March 13, 2000

CAROLINA SENDS FIVE WRESTLERS TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The University of North Carolina will be respresented by five wrestlers at the 2000 NCAA Championships in St. Louis. Skyler Holman, Corey Bell, Clint Osborn and Matt Kenny all head to the Kiel Center after winning individual titles at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in College Park, Md., while Brad Byers placed second at ACCs. Bell and Kenny were both NCAA qualifiers last year. Competing at 184 pounds in 1999, Bell was 2-2 at the NCAA Tournament, while Kenny was an honorable mention All-America after falling just one match shy of All-America status as a heavyweight.

TAR HEELS WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT ACC TOURNAMENT TITLE
The University of North Carolina wrestling team entered the 2000 ACC Tournament in unfamiliar territory this year ¯ as an underdog to cross-town rival NC State ¯ but came out on top for the fourth straight year and the eighth time in the past nine seasons. Hindered by injuries and close losses all year, Carolina was 7-6 in dual meets, including a 2-3 mark in ACC competition. But the Tar Heels responded with an outstanding team effort to come away with 91 total points and the ACC crown. Corey Bell won his third straight ACC championship, while heavyweight Matt Kenny also defended his title. Carolina was also anchored by first-year winners Skyler Holman (125 lbs.) and Clint Osborn (197 lbs.). Holman continued an incredible freshman-year run by pinning then-No. 5 Steve Garland of Virginia at 2:16. Brad Byers (133 lbs.) placed second at 133 lbs. after dropping a 6-1 decision to Maryland's Brandon York. The Wolfpack finished second at the March 4th tournament with 79 points, while Virginia scored 59.5 team points for third place.

HOLMAN ENTERS NCAA TOURNAMENT WITH SEASON-BEST NO. 6 NATIONAL RANKING
Red-shirt freshman Skyler Holman has been impressive all season at 125 pounds, and his performance only got better in the postseason. In the most anticpated showdown at the ACC Tournament, seventh-ranked Holman pinned fifth-ranked Steve Garland at 2:16 of the 125-pound title bout for the ACC championship. It marked Holman's second consecutive victory over Garland after losing to the UVa. senior in their first meeting in January at the Virginia Duals. After Holman's win, he moved to No. 6 in the national rankings and now stands 33-2 on the year. In dual meets, Holman posted a team-best 12-1 record. Holman's emergence this season as a red-shirt freshman has been pivotal to Carolina's success given that coach Bill Lam opted to red-shirt standout Chuckie Connor this season. Last year, Connor fell just one match shy of earning All-America status at 125 lbs., an honor Holman will seek to attain in just his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Holman took first-place honors early in the year at the East Stroudsburg and Carolina Opens. At the Penn State Open in December, Holman suffered an 8-5 loss to Michigan State's Chris Williams en route to a fourth-place finish at that tournament, but Holman blanked Williams 7-0 later in the month at the prestigious Midlands Tournament in Chicago. Holman enters the NCAAs on a 13-match winning streak.

NEW WEIGHT CLASSES DON'T FAZE BELL
While Corey Bell heads to the NCAA Tournament as Carolina's most experienced wrestler having been to nationals each of the last two seasons, the junior from Durham, N.C., will compete at his third different weight class in as many years. As a freshman in 1998, Bell was an NCAA qualifier at 177 lbs. and he was named a fifth-team freshman All-America by Amateur Wrestling News. Last year, Bell returned to the NCAA Tournament as a 184-pounder and won two matches. This year, he has dropped down to 174 pounds and on March 4 he won his third straight ACC title. Never at a loss for words, Bell says of his new weight class, -The biggest difference is the quickness level. I've always felt that I was stubborn enough to wrestle the big guys. Since they were slower, I was able to be stubborn. I could get in on their legs and just fight, fight, fight until I got a take down. Now with lighter weights, they don't give you a chance to be stubborn. They're like little cockroaches always running around everywhere and I'm like a can of Raid trying to spray them down. Big thing is that they're quick and really flexible and I'm just trying to get used to that.-

OSBORN ADDS ACC TITLE TO DREAM SEASON
After seeing limited action as a freshman behind senior Ty Roofner during the 1998-99 season, sophomore Clint Osborn headed into this 1999-2000 campaign ready to battle for a regular spot in the Tar Heel starting lineup. After going just 9-9 last year with an 0-2 dual meet record, Osborn responded to the challenge and enters the the NCAAs at 20-9 and fresh off a 12-6 win over NC State's Jason Gore at the ACC Tournament. The Chapel Hill native was one of UNC's most consistent performers all season long with a 10-3 record in dual meets and five falls.

KENNY READY TO TAKE NEXT STEP AT NCAAs
Heavyweight Matt Kenny fell just shy of earning All-America honors last year as a freshman for the Tar Heels. He finished his first season in Chapel Hill with a 25-10 record, including three wins by fall and an ACC championship. This year, Kenny again heads to the NCAAs with an ACC title under his belt and a hunger for success at the NCAA Tournament. He was 22-7 overall this year and posted a team-high nine wins by fall. At the 1999 NCAA Championships, Kenny won matches over Nebraska's J.R. Plienas and Iowa's Wes Hand before falling to top-seeded Stephen Neal of Cal State Bakersfield and Penn's Bandele Adeniyi-Bada.

BYERS RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT AT 133 POUNDS
Sophomore Brad Byers returns to the NCAA Championships as an ACC runner-up at 133 pounds, just as he was a year ago. Byers enters the NCAAs with an overall mark of 24-6. He opened the season with 10 straight wins before going down with an injury to Virginia Tech's Mike Akers at the Carolina Open in November. He remained sidelined at the Penn State Open, but returned as one of the most consistent Tar Heels on the 1999-2000 roster. Byers was 11-2 in dual meets, including a run of three straight wins by fall. He dropped a 6-1 decision to Maryland's Brandon York in the ACC finals despite having defeated York twice during the regular-season, so Byers will look to get back to his winning ways in St. Louis.

CLOSE LOSSES, INJURIES SLOW HEELS IN REGULAR SEASON
Bill Lam knew heading into the 1999-2000 season that the decision to red-shirt standouts JohnMark Bentley (149 lbs.) and Chuckie Connor (125 lbs.) would make it a challenging year in Chapel Hill. But when Josh Cowley and Jason LaMotta, Carolina's probable starters at 141 and 149 pounds entering the year, both missed the majority of the 1999-2000 season due to injury, it made the going even tougher for the Tar Heels. While Carolina was strong all year at 125 and 133 as well as the upper weight divisions, the Heels struggled to find consistency at the 141, 149 and 157-pound weight classes. That was evident in the fact that just one of Carolina's six losses came by more than four points. The Tar Heels lost twice to NC State, by three in UNC's home opener and then later by four on Feb. 17. UNC also dropped matches to Virginia Tech, Maryland and Ohio, all by just two points apiece.

POOR WEATHER SHORTENS SEASON
Blizzard-like conditions in the Chapel Hill area this winter forced the cancellation of two of Carolina's scheduled regular-season matchups. In between Carolina's longest winning streak of the season, four matches from Jan. 19-Feb. 12, the Tar Heels saw a home date with UNC Greensboro and a road date with Arizona State cancelled due to snow. UNC Greensboro was unable to make the trip down I-40 on Jan. 23 because of ice and snow on the roads, and poor conditions at the RDU International Airport kept the Tar Heels from departing for a Jan. 29 dual meet with Arizona State. Carolina responded though from the setbacks and after more than two weeks away from competition put together its most lopsided win of the season, a 31-9 victory over Duke in Chapel Hill on Feb. 8. Four days later the Heels stayed hot with a hard-fought 23-18 win over Navy on Feb. 12.

HEAD COACH BILL LAM
The Tar Heels are under the direction of Bill Lam, now in his 27th year in Chapel Hill. An eight-time ACC Coach of the Year, Lam's Carolina teams are 345-116-4 overall and 124-32-1 in the ACC. The Tar Heels have won 14 ACC championships under Lam, including eight of the past nine years. The winningest coach in league history, Lam has also been honored as the ACC's Coach of the Year eight of the 14 years the award has been bestowed.

1999-2000 Statistics

COREY BELL - 174 pounds - Junior - Durham, North Carolina

11/20/99    174	East Stroudsburg Open   W   Ed Pawlak (Unattached), 9-3	1-0
            W   Jaime Castro (G.M.U.),  14-4	2-0
            W   Nick Brumbaugh (Kutztown),  T 18-2	3-0
            L   Sai Aguia (Unattached),  8-7	3-1
            L   Dan Roy (E.S.U.),  3-2 - Fourth Place  3-2

11/27/99    174	Carolina Open  W   Brenton Seamon (Appalachian State), 10-0	4-2
            W   John Vogan (Binghampton), 15-0  5-2
            W   James Blanton (Howard), 15-0    6-2
            W   Jeremy Rankin (Unattached - JMU), F 3:07    7-2

12/5/99     174	Penn State Open	W   Lance Kearns (Maryland), 9-0   8-2
            W   Nick Brumbaugh (Kutztown), 10-2	9-2
            W   Mark Becks (unattached), 8-5    10-2
            L   Josh Koscheck (Edinboro), 9-2    10-3
            W   William Hill (Michigan State), 5-3 - Third Place  11-3

12/29-30/99 174	Midlands   W   Ben Uker (Hawkeye WC), 7-4   12-3
            L   Rick Springman (Penn),  11-2   12-4
            W   Ben Heizer (Northern Illinois),  4-2   13-4
            W   Bill Kopecky (UNC Greensboro), 12-2    14-4
            W   Joe Tuccerri (Cornell), 3-2   15-4
            L   Mark Bybee (Northwestern), F 5:49   15-5

1/7/00      174	Virginia Duals  L  Nick Mengerick (Pittsburgh), 10-2  15-6
            W   Stephen Mazzola (Virginia), 7-6    16-6
            L   Chris Hall (Virginia Tech), 13-8   16-7 

BRAD BYERS - 133 pounds - Sophomore - Hudson, Ohio

11/20/99    133 East Stroudsburg Open  W   P.J. Morreale (T.C.N.J.), TF 18-3	1-0
            W   Matt Richmond (unatt), F 0:50   2-0
            W   Jason Kruk (Penn State), 9-4    3-0
            W   Blair Tugman (Unatt), 9-6  4-0
            W   Brandon York (Maryland), 5-2   5-0
            W   Chuckie Connor (Unatt-UNC), med. forf.  6-0

11/27/99    133 Carolina Open  W   Joey Bricker (Campbell), F 4:42  7-0
            W   Jimmy Ervin (UNC Pembroke), TF 17-1 (3:00)  8-0
            W   Lamar Hanna (Appalachian State)  9-0
            W   Brian Baughman (Kent), F 6:45  10-0
            L   Mike Akers (Virginia Tech), med. forf.  10-1

12/5/99     Penn State Open   Did Not Compete - Injured

12/29-30/00 133	Midlands   L  Roman Fleszar (Hofstra), 6-3  10-2
            W   Kentrall Galloway (Iowa State), 16-7    11-2
            W   Kelly Revells (Eastern Illinois), 10-7  12-2
            L   Kelly Madden (Illinois), 14-7   12-3

1/7-8/00    133	Virginia Duals  L   Rob Loper (Pittsburgh), 8-2  12-4
            W   Dave Takseraas (Virginia), 16-4  13-4
            W   Mike Mercado (Virginia Tech), 9-7  14-4	

SKYLER HOLMAN - 125 pounds - Freshman - Sallisaw, Oklahoma

11/20/99    125	East Stroudsburg   W   Joel Lim (T.C.N.J.), F 2:56  1-0
            W   Ronald Camacho (unattached), 11-0   2-0
            W   Nick Cottone (Gloucester), 5-1   3-0
            W   Tom Noto (unattached), 3-1   4-0
            W   Jeremy Sluyter (unattached), 3-2 - 1st Place  5-0

11/27/99    125	Carolina Open  W  Nick Richette (App. State), win by default	6-0
            W   Adam Doherty (Campbell), 13-6   7-0
            W   Mike Mercado (Va. Tech), 7-5 SV 8-0
            W   Chuckie Connor (UNC - unatt.), med. forf. - 1st Place   9-0

12/5/99     125	Penn State Open  W  Kevin Bradley (UNC Greensboro), 13-0   10-0
            W   Anthony Rivera (Unatt.), F 5:58  11-0
            W   Paul Hodermersky (Ohio Univ.), 3-0  12-0
            L   Chris Williams (Michigan State), 8-5  12-1
            L   Justin Kast (Unatt.), INJ 0:20 - 4th Place ----

12/29-30/99 125	Midlands  W  Robert Potashnick (Northwestern), F :50  13-1
            W   Aaron Taylor (Cornell), 4-2  14-1
            L   Tim Dernlan (Ohio International), 9-0  ----
            W   Chris Williams (Michigan State), 7-0   15-1
            W   A.J. Grant (Michigan), 7-1  16-1
            W   Matt Warner (Michigan), 2-1  17-1
            W   Claudell Ruffin (Eastern Michigan), 5-1  18-1
            L   Tim Dernlan (Ohio International), 2-1  -----
            W   Jason Gabrielson (Lehigh), med. forf. - 5th Place  19-1

1/7-8/00    125 Virginia Duals  W  James Thornton (Pittsburgh), 14-3  20-1
            L   Steve Garland (Virginia), 5-1  20-2
            W   Mike Akers (Virginia Tech), 6-1  21-2

MATT KENNY - Hwt. - Sophomore - Great Meadows, N.J.

11/20/99    Hwt.   East Stroudsburg Open   W  Joseph Linhart (Harvard), F 1:00  1-0
            W   Dan Bradley (unattached), F :26 2-0
            W   Dan Callawn (Lock Haven), F :43 3-0
            W   Roch Koehler (unattached), F 2:26  4-0
            L   Steve Mocco (Blair), 5-2 - Second Place 4-1

11/27/99    Hwt.   Carolina Open  W  Ben Fisher (unattached - VT), 10-0 5-1
            W   John Ryan Scott (Appalachian State), F :57  6-1
            W   Chad Scott (Binghampton), F 1:44 - First Place  7-1

12/5/99     Hwt.    Penn State Open  W  Kevin O'Meara (Edinboro), F 3:35  8-1
            W   Brad Hughes (U.P.J.), 10-0  9-1
            L   Tim Coartad (Ohio), 7-4  9-2
            L   Matt Lamb (Michigan State), F 5:39  9-3

12/29-30/99 Hwt.   Midlands  L  Matt Lamb (Michigan State), 4-3  9-4
            L   Josh Pearce (Edinboro), 4-3  9-5

1/7-8/00    Hwt.   Virginia Duals   L   Matt Mueller (Pittsburgh), 5-3  9-6
            W   Ryan Painter  (Virginia), 11-5   10-6
            W   Doug Easlick  (Virginia Tech), 6-3  11-6 

CLINT OSBORN - 197 pounds - Sophomore - Chapel Hill, North Carolina

11/20/99    197 East Stroudsburg Open  W   Nick Lopez (Gloucester), 12-10   1-0
            W   Jade Thompson (unattached), 12-2    2-0
            L   Francis Volpe (unattached), 14-3    2-1
            L   Brad Soltis (Harvard), 3-1  2-2

11/27/99    197	Carolina Open   W  Clifford Grove (UNC Pembroke), F 2:55   3-2
            W   Lewis Polley (Appalachian State), F 4:56  4-2
            W   Pat Hollwood (Citadel), 4-2 5-2
            W   Chris Basnight (Virginia Tech), 5-4 6-2

12/5/99     197  Penn State Open  W  Ryan Cummins (unattached), 4-2 OT  7-2
            W   C.C. Ezell (Kutztown), F 5:15  8-2
            L   Dave Shunamon (unattached), 9-6  8-3
            L   Eric Mausser (unattached), 11-8  8-4

12/29-30/99 197 Midlands  L  Matt Huebner (Northwestern), 5-3  8-5
            L   A.J. Johnson (Edinboro), 14-8   8-6

1/7-8/00    197  Virginia Duals  L  Dan Stine (Pittsburgh),7-4  8-7
            W   Jimi Massey (Virginia), forf.   9-7
            W   Christian Basnight (Virginia Tech),  5-2  10-7