds, will open Thursday against 10th-seeded Michael Cannon (26-3) of American. He had a string of 22 straight victories snapped in a loss in the ACC finals two weeks ago. Mueller is ranked 12th, just one spot behind Cannon at No. 11.

Carolina has produced 21 All-Americas. Evan Sola was the most recent honoree from Carolina in 2005.