Bryan Murphy
Junior Max Rohskopf holds his opponent down while the official gets a close look in the Wolfpack's win over No. 17 Virginia on Jan. 17. Rohskopf won his bout and helped the Wolfpack to a 35-7 win at Dorton Arena.
The NC State wrestling team continued its historic season this past weekend, defeating the No. 16 Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers 28-6 and 24-9 respectively to secure a school-record 20th win of the season.
With the wins, the wrestling team maintained its undefeated season, secured its sixth win against schools ranked in the NWCA top-25 and extended the Pack’s streak of wins by 10 or more points to 11 matches.
The Pack got its road trip started Saturday night against the Panthers, when freshman Sean Fausz got the Wolfpack on the boar with a 6-3 win over LJ Bentely at the 125-pound weight class. After a loss by redshirt freshman Jamal Morris at the 133-pound weight class, sophomore Kevin Jack shut out Mikey Racciato 3-0, giving the Wolfpack a 6-3 lead.
The most thrilling matchup of the meet came when Beau Donahue took the mats against Robert Lee in the 147-pound weight class. Donahue got in an early hole against Lee, falling behind 4-0 after two periods, but clawed his way back and scored the only takedown of the match to secure a 6-5 win, giving the Wolfpack a 9-3 lead.
Redshirt senior No. 4 Tommy Gantt followed up Donahue’s dramatic victory with a dominating tech-fall victory against Ronnie Garbinsky, 25-8. Gantt scored all 10 takedowns in the win to stay undefeated, and put the Wolfpack up 14-3.
Junior Max Rohskopf, junior Pete Renda and sophomore Michael Boykin secured four more wins before redshirt senior Nick Gwiazdowski hit the mats against No. 17 Ryan Solomon.
“Gwiz” dominated Solomon throughout the match, getting a 12-2 major decision, securing the 28-6 win for the Wolfpack. The victory signified Gwiazdowski’s dominance in duals, giving him a perfect 50-0 record in his career.
The Pack made a quick turnaround to travel to Morgantown, West Virginia, for Sunday’s match against the Mountaineers.
The Wolfpack dropped its first match of the day as Fausz fell to Zeke Moisey, but reeled off four-straight victories from Morris, Jack, Donahue and Gantt to give the Wolfpack a 13-3 lead going into intermission. Gantt’s victory against Dylan Cottrell at 157 pounds was the most thrilling of the four wins before intermission.
While both wrestlers seemed evenly matched, Gantt trailed 6-3 in the final period but managed to claw his way back and get a takedown with 10 seconds left in regulation to force sudden victory in Morgantown. Gantt immediately forced a takedown 33 seconds into the extra period to secure a 10-8 win.
The Wolfpack got two wins from Rohskopf and Boykin, as well as two losses from sophomore Nicky Hall and Renda, before Gwiazdowski hit the mats against A.J. Vizcarrondo with the chance for his 100th career win on the line.
Gwiazdowski proved to be too much for Vizcarrondo. The senior from Philadelphia failed to score a single point against the two-time national champion, and Gwiazdowski crushed Vizcarrondo 16-0 to reach 100 career wins and give the Wolfpack the 24-9 victory.
On tap next for the Wolfpack will be three final matchups against top 15 opponents. First will be a road matchup at No. 11 Nebraska, followed by two home matches against No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 5 Missouri.
The Pack will meet the Cornhuskers Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a chance to take the top national ranking.