NC State’s wrestling team added to its historic season during spring break by winning the ACC Championship March 6 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
This marks the first time since 2007 that the Wolfpack has won a conference championship and the 15 conference title in school history. The Wolfpack came into the tournament ranked No. 2 in the final coaches’ poll, with a 23-1 regular season (4-1 ACC) record, the best in school history. It avenged its only loss of the season to Virginia Tech by topping the Hokies 90-81.5 in the tournament.
The Wolfpack had four No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds coming into the tournament. All four No. 1 seeds, including sophomore Kevin Jack at 141 pounds, junior Max Rohskopf at 165 pounds and redshirt seniors Tommy Gantt and Nick Gwiazdowski at 157 and 285 pounds, respectively, took first-place honors at the podium. Rohskopf repeated as back-to-back ACC champion and Gwiazdowski earned his third-straight ACC heavyweight title.
The two No. 2 seeds, redshirt freshman Sean Fausz at 125 pounds and junior Pete Renda at 184 pounds, both finished as the runners-up in their respective weight classes.
Additionally, redshirt freshman Jamal Morris at 133 pounds and sophomore Michael Boykin at 197 pounds each brought home third-place honors. All eight of the aforementioned wrestlers earned automatic bids to the NCAA tournament, tying the school record.
The team’s success can certainly be at least partly attributed to the head coach. Since Pat Popolizio became head coach in 2012, the team has continued to improve and be successful. Last season it finished 16-6 (3-2 ACC), which was then the third-best record in school history, and finished 16th in the nation, which was the highest team finish since 1993.
Gwiazdowski has also been a major factor in the team’s success while setting records of his own in the process. In addition to his three ACC individual titles, he won back-to-back national heavyweight titles in 2014 and 2015. He is the first wrestler in school history to win multiple NCAA titles and only the third to do so in the history of the ACC.
Gwiazdowski enters the NCAAs with an unbeaten record and a No. 1 seed for the second year in a row and looks to win his third-straight national title. If he is successful, he will be only the second wrestler in ACC history to do so and only the third heavyweight in NCAA history to do so.
In total, six of the eight Wolfpack wrestlers will enter the tournament seeded. Gantt will enter as the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds, Jack the No. 3 seed at 141 pounds, Rohskopf the No. 5 seed at 165 pounds, Boykin the No. 12 seed at 197 pounds and Renda the No. 13 seed at 184 pounds.
The NCAA tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden from Thursday until Saturday. All matches will be streamed on ESPN3, and ESPN will cover the semifinals and finals. The Wolfpack will attempt to bring home the national championship and cap off its historic season with the perfect ending.
