The wrestling team ended a four-match losing streak with a 19-14 victory over visiting UNC-Greensboro Wednesday night in Reynolds Coliseum. Despite wrestling with only two competitors who were starters at the beginning of the season, the Pack took five of nine matches after both teams forfeited at 125 pounds.
In addition to wrestling with mostly backups, three Wolfpack wrestlers, Greyson Mills, Brett Farina and Colin Genthert, wrestled up at least one weight class, with Mills and Farina both recording victories.
“It was huge,” coach Carter Jordan said. “It was absolutely a surprise, a pleasant surprise. We caught a break. It’s a credit to our assistant coaches and all the work they have done. It’s a credit to the guys that aren’t wrestling. And it’s a credit to our starters that showed up and fought another day.”
The Pack opened the match with a 6-0 lead after freshman 133-pounder Dale Shull’s second pin in a row. Against Old Dominion Tuesday night, it took him exactly one minute to record a pin in his first match after dropping down to the 133-lb. weight class. He took even less time to pin Greensboro’s Casey Boyle Wednesday night, ending the first match of the evening just 47 seconds after it started.
Sophomore 141-pounder Scott Norris dropped a 3-1 decision to cut State’s lead in half at 6-3 going into the 149-lb. matchup. Redshirt sophomore Mills, who typically wrestles at 133, stepped in to replace the starter at 149 lbs., Bobby Ward, who was out after suffering a concussion against Old Dominion.
“On the way here I’m thinking, I don’t even have a guy at 149 to wrestle,” Jordan said. “I’m thinking, who am I going to wrestle? I think of Greyson [Mills]; Greyson’s had some match experience.”
Mills pulled out the victory despite trailing 9-5 with less than a minute remaining in the final period. A late takedown on a fireman’s carry and a subsequent near fall gave Mills a short-lived 10-9 lead in the waning moments of regulation, and the match went to overtime after his opponent, Alejandro Soto-Perez, was awarded a point for riding time. Mills ended the match with a takedown 15 seconds into the sudden victory portion of overtime.
“Of course I was nervous,” Mills said. “I wasn’t expected to do that. But I knew if I did what I needed to do, I would be OK in the match. In the second period, I was tired, but I knew I could still pull off some moves to come through with it.”
Mill’s victory touched off a streak of three straight wins by Wolfpack wrestlers.
After a major decision by 157-pounder Farina, who won 15-7 after falling behind 6-2 early in the match, redshirt junior 165-pounder Ray Ward took a 7-5 decision to push his team’s lead to 16-3 before a loss by sophomore Quinton Godley at 174 bringing the Spartans to within 16-6.
Freshman Colin Genthert, wrestling in his first attached action of the season, weighed in at 174 lbs. but wrestled at 184 and struggled, falling 20-6. The major decision trimmed the Wolfpack lead to 16-11 with two matches remaining. Another loss, this one by freshman Christian McClean at 197, cut the lead to 16-14 and set up a decisive final match at heavyweight.
Freshman Eloheim Palma entered the match 18-13 on the season. The bout Wednesday night marked the third meeting of the season between Palma and Peter Sturgeon of Greensboro. Palma defeated Sturgeon, who came in with a record of 28-12, 12-4 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in early December before falling to him 2-3 at the Southern Scuffle in late December. Palma took a 5-0 lead this time and never looked back, winning the individual bout 7-2 to give his team the 19-14 win.
“I knew I could win,” Palma said. “It was a very important time for me tonight to put it away, put it behind me and get ready for the other big matches in the ACC. It was a good confidence builder.”
The win brings Palma to within one of the school record of 20 wins in a season by a freshman heavyweight, and the team still has four dual matches remaining this season.
