Jan. 6, 2008

Caldwell Leads Wrestling To Sweep at Duals

Darrion Caldwell picked up a pair of pins and a technical fall, all three matches ending in the first period, to lead NC State to a sweep of its three matches in the NC State Duals, held Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum.

Caldwell and Joe Caramanica ended the Wolfpack's opening-round bout with Gardner-Webb with first-period pins to help NC State pull away 29-13. Ryan Goodman and Jalil Dozier had major decisions, and Taylor Cummings won a technical fall as the Pack scored big points and pulled away late.

In the second round of the day, the Wolfpack wrestled both Anderson and Campbell, defeating Anderson 42-9 behind pins by Caldwell and Ryan Goodman, and technical falls from Cummings and Caramanica. The Pack dumped Campbell 29-6 thanks in part to technical falls from Goodman and Caldwell.

The three match sweep improves NC State to 4-5 in dual matches. Caldwell, ranked No. 9 at 149, is now 19-3 on the season, one win shy of his total for all of the 2006-07 season. He now has 11 pins for the season, one more than when he set the school record for pins by a freshman a year ago, and 21 for his career. He ranks eighth in school history for career pins.

Clean Sweep In Raleigh Pulls Blue Devils To An Even .500

The Duke Blue Devils continued their impressive season on Saturday at the N.C. State Duals, as they came away from Reynolds Coliseum with three dual meet victories. Duke upended Anderson, 36-9, to start off the afternoon. The Blue Devils then dispatched of Gardner-Webb, 29-15 and finally took down Campbell, 30-12. With its three wins in Raleigh, the Duke squad improved to 4-4 on the season.

Four Blue Devils went a complete and perfect 3-0 on the afternoon and two more finished up 2-0 on the day. All told, the 12 Duke wrestlers combined to go 21-6 with five pins, three technical falls and three major decisions. All six losses were decisions by seven points or less.

Once again leading the way was redshirt sophomore captain John Barone at 184 pounds, who earned three crushing victories--- one by fall, one by technical fall and one by major decision. He is 24-3 in 2007-08 with nine pins and an undefeated 8-0 mark in duals. Barone's 59-19 collegiate record, which translates into a .756 winning percentage, ranks ninth all-time at Duke. With four more victories, Barone will crack the top 20 for career wins at Duke and is only 10 wins away from tying the single-season wins mark with at least 14 regular season matches to go.

Sophomore Voris Tejada had a dominating performance at 157 pounds, winning all three matches with one major decision. Tejada is 22-9 this year and 41-17 in his career. His .707 winning percentage at Duke is 17th all-time.

Tar Heels Win Twice At Lone Star Duals

Behind unbeaten days from juniors Keegan Mueller and Justin Dobies, North Carolina captured two of its three outings Saturday at the Lone Star Duals at South Grand Prairie High School Coliseum. The Tar Heels (3-2) eased past Ivy League opponents Brown, 28-3, and Harvard, 35-3, before falling to No. 19 Oklahoma, 27-6.

The 165-pound Mueller and the heavyweight Dobies were the lone UNC wrestlers to go 3-0 on the day. After victories against Brown and Harvard, both Tar Heels posted victories over nationally ranked opponents in the loss to the Sooners. Mueller, who is ranked 18th in the nation, posted a 6-4 decision over No. 12 Max Dean, while Dobies scored a 7-3 decision over No. 14 Nathan Fernandez. Mueller is now 15-3 on the season, while Dobies owns a 16-5 record.

Additionally, freshman Kyle Kiss, redshirt freshman Nick Stabile and sophomore Dennis Drury each won two of their three bouts Saturday. All three got off to 2-0 starts before falling against Oklahoma. Kiss and Stabile both have 12 victories on the season.

Cavalier Wrestling Earns Runner-Up Finish at Virginia Intercollegiates

The Virginia wrestling team took second place Saturday at the Virginia Intercollegiate Championships in the first-ever college wrestling competition at John Paul Jones Arena. No. 19 Old Dominion won the team title with 107 points, while Virginia was close behind with 101 points.

Liberty (40.5), George Mason (32.5), VMI (15) and The Apprentice School (6) rounded out the field. Virginia put 10 wrestlers into the finals at eight total weight classes. Drew DiPasquale (Jr., Bloomsburg, Pa.), Michael Chaires (Fr., Scotia, N.Y.), Chris Henrich (Fr., Lansdale, Pa.) and Brent Jones (So., Burke, Va.) won titles at 157, 165, 174 and 197 pounds, respectively, for the Cavaliers.

The tournament came down to the last championship bout, as Old Dominion's Andy Totusek earned a 3-1 win in sudden victory time over Virginia's Jack Danilkowicz (So., Green Oaks, Ill.) on a takedown as time expired in the period.

Ross Gitomer (So., Flemington, N.J.) took runner-up honors at 125 pounds after falling in the championship to No. 20 James Nicholson of Old Dominion, 5-3. Gitomer went 2-1 on the day and now stands 23-5 this year and holds the team lead in victories.