Wolfpack Hits The Road, Takes On Navy

Navy Results

Riding a five-match winning streak and having won nine of its last 11 matches, the NC State wrestling team travels to Annapolis, Md., this weekend to wrestle the United States Naval Academy on February 10 at 3 p.m. The match with the Midshipmen is the first of three road matches for the Wolfpack, which also travels to North Carolina on February 15 and to UNC-Greensboro on February 20 before returning home to face Duke at Reynolds Coliseum in the last home match of the season, February 22 at 7:30 p.m.

The Series With Navy: NC State is 9-14 vs. Navy since Wolfpack coach Bob Guzzo took over the program in 1974-75. Navy has won the last two meetings, and five of the last seven overall, and the Wolfpack has never won at Navy in the Guzzo era.

At The Navy Invitational In November: Saturday's match-up with Navy will not be NC State's first experience with the Midshipmen this season. The Wolfpack got the 2000-01 campaign started back on November 18 at the Navy Invitational Tournament, placing seventh, and several NC State wrestlers had bouts vs. Navy wrestlers at the tournament.

Sophomore Oraefo Brown lost a 6-2 decision to Navy's Brian Forster in an elimination bout at 141 pounds. Earlier in the 141 bracket, Forster had defeated the Wolfpack's Jonathan Williams in a major decision, 11-3. Freshman Kenneth Alphin dropped a major 23-10 decision to Jon Padgett in a first-round match in the 125-pound bracket. At 133, redshirt-freshman Adam Cox won a major decision over Navy's Gabriel Cappo, 9-0. At 149 pounds, Midshipman Brent Peterson defeated Justin Parlier 4-3, and at 157 John Campbell handed the Pack's Luigi Tranchese a 7-2 defeat. At 165, Navy's Andrew Hemminger pinned NC State's Charles Trivette at the 4:51 mark. At 194, James Letchford of Navy took a 9-5 decision over Jonathan Walter.

NC State Throttles Appalachian State, 29-12: Paced by pins from Ryan McCallum and Scott Garren, and major decisions from Dustin Kawa and Zach Breitenbach, NC State's wrestling team won its fifth straight dual match in a row Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum, defeating Appalachian State 29-12. NC State, which has won nine of its last 11 dual matches, won seven of the first eight matches to improve to 9-6 on the season. Appalachian State fell to 4-4 with the loss.

Career-Best Winning Streaks: Three NC State wrestlers are riding winning streaks that are the longest of their respective careers.

Senior Zach Breitenbach (20-4 at 197) has won his last 11 matches * a career high * 13 of his last 14, and 16 of his last 18. He has won his last five by either major decision or technical fall. Breitenbach entered action this week ranked 9th nationally by Intermat and 14th by Amateur Wrestling News.

At 125, redshirt sophomore George Cintron is 16-6 on the season after a slow start and has won six in a row * a career high * 10 of his last 11, and 13 of his last 15.

At 157, redshirt-junior Pierre Pryor is 16-3 on the season and has won 11 in a row, also a career high. Pryor has won 13 of his last 14 matches, and 20 of his last 23 dating back to last season. Pryor also has won his last 10 matches against Atlantic Coast Conference competition. Ten of Pryor's 16 victories this season have been by fall or major decision.

Beating Ranked Opponents: So far this season, the Wolfpack has faced 25 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) now has 69 career victories and needs just eight 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 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 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 20 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 (16-6 at 125), Pierre Pryor (16-3 at 157) and Scott Garren (18-7 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     	1999-2000       21-7
Zach Breitenbach        1999-2000       20-10
Zach Breitenbach        2000-01 	20-4

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