Ewing, NJ…The College of New Jersey will serve as host for the 2006 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships on March 3-4. The event will bring 160 of the nation’s best Division III wrestlers, their coaches, families and friends to campus. The two-day event will crown the 2006 NCAA Division III Team Champion as well as the ten individual weight class champions by tournament’s end on Saturday night.

The 2006 tournament marks the fourth time in the tournament’s 33-year history of the NCAA Division III Tournament that TCNJ has served as the host for the prestigious event. TCNJ has served as the host of the tournament in 1986, 1992, and 1999. The last time the Student Recreation Center was the tournament host, Wartburg College (Waverly, IA) captured the NCAA Division III crown. Augsburg College (Minneapolis, MN) is the tournament’s defending team champion having bested Wartburg last year, 162-104.5 in the team standings.

TCNJ has finished in the Top 25 in each of the tournament’s previous 32 years, a feat no other Division III program has attained.

Competitors will begin arriving on the Ewing campus on March 1. Action opens on Friday, March 3 with the first session at 11:00 a.m. and continues through March 4 with the championship matches on Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.

On Thursday, March 2, the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame will take place in conjunction with the tournament as the newest members will be enshrined. The class of 2006 includes: The 2006 NCWA Division III Hall of Fame class includes wrestlers, TCNJ’s Glen Sandull (Kenilworth, NJ), Jamal Fox of Wartburg College (IA), Mike Helm of Messiah College (PA) as well as coaches Kevin Pueblo of Augustana College (IL), Rusty Carlson of Rhode Island College.