This season, the wrestling team has suffered many setbacks, including injuries and players departing midseason. However, the Pack still managed to pull out a fifth place finish at the ACC Championships this past weekend in Blacksburg, Va.
“Obviously at the beginning of the year we really thought we could win the tournament,” coach Carter Jordan said. “The lesson of the year was you can only control the things you can control. You can’t control injuries and you’ve got to go with what you got.”
The wrestling team traveled to Virginia to compete in the ACC Championships, which took place on Virginia Tech’s campus. Maryland earned 70 points and took home the title for the second year in a row. The Pack, which placed fifth in the tournament with 49.5 points, also secured two individual championships and four bids to the 2009 NCAA tournament.
“I’m so proud of our team this weekend and how we competed,” Jordan said. “We went to the tournament with less than half of our full starting lineup and we still wrestled like N.C. State wrestles.”
No. 1 Darrion Caldwell, 149 weight-class, and No. 1 Kody Hamrah, 157 weight-class, each won their respective individual titles and earned a spot in the NCAA Championship.
Caldwell said early in the season that this was his year, and in fact, it proved to be. He plowed through his competition over the weekend, winning the title in the finals in a major decision over No. 3 Nick Stabile from North Carolina.
“One of my goals is to win the national title,” Darrion Caldwell said in November. “It’s been that way since I got here and I know I have the best shot this year.”
According to Jordan, Caldwell was close to receiving the Outstanding Wrestling Award, but lost it in the finals to Brent Jones from University of Virginia.
“He absolutely destroyed his competition,” Jordan said. “It was really fun to watch”
Hamrah had an exciting run as well, especially during his semi-final match. He took Thomas Scotton from UNC to three overtime periods, winning his decision 3-2.
“This had to be the longest match I ever coached,” Jordan said. “I probably had three heart attacks during that match. It was just unbelievable to watch.”
Hamrah came to the tournament with a lot of confidence, since he had already encountered many of his opponents during the regular season.
“I had wrestled all of these guys a bunch this season,” Hamrah said. “In the finals I knew how the match was going to go, since I had wrestled him four times this year. I was eager to get out there and get it over with.”
During the weeks leading up to the championship, Hamrah was working closely with coach Noel Loban on a particular technique, according to Jordan.
“[Hamrah] ended up pinning the guy with that technique in the finals,” Jordan said. “That’s about as fun as it gets for a coach – to work with someone on something and then they apply it and win. I was so proud.”
Along with Caldwell and Hamrah, No. 4 Darrius Little in the 133 bout and Joe Caramanica in the 141 bout qualified for a bid to the NCAA tournament, held March 19-21 in St. Louis, Mo.
“The focus toward the end of the year turned from winning the [ACC] tournament to having it looking as though we could have about 4-5 guys compete for the national title,” Jordan said. “We got four and that was just big.”
