North Carolina State University Athletics
Wrestling Notebook
2/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
February 15, 2001 / Chapel Hill, N.C.
* Wolfpack Sets For Return Match With North Carolina: Following a disappointing three-point loss at Navy this past weekend, the NC State wrestling team will try to regroup on Thursday with an Atlantic Coast Conference match at rival North Carolina.
The Navy loss snapped a five-match winning streak for the Wolfpack, 9-7 overall and 2-1 in the ACC. The Pack has won nine of its last 12 matches after an 0-4 start in December and early January. The Pack will be seeking revenge against the Tar Heels, who defeated NC State at Reynolds Coliseum 16-14 back on January 16. The Wolfpack will be gunning for its fourth consecutive victory at North Carolina's Carmichael Gym. The Wolfpack has not lost to the Tar Heels at Chapel Hill since 1997.
* Career-Best Winning Streaks: Three NC State wrestlers are riding winning streaks that are the longest of their respective careers.
Senior Zach Breitenbach (21-4 at 197) has won his last 12 matches * a career high * 14 of his last 15, and 17 of his last 19. Before 9-7 win over Navy Mike Biggrig this past Saturday, Breitenbach had won five in a row by either major decision or technical fall. Breitenbach entered action this week ranked 8th nationally by Intermat and 14th by Amateur Wrestling News.
At 125, redshirt sophomore George Cintron is 17-6 on the season after a slow start and has won seven in a row * a career high * 11 of his last 12, and 14 of his last 16.
At 157, redshirt-junior Pierre Pryor is 17-3 on the season and has won 12 in a row, also a career high. Pryor has won 14 of his last 15 matches, and 21 of his last 24 dating back to last season. Pryor also has won his last 10 matches against Atlantic Coast Conference competition. Ten of Pryor's 17 victories this season have been by fall or major decision.
* Beating Ranked Opponents: So far this season, the Wolfpack has faced 26 ranked individual opponents and defeated seven of them, the team's best mark vs. ranked wrestlers in several years. The Pack was 4-30 vs. ranked opponents a year ago, and 9-37 in 1999.
Leading the way vs. ranked opponents this season has been senior 197-pounder Zach Breitenbach (3-3) and Scott Garren (2-1). A year ago, no NC State wrestlers had more than one win against ranked opponents, and only Pierre Pryor, at 1-0, has a winning record against ranked foes.
* Breitenbach Named ACC Wrestler of the Week For Second Time: For the second time in three weeks, NC State senior 197-pounder Zach Breitenbach was named the ACC Wrestler of the Week the week of January 29 through February 4. Breitenbach, currently ranked 9th nationally by Intermat and 14th by Amateur Wrestling News, scored heavy team points for the Wolfpack in its doubleheader sweep over Virginia and James Madison on January 27, picking up a 17-1 technical fall over Virginia's Zach Freday in the afternoon bout, and then winning a 13-2 major decision over James Madison's Steve Kodish that evening. Breitenbach, 20-4 on the season, now has won 11 in a row, the last five by either major decision or technical fall.
* Milestones: Senior Tommy Davis (149 pounds) picked up his 70th career victory this past Saturday at Maryland. Davis needs just seven more wins to break into NC State's top 10 list for career victories * Senior Zach Breitenbach (197) picked up his 20th win of the season on February 3 with a 10-1 thrashing of Appalachian State's Geoff McIntosh. Breitenbach currently is 21-4 for the season and now has won 20 matches for the second season in a row. He went 20-10 a year ago * Breitenbach picked up his 60th career win on January 31 with a 16-0 technical fall over Campbell's Jason Greenawalt. Breitenbach joined Tommy Davis as the only active NC State wrestlers with at least 60 career wins * George Cintron's 5-3 win over Appalachian State's Rich Caisse was the 30th of his career.
* NC State's Recent 20-Bout Winners: With 21 wins already to his credit, senior 197-pounder Zach Breitenbach has an outside chance of becoming just the 11th wrestler in school history to record 30 wins in a season, and the first since Sylvester Terkay went 41-0 in 1992-93. With his 10-1 win over Geoff McIntosh of Appalachian State on February 3, Breitenbach became the first NC State wrestler to record 20 wins in back-to-back seasons since Tommy Davis in 1997-98 and 1998-99. Davis went 20-8 as a freshman at 126 in 1998, and then went 23-6 at 141 in 1999. Prior to Davis, the last NC State wrestler to post consecutive 20-match wins was Mike Miller in 1994-95 and 1995-96. Miller went 29-4 in 1994-95 and then followed that up with a 27-6 mark in 1995-96. Breitenbach, 19-4 this season, went 20-10 a year ago.
In addition to Breitenbach, George Cintron (17-6 at 125), Pierre Pryor (17-3 at 157) and Scott Garren (19-7 at 165) all have a chance to join the 20-win club this season, which would give NC State four wrestlers with 20 wins in the same season for the first time since 1994-95, when Mike Miller (29-4), Wayne Jackson (22-9), Troy Charney (23-8) and Kirk Stehman (24-8) all won 20 matches.
Following is a list of all Wolfpack wrestlers who have won 20 or more matches since the 1990-91 season:
Wrestler Year W-L Ricky Strausbaugh 1990-91 21-11 Clayton Grice 1990-91 21-8 Mark Mangrum 1990-91 25-9 Sylvester Terkay 1990-91 32-3 Mark Cesari 1991-92 28-6 Steve Williams 1991-92 29-7 Sylvester Terkay 1991-92 35-2 Mike Miller 1992-93 20-17 Mark Cesari 1992-93 27-6 Chris Kwortnik 1992-93 25-2 Dan Madson 1992-93 21-12 Sylvester Terkay 1992-93 41-0 Mike Miller 1994-95 29-4 Wayne Jackson 1994-95 22-9 Troy Charney 1994-95 23-8 Kirk Stehman 1994-95 24-8 Mike Miller 1995-96 27-6 Anthony Sorantino 1995-96 22-13 Dan Madson 1995-96 28-8 Lee Carroll 1996-97 23-12 Jelani Chase 1996-97 23-9 Tommy Davis 1997-98 20-8 Billy Blunt 1997-98 23-9 Tommy Davis 1998-99 23-6 Kevin Boross 1998-99 23-8 Joel Dramis 1999-00 21-7 Zach Breitenbach 1999-00 20-10 Zach Breitenbach 2000-01 21-4George Cintron, 125, So., Wellington, Fla.
* 17-6 in 2001, 31-13 career.
* Has a 4-2 career mark vs. ACC opponents.
* Has had two winning streaks this season of at least four matches, including his current winning streak of seven, which is a career high * The first four-match streak came during the Duke Duals and the NC State Duals.
* Has won 11 of his last 12 matches, with the one loss at the hands of 17th-ranked Ryan Escobar of Illinois.
* Has won 14 of his last 16 matches, dating back to the Lehigh Duals in December.
* Is 1-2 vs. ranked wrestlers.
Ryan McCallum, 133, Fr., Reading, Pa.
* 9-9 with 2 falls in 2001.
* Is 0-3 vs. ACC opponents.
* Pinned Appalachian State's Travis Drake at the 2:34 mark on February 3.
* Lost to 20th-ranked Brandon York of Maryland 6-1 on January 20, his first college match against a ranked wreslter.
* Snapped a four-match losing streak this on January 27 with a 7-2 win over Dalton Head of JMU.
* Won a career-high six straight matches prior to the four-match losing streak.
* Struggled against tough competition early, dropping four of his first five matches at the Navy Invitational and the Lehigh Duals.
Oraefo Brown, 141, So. Miami, Fla.
* 6-9 in 2001, 17-22 with 1 fall career.
* Has a 6-2 career mark vs. ACC competition.
* Has won three of his last six matches after a 3-6 start.
* Won three in a row earlier in the year, one shy of his career-best winning streak of four matches.
Tommy Davis, 149, Sr., Newark, Del.
* 11-2 in 2001, 70-20 career.
* Has a career winning percentage of .778.
* Has a 21-5 career mark vs. ACC opposition.
* Two-time ACC champion (141 pounds in 1999) (149 pounds in 2000)
* Has won his last six matches in a row after beating Navy's Tom Storer 12-5 on February 10 * Four of the six wins in the streak were by major decision.
* Took a pair of major decisions on the road on January 27, defeating Ernesto Vera of Virginia by a 16-5 score in Charlottesville, and then hammering Brian Consolvo of James Madison 13-5 that evening.
* Has never lost three matches in a row, and has lost two in a row only twice, once this season and once in February 1999.
* Both losses this season came to national top 10 wrestlers (#1 Adam Tirapelle of Illinois, and #8 JohnMark Bentley of UNC) * Has lost only six times in his career to unranked wrestlers, and just twice since his freshman season.
* Has won 24 of his last 28 matches dating back to last season, including a career-best 12-match winning streak last season * Had winning streaks of nine and 10 matches earlier in his career.
* The loss to UNC's Bentley this season was his first to an ACC foe in two years, snapping a streak of 12 consecutive wins vs. ACC opponents.
* Needs seven wins to crack the NC State career top 10 for victories.
Pierre Pryor, 157, R-Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.
* 17-3 with 4 falls in 2001, 57-22 with 17 falls career.
* Has a 13-4 career record vs. ACC opposition.
* The 1999 ACC champion at 157.
* Received a medical hardship last season after fracturing his wrist the first day of the season.
* Has now won a career-high 12 matches in a row * Previous longest streak was seven in a row over the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons, winning all four matches a year ago and his first three this season.
* Has won 14 of his last 15 matches * Has won 21 of his last 24 matches, including seven first-period falls and five major decisions, dating back to the beginning of the 1999-2000 season.
* Ten of his 17 wins this season have been by fall or major decision.
* Has won his last 10 matches vs. ACC competition.
* Currently ranks ninth in school history with 17 career pins.
Scott Garren, 165, So., Paulsboro, N.J.
* 19-7 with 3 falls in 2001, 35-13 with 7 falls career.
* Is 6-2 lifetime vs. the ACC.
* The defending ACC champion at 157.
* Ranked 18th nationally by Intermat.
* Had a five-match winning streak snapped January 20 at Maryland, his first-ever ACC loss.
* Has won five in a row twice this season * Career-longest winning streak was seven matches a year ago.
* Is 2-1 vs. ranked opponents this season, with both victories coming against wrestlers ranked in the top 10.
* Has three falls, one technical fall and four major decisions to his credit this season.
* Has won nine of his last 11 matches, 14 of his last 18, 18 of his last 24, and 27 of his last 36 dating back to last season.
Dustin Kawa, 174, R-Fr., Lithonia, Ga.
* 12-10 with 1 fall in 2001.
* Has a 3-1 record vs. ACC opponents.
* NC State's first-ever high school national champion.
* Has won four of his last six matches * the latest being a 15-5 major decision over Appalachian State's Kyle Spencer on February 3 * and nine of his last 13.
* Picked up his second career pin on January 31 with a 3:19 fall over Campbell's Josh McConnell.
* Overcame a 6-1 first-period deficit on January 20 to post a 10-9 victory over Sal Aquia at Maryland and snap a two-match losing streak.
* Both losses in the losing streak were last-second heartbreakers to ranked wrestlers * Lost 2-1 on riding time in overtime to Illinois' Ben King (#7) at the NC State Duals, and then lost 5-3 to UNC's Corey Bell (#14) on a takedown with three seconds left in the match three days later.
* Won a career-high four in a row during the Duke Duals and the NC State Duals, including a pin and a major decision.
Zach Breitenbach, 197, Sr. Cary, N.C.
* 21-4 with 1 fall in 2001, 62-34 with 4 falls career.
* Has a 14-4 career record vs. ACC opponents.
* Academic All-American and ACC Honor Roll
* Ranked 9th nationally by Intermat, and 13th by Amateur Wrestling News.
* Is 3-3 this season vs. ranked opponents.
* Has won 12 matches in a row, a career high * Previous longest winning streak was five matches, which he did once a year ago.
* Had won five in a row by either major decisions or technical fall before beating Navy's Mike Bigrigg 9-7 on February 10.
* Has won 14 of his last 15 matches, 17 of his last 19, and 35 of his last 45 matches, dating back to the 1999 Lehigh Invitational.
* Has suffered back-to-back losses just three times in the last two seasons, and just once in 2000-01.
* Has a 41-14 mark over the last two seasons.
* Was named ACC Wrestler of the Week the week of January 6-13, and again the week of January 20-27.
Ricky Fowler, Hwt., Fr., Columbus, Ga.
* 3-3 in 2001.
* Is 2-1 career vs. ACC opponents.
* A member of the Wolfpack football team * Started the last four games of the season at defensive tackle as a true freshman.
David DeBinder, Hwt., Fr., Cary, N.C.
* 2-6 in 2001.
* Got his first career win the Lehigh Duals, defeating Lock Haven's Jarred Dressler, 5-3.
