One of NC State’s premier athletics programs gears up for another season ranked in the top 10 in the nation. The NC State wrestling team will begin its 2017-18 campaign with the No. 8 national ranking as it returns three of its best wrestlers for their senior seasons.
The Wolfpack begins the 2017-18 season as the highest-ranked ACC team. The defending ACC champion Virginia Tech Hokies follow closely behind at No. 9, while UNC-Chapel Hill and Pittsburgh enter at No. 22 and No. 24, respectively, in the preseason poll.
Head coach Pat Popolizio will enter his sixth season as head of the NC State wrestling program in 2017-18. Popolizio has gathered an 80-22 overall record during his time in Raleigh, which includes winning 35 of the last 38 duals dating back to the 2016 season, as well as capturing the 2016 ACC Championship.
Senior Kevin Jack, the two-time defending ACC champion at 141 pounds as well as a two-time All-American after finishing third at the NCAA Championship in 2017, returns to the Wolfpack lineup as the undisputed No. 2 wrestler in the country at 141 pounds.
Jack has garnered an overall record of 92-16 in his three years at NC State, which is 30 wins shy of the all-time NC State wrestling record of 122 set by Sylvester Terkay from 1990-1993.
The Pack also welcomes back redshirt senior Pete Renda, who sat out a year ago. As a 2016 All-American, Renda comes in as the No. 3 wrestler nationally at 184 pounds. Redshirt senior Michael Macchiavello will also return for a final season in 2017-18. Macchiavello enters with the No. 10 ranking at 197 pounds per FloWrestling.
Other wrestlers that will enter the season with national rankings are redshirt junior Sean Fausz, who boasts the No. 11 ranking according to FloWrestling at 125 pounds, and redshirt senior Beau Donahue, who is the No. 16 wrestler at 149 pounds.
NC State began its season on Sunday with Jack, Renda and Macchiavello competing at the annual NWCA All-Star Classic in Princeton, NJ.
“This is a very prestigious honor for both Kevin [Jack] and Pete [Renda],” Popolizio told NC State Athletics. “This will kick off the season with a lot of excitement. The NWCA does a great job promoting this event, and going back for the fourth straight year, I know it will be a first-class event and a very good early test for both guys.”
The full team will get a chance to compete during the Journeymen/Asics Northeast Duals on Saturday in Albany, New York. The Pack’s opponents will be Ithaca, No. 19 Oklahoma and The Citadel.
Further down the schedule, NC State will get a chance at redemption when the team travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, to face the No. 15 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Cornhuskers were one of only two dual losses for the Wolfpack last season, winning 22-10 in Raleigh.
A big headline for the upcoming season will come on Jan. 5 when NC State faces off against No. 3 Oklahoma State in Naples, Italy. The likely top-10 matchup between schools will be the first time in NCAA wrestling history that two schools will wrestle overseas.
The Wolfpack opens up its ACC slate with a trip to Durham to face Duke on Jan. 19. Senior night for State could very well be a winner-take-all scenario for the regular season ACC Championship when Virginia Tech is welcomed to Reynolds Coliseum on Feb. 16.
Two days later, NC State will host another dual with major NCAA Tournament implications. Preseason No. 2 Ohio State will travel to Raleigh in what promises to be a classic.
Led by multiple seniors who have seen major success in their time in a Wolfpack singlet, a schedule with seven matches against preseason-ranked schools and the first-ever wrestling dual overseas, the 2017-18 wrestling season has every indication that it will be an exciting ride.
