UPDATE: In the latest edition of the NCAA Division II wrestling rankings released Wednesday afternoon, Shippensburg has entered the national poll at No. 19. Individually, Chris Kochinsky is ranked No. 4 at 125 pounds and Cameron Throckmorton is ranked No. 7 at 133 pounds.

The Shippensburg University wrestling squad returns to the mat on Saturday when it competes in the 70th annual PSAC Wrestling Championships, hosted by Kutztown University. Action gets underway at 9 a.m. inside Keystone Arena.

Competition begins with two rounds of championship matches and two rounds of consolation bouts. The championship finals, which will include matches for third and fifth place, will begin at approximately 6 p.m. with ceremonies slated to open the session at 5:45 p.m.

Single-session tickets, which are good for either the morning or evening session, are $7 for adults and $2 for students, while any students with a valid PSAC school ID will be admitted free. Tournament passes, which are good for both sessions, are $12 for adults and $2 for students.

Shippensburg joins East Stroudsburg, Gannon, Mercyhurst, Millersville and host Kutztown as the Division II programs in the annual tournament. Edinboro, Lock Haven, Clarion and Bloomsburg are Division I programs competing this weekend.

Lock Haven won the first three PSAC titles from 1940-42 before the tournament was suspended during wartime. The league has crowned a champion every year since 1947 and no team had won more than three straight titles until Edinboro's streak of five titles from 2005-09. Clarion won in 2010, but Edinboro reclaimed league supremacy last season.

Shippensburg is seeking its first conference championship. Six Raiders have won individual titles, with the last being Steve Fittery at 141 pounds in 2007.

The Raiders do not have any previous PSAC place-winners in their lineup this weekend but enter the competition with four starters among those in the latest edition of the 2012 Division II Super Region One rankings. A breakdown of probable starters by weight class is listed below:

125: Senior Chris Kochinsky enters the weekend ranked atop Super Region I at 125 pounds and is 3-1 thus far through his final collegiate campaign. A 2011 All-American (4th place), Kochinsky's only loss this season came at the hands of Lock Haven's Bobby Rehm, the defending PSAC champion. Kochinsky is in his fifth and final year of college wrestling, having started his career at Pitt (2008-09 and 2009-10) before transferring to Shippensburg (2010-11, redshirt in 2011-12).

133: Redshirt-freshman Cameron Throckmorton has impressed in his first season with the Raiders, and like Kochinsky, is also ranked atop Super Region I for his weight class. After posting a 10-10 record as a freshman redshirt at North Carolina last season, Throckmorton has won three of his four matches this season – all by major decision.

141: Senior Tyler Erdman is in his second year with the Raider program and has been competing up one weight class during his first season on the mat for SU. He is 2-2 thus far and is fresh off a pin against Millersville last week. A two-time All-American at Elizabethtown (2nd in 2010, 7th in 2009), Erdman also competed in 2011 at the U.S. Greco-Roman Team Trials.
               
149: Freshman Mark Lentz is 1-3 thus far, having recorded a victory by fall in the season-opening dual meet at Waynesburg. 

157: Sophomore Neal Grudi is currently ranked No. 4 in Super Region I at 157 pounds despite just recently re-classifying down one weight class. Grudi is 2-1 thus far in 2012, with his lone match at 157 pounds coming last week against Millersville. Last season, Grudi went 14-14 as a 165-pounder and placed sixth at the Super Region I Championships.

165: Redshirt-freshman Bobby Scheivert has emerged as a regular in the middle weights. Despite just a 1-3 record thus far, Scheivert has already wrestled at three different weight classes – with two of his three defeats occurring when wrestling up. Last year, Scheivert was injured in the opening dual meet of the season versus Ithaca and later applied for a medical redshirt.

174: Sophomore Luke Etter is ranked No. 6 in Super Region 1 at 174 pounds and has won both of his bouts thus far in 2012. Etter posted a solid 14-10 record last year in his first season as a Raider, earning bonus points four times, before closing out his campaign by placing sixth at the Super Region 1 Championships. He began his career as a redshirt with Bloomsburg.

184: Junior Jimmy Knapp is in his first year with the SU wrestling team and has competed twice this season, dropping a pair of matches against Division I opponents.

197: Freshman Francis Slover is another newcomer to the Raider wrestling program and made his debut last week in a dual meet against Millersville. Slover missed time early in the year because of injury but has recovered and figures to be SU's regular this year at 197 pounds.

285: Junior Dan Fultz competed primarily as a 197-pounder last year but is 1-3 wrestling up as a heavyweight this season. His victory this season came in the opener at Waynesburg by fall. Fultz also recorded two pins last season for the Raiders.

Returning 2012 PSAC Champions: Bobby Rehm (125, Lock Haven), A.J. Schopp (133, Edinboro), Mitchell Port (141, Edinboro), Dave Habat (149, Edinboro), Frank Hickman (157, Bloomsburg [Most Outstanding Wrestler]), Ernest James (285, Edinboro)