North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Wrestling Suffers Tough Weekend In Vegas
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 7, 2002
NC State's wrestling team began the weekend at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with high hopes of a strong finish in a loaded field, but injury defaults by Scott Garren, Dustin Kawa and Kevin Gabrielson left the Wolfpack with a 31st-place finish in the 46-team field.
"We had a really disappointing weekend," NC State assistant coach Carter Jordan said. "We started out really well, and then it seemed like all of our top guys went down with injuries. They were all wrestling well. It's really a shame."
The Wolfpack lost just two individual bouts in the first two rounds of the tournament before the injuries hit. Junior Scott Garren, ranked No. 18 nationally at 157 pounds, went down in the third round when he reinjured his surgically repaired right knee. The injury is not believed to be serious. Junior Dustin Kawa, wrestling at 174, had to default when he suffered an injured back after landing on his neck in the third round. Kawa's back injury also was not believed to be serious.
Sophomore Kevin Gabrielson, who won a big early bout over Oscar Santiago of Purdue, ranked No. 14 nationally and seeded sixth in the tournament, had to injury default in the quarterfinals of the consolation round after suffering what was believed to be a high ankle sprain. The extent of his injury was unknown.
The Wolfpack will now take four weeks off and will return to action at Oklahoma on January 2 at 1 p.m.
