From Mongolia (and Alaska) to Omaha

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the two wrestlers The Citadel is sending to the NCAA championships this week are from Mongolia and Alaska.

"Two toughest places on earth," says the Alaskan, Bulldogs heavyweight Odie Delaney.

Delaney, a sophomore, and freshman Turtogtokh Luvsandorj, who is from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, will represent The Citadel at college wrestling's version of March Madness starting today at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

Delaney, a native of Willow, Alaska, earned his second straight bid to the NCAA championships by winning the Southern Conference heavyweight crown this season. Luvsandorj (his name is pronounced Tur-tog-tuck Love-sand-orj) won the 157-pound title as the Bulldogs finished second in the SoCon tournament, their best finish since 2005.

As Delaney implied, both wrestlers grew up in remote areas (from a Lowcountry perspective, anyway) with harsh climates and their own wrestling cultures before finding their way to the mainland, and then to The Citadel.

Luvsandorj's hometown of Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia, the Asian country sandwiched between Russia and China. Ulaanbaatar has a population of about one million people, is located 4,300 feet above sea level and is the coldest national capital in the world, with the average temperature ranging from 3 to 43 degrees from October through April.

Wrestling is "our national sport" in Mongolia, Luvsandorj said, part of the culture of "Three Manly Skills" that also include horsemanship and archery. "Everybody wrestles in Mongolia," he said. "My father, my brother, my cousins, everybody."

At age 15, Luvsandorj and his twin brother left their family behind to come to the United States, where they attended St. Benedict's, a prep school in Newark, N.J.

Neither brother spoke English when they arrived at St. Benedict's, where they lived in dorms. The twin brother returned to Mongolia after a year, but Luvsandorj stuck it out and was a standout wrestler for the Gray Bees, earning high school All-America honors and earning the attention of Bulldogs coach Rob Hjerling.

At The Citadel, Luvsandorj quicky established himself as one of the Bulldogs' best. He's 26-10 this season with six pins, and has won 15 of his last 16 matches.

"Turtog has been awesome, man," Delaney said. "He's invaluable to our team. He sets the example for work ethic in our room."

At 6-4 and 235 pounds, Delaney is no slouch in that department. He came to The Citadel via Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., where he moved after growing up wrestling and hunting moose in Alaska. He's 29-11 this season with 15 pins, and he has shined since moving up from 197 pounds to heavyweight.

Delaney is often outweighed by up to 50 pounds or more, but makes up for it with leverage and stamina.

"They get tired," Delaney said. "Those big guys have a lot of weight to move around for seven minutes. Staying on them for seven minutes wears heavyweights out real fast. They break toward the end."

Delaney was 0-2 at the NCAA championships last year, but hopes that experience will help him toward his goal of a top eight finish and All-America status.

"It's pretty epic out there," he said. "There are thousands of people in the stands watching, and it can be pretty overwhelming for your first time. I've learned not to look up into the stands. If you look up, the butterflies will get you."

Both wrestlers will have tough opening matches. Luvsandorj opens with No. 12 seed Steven Brown (13-3), a redshirt senior from Central Michigan. Delaney gets No. 4 seed Konrad Dudziak (14-0), a redshirt senior from Duke who was second in the nation last season. Dudziak defeated Delaney, 10-3, earlier this season.