BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The CSU Bakersfield wrestling squad will celebrate New Year's Day and Jan. 2 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the Southern Scuffle. 

The talent and strength of the teams competing in the Southern Scuffle is absolutely incredible.  Twenty-seven teams will be participating in this year's event, including five teams that finished in the Top 10 at the 2017 NCAA Tournament and one of those is the 2017 National Champion Penn State Nittany Lions.  Twenty four of those teams qualified and competed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

The Southern Scuffle has become one of the premier tournaments to be competing in, as well as invited to at any point in the year.  And that is a testament to CSUB head wrestling coach Manny Rivera and his staff.  The `Runners not competing in the Southern Scuffle a year ago just shows that other top schools and coaches from around the country have not forgotten Coach Rivera and the success of the CSUB wrestling program.

The `Runners are led by a couple seniors that are ranked nationally within their weight class.  Senior Coleman Hammond is ranked 17^th nationally at 157 and senior Matt Williams is ranked 14^th in the 197 weight class. 

The Southern Scuffle can be watched via live stream online at Flowrestling.com and is an all day event on both Jan. 1 and 2.