CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina wrestling team heads to Kansas City, Mo., for the NCAA Championship March 20-22. Seven Tar Heels will be competing at the championship and will look to return UNC to the Top 20. The brackets were announced yesterday at 5 p.m. by the NCAA. The first session of the championship will begin at 12 p.m. EST on Thursday.

Head Coach Bill Lam will guide the Tar Heels for the final time at the NCAA Championship. Lam ended his coaching career at Carolina with a record of 378-131-4 in dual meets which ranks him first in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Lam has had 93 ACC Champions, 36 All-Americans, five NCAA Champions and one NWCA Coach of the Year honor (1982) under his reign.

"I feel really good about the way we wrestled at ACC's," said coach Lam. "We are competing at a high level right now and I hope that it will continue into nationals.

"I think all seven of the guys are ready and I believe that we could get several All-Americans this year."

125-pounder Chris Rodrigues (Marietta, Ga.) was given an 11 seed and will wrestle Hofstra's Pat Flynn in the first round of the tournament. If Rodrigues defeats Flynn, it could set up a potential rematch from the NWCA All-Star Classic between Rodrigues and sixth-seeded Bo Maynes (Oklahoma). Maynes downed Rodrigues 8-0 at the all-star classic on Feb. 3. Rodrigues finsihed eighth at last year's championship earning All-America honors.

Sophomore Evan Sola (Wernersville, Pa.) heads to his second straight national tournament and will face the winner of Rene Hernandez (Purdue) and fourth-seeded Witt Durden (Oklahoma) at 133 pounds. Sola heads into the tournament on a 14-match winning streak and looks to improve on his 0-2 effort as a freshman.

Senior Christopher DiGuiseppe (Holland, Pa.) earned a spot at the national championship as an alternate due to an injury to Virginia's Josh Etu. DiGuiseppe will face Lehigh's Derek Zinck in the first round of the tourney at 157 pounds. He ended the year 4-4 at 157 pounds and 11-10 at 149 pounds.

At 165 pounds, senior Jimmy O'Connor (Woodbine, Md.) will take on Oscar Santiago from Purdue University. O'Connor finished second at the ACC Championship falling to 12th-ranked Dustin Kawa (NC State) 6-5.

Sophomore Mark Canty (Gahanna, Ohio) heads to his second straight NCAA Championship after winning his first ACC title at 174 pounds. Canty will face fifth seed Tyler Nixt from the University of Iowa.

Sophomore Dustin Heist (Meadville, Pa.) was named ACC Most Outstanding Wrestler at the ACC Championship on March 8th after upsetting top seeded Jake Stork from Maryland in the finals. Heist earned a spot in his first national championship this week and will compete against fourth-seeded Scott Barker (Missouri).

Freshman David Dashiell (Chesapeake, Va.) took home his first conference championship two weeks ago and earned a spot at NCAAs at 197 pounds. Dashiell will face 12th-seeded Morgan Horner from Lock Haven University.