March 3, 2001

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --The Maryland wrestling team (6-6, 1-3 ACC) completed the semi-final round of the ACC Championships Saturday at the Carmichael Auditorium on the campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The bouts began with a pigtail round at 11:00 a.m. Juniors Rob Booth (Atco, N.J.) and Josh Weidman (Hershey, Pa.) each dropped pigtail matches at 157 and 165, respectively. This knocks them out of the championship brackets into the consolations. But both wrestlers have an opportunity to finish at third place if they capture two wins.

Maryland boasted eight wrestlers in the semi-final round. Redshirt-junior Joe Guzzio (Greensboro, N.C.) fell to NC State's George Cintron at 125 by a major 20-3 decision. He will move into the consolation semi-finals. Junior Brandon York, who is ranked No. 19 by Amateur Wrestling News and Mark Mansueto (West Chester, Pa.) advance to the finals with wins over their opponents at 133 and 141. York downed Sean Meakim from Duke 4-1. He will meet Virginia's Joe Alexander, who upset North Carolina's Brad Byers in the semis. Byers was the 2000 conference champion at 133. Mansueto defeated Duke's Harry Clark 9-3. Mansueto will square off against NC State's Oraefo Brown in the finals. Mansueto has defeated Brown three consecutive times, including a win in the semi-final round of last year's championships.

Bryan Robinovitz (Belle Mead, N.J.) fell 24-10 to No. 10-ranked John Mark Bentley at 149. Bentley will face No. 18 Tommy Davis from NC State in the championship round. This is the only weight class in which two ranked wrestlers will face each other in the finals. Redshirt-sophomore Sal Aquia (Baltimore, Md.) dropped a 10-2 decision to North Carolina's Corey Bell. Aquia will move into the consolation semi-finals. Redshirt-sophomore Jake Stork (Mohrsville, Pa.), after earning two near falls, defeated North Carolina's Nick Richmond 15-8 at 184. Stork and Virginia's Jimi Massey will battle in the championship bout. Bob Vorhies (Morris Knolls, N.J.) will advance to the consolation semi-finals after being defeated 9-4 by No. 13 Zach Breitenbach from NC State. Heavyweight freshman James Taylor (Pasadena, Md.) will compete in the consolation semis after being pinned by North Carolina's Matt Kenny in 2:05.

Wrestling will resume at 3:30 with the consolation semi-finals to be followed by the consolation finals where wrestlers will battle for third place. The championship matches will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be followed by the awards ceremony.