Nick pironio
When the ACC wrestling tournament begins Saturday in Lexington, Va., on the campus of the Virginia Military Institute, N.C. State could send top seeded wrestlers to the mat in five of the 10 weight classes.
The seeding is not officially set until Friday, but with at least a tie for the best individual record in half the weight classes, coach Carter Jordan said he feels good about the team’s chances for a championship.
“We feel real good about having four or possibly five No. 1 seeds,” Jordan said. “It puts us in a great position to win the [tournament].”
Two of the possible top seeds are freshmen Ryan Goodman and Joe Caramanica.
Goodman, who is ranked No. 13 nationally at 197 pounds, said he expects to win the championship in his first try.
“I expect to win, not because I think it’ll be easy, just because I expect to be at my best,” Goodman said. “I just [have] to keep working hard.”
Caramanica, who posted a 5-1 conference record at 149 pounds, said he is relaxed heading into his first ACC tournament, despite his youth.
“I feel no pressure at all to win, being a freshman,” Caramanica said. “But if I am the No. 1 seed, I will expect nothing less.”
Sophomores Jeremy Colbert and Kody Hamrah are also eyeing ACC championships.
After fighting back from an injury early in the season, Hamrah won five consecutive matches to close out the regular season, and he finished undefeated in conference play.
“Kody is wrestling like an absolute maniac right now,” Jordan said.
Hamrah was the runner-up in last year’s tournament and said the experience will help him.
“Last year was disappointing,” Hamrah said. “I can’t let that happen again.”
Junior Garrett Cummings, who is one of the more experienced veterans on a team that starts no seniors, finished third last year at 125 pounds and is 4-1 in the conference this year at 133 pounds.
But Cummings said the transition to a new weight class was not a smooth one at first.
“It was a tough jump to make,” Cummings said. “The first few matches were rough. I think I dropped two or three before I won a match.”
Jordan said he felt the jump in weight was a good decision.
“I told him when he made the jump to 133 [pounds] that he might just win the [conference],” Jordan said.
Having the potential to win individual championships increases the Wolfpack’s chances of winning as a team, but Jordan said it will take a good effort from everyone to bring home a championship.
“It boils down to the guys you’re counting on getting to the finals,” Jordan said. “But the other guys, who haven’t had particularly good years, need to score points for us to win.”
Two of the wrestlers who had difficult conference seasons are juniors Jeremy Hartrum and Jainor Palma.
Hartrum, who finished the year with a 3-3 record in the ACC, said he feels the team is better suited for tournament play than for dual team matches.
“A lot of guys step it up in tournaments,” Hartrum said. “I think we have a good chance to win, but it all goes by how we wrestle that day. We’ve been putting in extra work, so we should be ready to go.”
The extra work is something Jordan attributes to the team’s willingness to go beyond what is asked of them in practice.
“The kids have been working extremely hard and I’m very proud,” Jordan said. “We’ve had short practices the past week and when I’ve dismissed the kids, the first time anyone has left has been 30 minutes after that. One day it was 42 minutes; I clocked it.”
With the team as healthy as it has been all year, Jordan said the team is “due a good break” and that winning an ACC championship would mean a lot to him in only his second season as head coach.
“Well, I’m an [N.C. State] alumnus and I can’t imagine a bigger thing to do here other than winning a national title,” Jordan said. “I dreamed about this for seven years as an assistant. It would be a huge deal.”