Another year, another top-10 finish for NC State wrestling at the NCAA Championships.
After finishing sixth in 2021 and 10th in 2022, the Wolfpack (14-1) came in 10th once again at the 2023 championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, marking the program’s third-straight top-10 finish.
Three NC State wrestlers finished in the top-10 of their respective weight classes: redshirt junior Trent Hidlay, redshirt sophomore Kai Orine and sophomore Ed Scott, all of whom earned All-American status for their performances.
The three wrestlers had already clinched All-American status by the final day of the three-day competition with Hidlay taking fourth in 184, Scott taking fifth in 157 and Orine taking eighth in 133.
Hidlay finished in the top-five for the third straight season after finishing as the national runner-up in 2021 and taking fifth in 2022. Entering as the 2-seed in the class, Hidlay’s chances at a championship were derailed with a loss in the semifinal to No. 3 Aaron Brooks of Penn State, who beat Hidlay in the 2021 title and ended up winning the title again this time, his third straight.
Hidlay worked his way into the third-place bout in the wrestlebacks where he eventually fell to No. 6 Kaleb Romero of Ohio State by an overtime takedown 3-1, thus taking fourth.
Of NC State’s three All-Americans, Scott had perhaps the most gritty and impressive performance to earn his way into the top-10. After falling out of the championship bracket on Thursday night, Scott reeled off four straight wins in the wrestlebacks before falling into the fifth-place bout, which he won against No. 3 Peyton Robb of Nebraska.
Scott’s run in the wrestlebacks included a win over No. 7 Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech, who Scott lost to in the regular season and again in the ACC Championships, but Scott got the better of him this time.
Orine followed up his surprise ACC Championship win by going 3-3 in Tulsa. After making it to Friday, Orine lost three of his next four bouts, the last of which was a loss in the seventh-place bout to No. 6 Sam Latona of Virginia Tech, who is a familiar nemesis to NC State and beat Orine during the regular season.
Hidlay and Orine were the only two of NC State’s nine wrestlers to remain alive in the championship bracket of their respective classes after Thursday night. The Pack went 8-1 in the first session, but only Hidlay and Orine managed to win their second-session bouts.
A number of NC State wrestlers were upset by lower seeds in the second session, such as sophomore Ryan Jack in 141, Scott in 157, sophomore Isaac Trumble in 197 and redshirt sophomore Owen Trephan in 285. Of the wrestlers who fell out of their championship brackets on Thursday, freshman Jackson Arrington did the best in the wrestlebacks besides Scott, coming within one win of earning All-American status in the 149-pound bracket.
The lone wrestler who didn’t make it out of Thursday was redshirt junior Alex Faison, who lost his first two bouts in the 174-pound bracket.
Penn State successfully defended its title from a year ago by taking two of the 10 individual championships and having another three national runners-up. The Nittany Lions blew everyone else out of the water with a final team score of 137.5 to secure their 10th title in the last 12 tournaments.
NC State finished with a final tally of 48, just one point behind fellow ACC foe Virginia Tech. Of the top-10 schools, five are in the Big Ten, once again proving the conference’s dominance in the sport.
While there were several single-digit-seeded wrestlers who didn’t make it as far as they would have hoped, a 10th-place finish for the Wolfpack is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering the amount of turnover from a season ago.
If this season proved anything, it’s that NC State is here to stay both in the ACC and at the national level. With nearly every starter eligible to return for next year, the Pack could very well make a serious run at its first-ever crown in 2024.
