March 15, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Heading into this week's NCAA Championships, Carolina's wrestling team has come a long way since the last weekend in January when head coach C.D. Mock took a banged up bunch of Tar Heels north and suffered sound beatings at the hands of Virginia, Maryland and Navy.

Carolina was forced to forfeit a total of seven bouts that weekend, including four in a 41-4 loss to the Midshipmen, and then had a long ride home to think about it.

"It was horrible," said Mock, in his third year at his alma mater. "We had guys that were out because they were hurt. Going into it we knew it was going to be bad but to drive up there and hit all those three schools and get beat up - it was hard."

After a season of illness and injury, the Tar Heels, finally healthy for the most part, put it all together two weeks ago and claimed the program's 17th Atlantic Coast Conference title - and the second in a row - in dominating fashion. Carolina sent seven grapplers to the finals and won three individual titles - Garrett Atkinson at 165, Alex Maciag at 174 and Jared Royer at 133. In the end, Carolina tallied 90.5 points to outdistance the field by a whopping 26.5 points.

"It didn't bother these guys," said Mock of his team's season-long struggles. "It probably fazed me more than it did them. I'm proud of fact that they stuck together as a team, and they brought it together at ACCs and did what they told me they were going to do. I'd like to say that it's all coaching but it's not - it's these guys and certainly they could do the same thing this weekend."

Beginning Thursday, six Tar Heels will take to the mat at the 2006 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Oklahoma City's Ford Center. Joining Atkinson, Maciag and Royer are ACC at-large selections David Dashiell, Spencer Nadolsky and Vincent Ramirez, giving Carolina its most qualifiers since 2003.

This group has enjoyed a great deal of success this season. Nadolsky is 39-5 and will become just the fourth wrestler in Carolina history to win 40 matches in a single season with one more win. Just a redshirt freshman, Ramirez sits at 37-7 has won 17 of his last 18 bouts. Royer is the most surprising of this group, as he was seeded fourth at 133 and scored a pair of upset wins to claim the ACC title and punch his ticket to nationals.

But the vast majority of this group has not wrestled under the spotlight of NCAAs in their collegiate careers. Dashiell is a three-time qualifier. Atkinson is making his second straight trip. But the rest of this group is making its nationals debut.

This is where the experience of Mock comes in. A two-time All-America, Mock claimed the program's first-ever national title, winning at 134 pounds in 1982. He knows how to succeed at this level and is able to share his experiences with his young team.

"The first thing we tell them is don't focus on anything except your first match. And more importantly, what I tell them is don't even do that right now. You don't need to know who you have," said Mock, who says he never knew his opening opponent until he arrived at nationals.

"What you need to focus on right now is yourself. Your greatest opponent in wrestling is yourself. We have guys who if they take care of themselves, they could place. In a big tournament with 20,000 people there and the hype of NCAAs, it's easy to get off track. What I tell them is focus on yourself. Focus on your training. Focus on your state of mind. Don't get thinking about this too soon. These guys have all been wrestling for a long time. This tournament is no different than any other tournament if you remove all the static and all the hype. That's really what competing is all about. The great ones understand that and they know how to do that."

Despite wrestling without All-America Evan Sola and defending ACC champion Drew Forshey for much of the season, this group of Tar Heels bounced back from several set backs and proved itself on the conference level. Now its on to nationals.

"If we brought back one All-America, I'd be very happy," said Mock. "We're capable of bringing back three. I'd be ecstatic. To bring back an All-America this year with the young team that we have, I would be thrilled to death."