The N.C. State men’s wrestling team finished fourth at the ACC wrestling championships in Chapel Hill and in the process qualified four wrestlers for the national tournament at St. Louis, Mo. later this month.
Freshman Coltin Fought, Sophomore Matt Nereim and seniors Darius Little and Colton Palmer all snagged automatic qualification spots.
The Pack started off the day with a bang with Fought pinning Bryan Bokoski from North Carolina merely 42 seconds into the match. However Fought was unable to keep up the momentum going into the semi-finals as he fell to the No.1 seed from Maryland, Matt Snyder.
Despite the setback Fought, fought his way through the consolation semi-finals and won the consolation final against Virginia Tech’s Erik Spjut securing the national bid in the 125-pound category.
In the 141-pound group, Little being the second-seed got a bye in the first round. However he didn’t look like he was short of match practice as he dominated his opponent Zach Neibert from start to finish and clinched his place in the 141-pound championship match.
Little went into the championships claiming how much he wanted to avenge his loss to Virginia’s Nick Nelson from earlier in the year and almost pulled it off but it proved a bridge too far for the Thomasville native as he fell 2-3 in the second tie-breaker round. It was the second time in as many years that Little fell in the championship match.
Sophomore Matt Nereim entered the tournament as the fourth seed and brushed past his first round opponent before pinning the first seed from Virginia, Gus Sako within barely a minute into the match.
Like Little, Nereim’s luck ran out in the final as well as he fell to Tech’s Nick Brachetta 4-8 in the final.
In the 157-pound category, Senior Colton Palmer who has won the maximum number of games by a fall amongst active wrestlers on the Pack’s roster, showed a lack of belief and resilience, losing in the first round to Virginia Tech’s Cameron Hurd 2-8.
Despite the blip, Palmer came back strongly pinning his opponent in the consolation semi-finals before extracting his revenge on Hurd by defeating him 7-5 to clinch an automatic bid in the nationals.
Senior Quinton Godley ranked No. 22 in the nation, owing to his second seed coming into the championship also received a bye. However it turned out to be for the worse for Godley as he lost his semi-final match-up to Virginia Tech’s Chris Moon in extra-time.
Godley did salvage some pride winning the consolation finals but it proved to be insufficient with only the top-2 in the 174-pound category earning national bids.
Freshman Robert O’Neil competing in the 184-pound category looked at ease against his opponent from Virginia Tech, holding a steady advantage through all three rounds, going on to win 10-6.
O’Neil however lost by a technical foul in the semi-finals and fell in the consolation finals finishing fourth overall in the 184-pound category.
Maryland won the overall title with 83 points while State finished the day with 47.5 points and will be next in action at the NCAA championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., between March 15 and 17.
