March 3, 2007

• Mat Jam/ACC Championship Information

RALEIGH, N.C. - The team championship was decided before the individual championship round began, but NC State took care of business from start to finish and ran away with the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Championships, held Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum as part of Mat Jam.

The Wolfpack placed eight wrestlers in the finals and won five of the eight bouts to take the championship over runner-up Maryland by a whopping 36 points. NC State finished with 103.5 points to Maryland's 67.5. North Carolina was third with 60.5.

With eight men in the finals and Garrett Cummings taking third place at 133 pounds, the Pack held a 27-point lead following the consolation finals. With four wrestlers in the finals, Maryland mathematically had no chance to catch the Wolfpack. The Terps' Jason Kiessling won at 165 and Mike Letts won at 174. The only other bouts that NC State did not win were at 133, where North Carolina's Evan Sola easily repeated as conference champion, and at 157, where Virginia Tech's Jon Bonilla-Bonham upset the Wolfpack's top-seeded Kody Hamrah.

The rest of the finals was an NC State avalanche, with Taylor Cummings winning at 125, Darrion Caldwell at 141, Joe Caramanica at 149, Ryan Goodman at 197 and Jainor Palma at heavyweight.

The championship was NC State's third in the last six years (2001, 2002, 2004) and its 14th in the last 32 years. It also is the first championship for Carter Jordan, who is wrapping up his third season as the Wolfpack's head coach.

Notes: NC State tied a school record with eight wrestlers making the finals, first set in 1982.

Goodman of NC State and Bonilla-Bonham of Virginia Tech were voted co-Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.

Team Standings
1. NC State, 103.5
2. Maryland, 67.5
3. North Carolina, 60.5
4. Virginia, 45.5
5. Virginia Tech, 34.5
6. Duke, 23.0

2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Finals
125 - Taylor Cummings (NCS) dec. James Knox (MD), 1-0
133 - Evan Sola (UNC) major dec. Eric Albright (UVA), 8-0
141 - Darrion Caldwell (NCS) dec. Kellon Balum (UVA), 5-2
149 - Joe Caramanica (NCS) dec.Vincent Ramirez (UNC), 4-3
157 - Jon Bonilla-Bonham (VT) dec. Kody Hamrah (NCS), 8-3
165 - Jason Kiessling (MD) dec. Eric Decker (DU), 3-2
174 - Mike Letts (MD) dec. Rick Brownlee (NCS), 10-4
184 - Rocco Caponi (UVA) dec. Jeremy Colbert (NCS), 4-2
197 - Ryan Goodman (NCS) dec. Hudson Taylor (MD), 6-4, sv
Hwt - Jainor Palma (NCS) dec. Spencer Nadolsky (UNC), 5-2

The following ACC wrestlers received at-large bids to the NCAA Championships:

• Spencer Nadolsky, heavyweight, North Carolina
• Hudson Taylor, 197, Maryland
• Eric Decker, 165, Virginia Tech
• Eric Albright, 133, Virginia

Those four will join the 10 individual conference champions (above) as ACC representatives at the NCAA Championships, March 15-17 at Detroit, Michigan.