BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell has announced its 2018-19 wrestling schedule, featuring four home dates and a full Southern Conference slate.

"We are looking forward to the changes we made this season in regard to our schedule," said head coach Cary Kolat, entering his fifth year leading the Camels. "We will be competing in two events that will feature many ranked wrestlers from around the country, starting with the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in early December. This event has featured the highest ranked teams and wrestlers consistently each year. Later in the same month, we will compete in the prestigious Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern University."

"This year's schedule will focus more on building our athletes individually during the front half of the season, and the back half will move us into team building with our conference schedule," added Kolat.

The Camels will kick off the year with the annual Orange vs. Black meet during Campbell's 2018 Homecoming festivities on October 27. The meet will again take place in front of the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center at 11:30 a.m.

The Camels will open the regular season at Virginia Tech's Hokie Open on Sunday, November 4. The Hokie Open is one of six open format tournaments on the 2018-19 schedule.

Campbell will make its home debut on Saturday, November 10, welcoming Ohio in its lone home nonconference dual of the season.

A week later, CU will make return trips to the Navy Classic (November 17) and the North Carolina State Wolfpack Open (November 18) on consecutive days. Last season, both Nathan Boston and Quentin Perez placed third at the Navy Classic, while Korbin Meink took fifth.

A pair of two-day open tournaments will follow for the Camels, heading to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational November 30-December 1, followed by the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships December 29-30. Both featuring top-level competition from around the country, the Las Vegas Invitational, heading into its 37^th year, will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, while the Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern, will return to the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., for the 56^th annual event in 2018.

Closing out regular season tournament action will be a trip to the Franklin & Marshall Open on January 5. Camels racked up 30 individual wins in last year's event. Campbell's final outing before its SoCon slate begins will be a neutral site meeting against Franklin & Marshall in Richmond, Va. on January 12.

The Camels' SoCon opener will be Sunday, January 20 at defending conference champion Appalachian State. CU then heads to Charleston, S.C. on February 3 for a matchup against The Citadel. Last season, six Camels notched pins in a 44-6 victory over the Bulldogs.

Three of Campbell's final four SoCon duals will be in Buies Creek, starting with Gardner-Webb on February 5. The Camels will host in-state foe Davidson on February 15 before welcoming VMI in their regular season finale on February 16. Campbell combined to defeat GWU, Davidson and VMI by a 134-7 score in 2017-18.

Campbell will also head to Chattanooga on February 10.

The 2019 SoCon Championships will be hosted by Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. on March 2. Five Camels medaled at the 2018 SoCon Championships, highlighted by Jere Heino's title at heavyweight.

The NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held March 21-23 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Heino and Quentin Perez both made the tournament field for the second straight year in 2018, with Heino taking a top-12 finish.