March 3, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. - Looking to ride the momentum of a strong finish to the regular season, the NC State wrestling team enters this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament looking for its fourth conference championship in the last six years.

The ACC Tournament, part of the two-conference Mat Jam with the Southern Conference, takes place on Saturday, March 4, in Lexington, Va., on the campus of VMI. The ACC portion of Mat Jam appears to be pretty wide open, at least based on how the regular season shook out.

Virginia and Maryland shared first place in the final regular-season standings with records of 4-1, with NC State and North Carolina right behind at 3-2-1. The Wolfpack got clobbered 28-6 at Maryland in mid-January, tied and lost to the Tar Heels by scores of 16-16 and 20-6, and rolled up Virginia late in the year 22-12. Virginia gave Maryland its only loss in the conference and trounced North Carolina.

Clearly, the league was wide open in dual matches. The tournament is not about dual matches, however. Seedings replace individual matchups as the critical factor, and NC State heads into the tournament with five wrestlers harboring legitimates hopes of being a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

Redshirt-freshman Ryan Goodman is almost a lock for the top seed at 197 pounds. Ranked No. 13 nationally and 3-1 against conference opponents, Goodman carries a 19-4 overall record into the postseason. His only conference loss was an 8-3 decision to North Carolina's David Daschiell when Goodman was hampered by a sprained knee ligament. Healthy in the return match, Goodman defeated Daschiell 8-4. Maryland's Jerry Afari and Duke's Konrad Dudziak both finished 4-1, but neither faced Goodman, who should be the clear class of the league at 197.

At 184, sophomore Jeremy Colbert won his last five matches and eight of his last 11, and has a 5-1 record in conference matches, splitting decisions with UNC's Justin Dobies, who also was 5-1 in the conference.

Sophomore Kody Hamrah, last year's ACC Rookie of the Year, missed a good bit of the season with injuries, but is 8-2 in limited action, including a 4-0 mark in conference play. Hamrah's only close match in conference action was a 5-2 win over UNC's Deon Barrett, who wrestled much of the year as a backup at 165. Hamrah's other conference wins included two pins that took less than a minute and a major decision. Maryland's Adam Jones was 5-0 in conference action, but Hamrah was injured when NC State lost at Maryland. Hamrah defeated Jones twice a year ago, including a 19-6 major decision in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Freshman 149-pounder Joe Caramanica heads into the postseason with a gaudy 23-6 overall record that includes a 5-1 mark in conference action, but his one ACC loss came to Maryland's Andrew Schlaffer, who is 4-1 in conference action and could well take the top seen by virtue of his head-to-head victory over Caramanica.

At 133, redshirt-junior Garrett Cummings began the year as the Wolfpack's backup at 125, but eventually moved up to 133 and into the starting lineup. Cummings managed a 5-4 mark at 133, but was 4-1 in ACC action, tied with Virginia's Eric Albright and Brendan Byrne. Cummings defeated Albright and lost to Byrne.

NC STATE IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT: NC State has won three of the last five ACC Tournaments, and has won 13 overall, dating back to 1976. The Wolfpack won the championship tournament in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

Individually, six Wolfpack starters have participated in the ACC Tournament. A year ago, Kody Hamrah went 2-1 to finish second at 157 pounds, and Garrett Cummings went 2-1 at 125 to finish third. In 2003-04, Jeremy Hartrum took second place at 125 with a 1-1 mark, and Jainor Palma finished third at heavyweight by winning twice in three bouts.

Following are the career ACC Tournament records of the six Wolfpack wrestlers who will be participating in this year's tournament:

Jeremy Hartrum - 1-3
Garrett Cummings - 2-1
Kody Hamrah - 2-1
Rick Brownlee - 0-2
Jeremy Colbert - 1-2
Jainor Palma - 3-3

NC STATE THIS DECADE: The Wolfpack has had a remarkable run through the conference dating back to the 2000 season, winning 26 of 37 dual matches against conference opponents during that time (and 29 of 40 dating back to the end of the 1998-99 season). NC State has finished first in the regular season four times since the 1999-2000 season (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004) and has won the conference tournament three times (2001, 2002, 2004).

MOMENTUM: Several Wolfpack wrestlers head into the tournament this weekend on hot streaks. Sophomore 197-pounder Jeremy Colbert, who began the season at 9-7, won his last five matches of the regular season, six of his last eight, and eight of his last 11.

Sophomore 157-pounder Kody Hamrah missed much of the regular season with injuries, but came back late in the year to win his last five bouts and finish the regular season at 8-2. Hamrah won half of his matches by fall, including a pair of conference matches that he ended in less than a minute's time.

Ryan Goodman's entire season has been a hot streak, interrupted for a month while he recovered from a knee injury. At 19-4, he is ranked 13th nationally and has won 11 of his last 12 bouts.

Freshman Joe Caramanica enters the postseason with a sterling 23-6 record and has closed the season fast, winning his last four bouts and seven of his last eight.

GOODMAN VS. THE BEST: Redshirt-freshman Ryan Goodman, a transfer from Nebraska, leads the Wolfpack with three victories over ranked opponents, and three of his four losses came to wrestlers ranked either No. 5 or No. 6 in the country. Those three losses were by a combined total of four points. NC State as a team won just two bouts vs. ranked wrestlers in 2004-05, and won just three in 2003-04.

POINT PRODUCER: With every individual decision worth three team points, each major decision worth four points, each technical fall worth five points and each pin and victory by default of forfeit worth six, freshman 149-pounder Joe Caramanica has been NC State's most prolific producer of team points this season. With 10 decisions, four pins, three technical falls and six major decisions, Caramanica scored 102 team points for the Wolfpack this season, easily outdistancing 197-pounder Ryan Goodman, who scored 84 points (9 decisions, 3 pins, 1 tech fall, 4 major decisions, 2 victories by default).

JOE CHALLENGES ROOKIE MARK: With 23 victories thus far this season, freshman 149-pounder Joe Caramanica still has a reasonable shot at the school record of 29 wins by a freshman, set by Joe Koob in 1977 and tied by Matt Reiss in 1980. Caramanica currently is tied with Joe Lidowski (1977), Mike Lombardo (1985) and Lee Carroll (1997) for the second-most victories in a season by an NC State freshman.