March 21, 2003

RALEIGH, N.C. - After three of NC State's four qualifiers found themselves one loss from elimination after Thursday's action at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, all three went on to compete in the third-round of the double-elimination tournament Friday, but again, hearts were broken as all three were eliminated. The Wolfpack totaled 3.5 team points and went on to finish tied for 48th out of 70 schools represented.

Junior 149-pounder Jake Giamoni contributed with the only win for the Wolfpack on Friday before being eliminated by No. 12 Jody Giuricich of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, senior 125-pounder George Cintron and junior 157-pounder Scott Garren came up empty-handed and were eliminated in early action.

Giamoni boosted NC State's chances with a 6-3 win over Tony Hook of Oregon State in the wrestlebacks. The victory advanced Giamoni to the next round of action, making him the only Wolfpack wrestler to do so. A few hours later, however, fate would turn as Giamoni was too eliminated, suffering a 6-0 defeat to Giuricich.

Cintron, ranked No. 19 nationally, found himself matched up with Heath McKim of Air Force. McKim suffered a loss to No. 11 Tony Black a day prior, while Cintron was handed his first loss of the tournament by Aaron Suranofsky of George Mason. McKim bounced back however, and went on to defeat Cintron, 6-3, Friday. Sixteenth-ranked Garren, meanwhile made a strong effort against No. 12 Derek Jenkins of Rider in early afternoon action, only to come up short in the end. Jenkins went on to hand Garren a 10-6 decision loss.

Junior 165-pounder Dustin Kawa, ranked No. 12 nationally,was NC State's other NCAA qualifier, but was eliminated during Thursday's action after losing to fourth-ranked Jacob Volkman of Minnesota in the first round, 13-8, and then 16-7 to Scott Roth of Cornell in the wrestlebacks Thursday night.