Three Tar Heels Remain Alive At Nationals
Nadolsky picks up 40th win in Thursday's opening round.
Heavyweight Spencer Nadolsky picked up his 40th win of the season in Thursday's opening round.

Heavyweight Spencer Nadolsky picked up his 40th win of the season in Thursday's opening round.

March 16, 2006

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Senior Garrett Atkinson and junior Spencer Nadolsky each won their opening matches but both fell to the consolation bracket after second round losses Thursday on day one of the 2006 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Ford Center. A total of six Tar Heels wrestled today with Atkinson, Nadolsky and junior David Dashiell moving on to Friday's morning session.

Seeded 11th at heavyweight, Nadolsky notched a first period takedown that proved to be the difference in a 5-3 decision over Cleveland State's Rashad Goff, his team-high 40th win of the season. Nadolsky moves into fourth place on the Tar Heels' single-season victory list and joins Rob Koll and Al Palacio as the only wrestlers with 40 or more wins in a single season.

In the round of 16, Nadolsky faced No. 6-seeded Tanner Garrett of Navy and was unable to avenge an earlier loss this season, falling 5-1. Garrett picked up an early takedown and tacked on a point for riding time to close out the match. Nadolsky will be back in action Friday morning against Wyoming's Dusty Hoffschneider.

At 165 pounds, Atkinson opened with a 10-8 victory over Beau Tresemer of Air Force Thursday morning. The Boone native scored a pair of reversals and a three-point near fall in the first period and held on for the victory. In the round of 16, Atkinson faced No. 2 seed and defending national champion Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State was pinned in 5:52. Now 17-10 on the season, Atkinson will return to action Friday morning in the consolation bracket against Missouri's Matt Pell.

Dashiell gave second-seeded Kyle Cerminara all he could handle in the opening round at 197. The pair wrestled to a 1-1 draw with Cerminara taking the win on 1:19 of riding time. On the strength of a pair of takedowns and nearly four minutes of riding time, Dashiell responded with a 7-1 decision over Iowa's Daniel Erekson to move on to the second day of competition, which will open against Boise State's Casey Phelps. Dashiell is now 33-12 on the year.

 

 

Redshirt freshman Jared Royer and sophomore Alex Maciag both suffered major decision losses in the opening round. At 133, Royer dropped an 11-3 bout to third-seeded Tom Clum of Wisconsin, while Maciag fell 12th-seeded Matthew Herrington of Penn, 16-4, at 174.

Royer rebounded with an 8-4 win over Oregon State's Bobby Pfennings in round one of the consolation bracket, but was eliminated with a 14-7 loss to David Armstrong of Cleveland State. Royer wraps up his season with even 18-18 record.

After holding an early lead, Maciag was eliminated in the consolation bracket with an 8-6 overtime loss to Cal Poly's Nick Hernandez. He finishes the season with a 24-15 overall record.

At 141, redshirt freshman Vincent Ramirez was pinned by Northern Iowa's C.J. Ettelson in 4:09 in the opening round before dropping a back-and-forth match to Bloomsburg State's Brad Forbes by an 11-10 final margin in the consols. The Durham product finishes his rookie season with a 37-9 record, good for the sixth-most wins in Carolina history.

Action resumes at 11 a.m. Eastern Friday morning and continues Friday night and Saturday.