North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Wrestling Prepares For National Tournament
3/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 15, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - For the third time in four years, NC State is coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference championship as it heads to the NCAA Tournament. Unlike the previous two championship seasons, this year's Wolfpack heads to the national tournament in St. Louis, Mo., this weekend hoping to make some noise and stick around for a few days.
Since a seventh-place finish at the 1993 NCAA Tournament - the school's all-time best postseason finish - NC State has finished higher than 41st just once, a 29th-place finish in 1996, the same year the Wolfpack produced its last All-American, 118-pounder Mike Miller. The last three seasons, NC State has finished 48th, 65th and 48th at the national tournament, very disappointing for a team that has dominated the conference in recent years.
"We have not wrestled well at nationals for several years now, and it's time for that to change," Wolfpack head coach Bob Guzzo says. "We have three senior leaders in Scott Garren, Dustin Kawa and Jake Giamoni who are experienced enough and talented enough to contend for national honors."
Garren (157 pounds) and Giamoni (149 pounds) both won individual championships at the ACC Tournament to earn automatic berths in the NCAA Tournament, while Kawa took second at 174 and was an at-large selection. Combined, the three seniors are 48-14 this season and 208-81 in their careers at NC State, but they are just 7-14 in the NCAA Tournament, topped by Giamoni's 2-2 mark at Nationals a year ago.
Those three will be joined in St. Louis by junior 141-pounder Alex Hernandez, freshman 125-pounder Jeremy Hartrum and freshman 197-pounder Zach Garren. Hernandez, Hartrum and Garren all received at-large bids to the tournament.
Good health would help. Scott Garren (15-2 this season and 33-4 the last two years) missed part of the 2000-01 season and all of 2001-02 following a serious knee injury. He was hampered by nagging knee problems throughout 2003-04, but appears to be healthy heading to the NCAA meet. This year's national tournament will be Garren's third.
The same may not hold true for Kawa, who has been battling a high ankle sprain and was still struggling with that as the tournament approached. Kawa, 15-6 this past season, is heading to his third NCAA Tournament.
Wolfpack Wrestling Notes: The Wolfpack's ACC Tournament championship was the 13th in Guzzo's 30 years at NC State. The Pack's first-place conference finish in the regular season was Guzzo's 12th. In his 30 years as head coach, Guzzo's teams have finished first in the ACC in the regular season or in the conference tournament 15 times.
* Not counting NCAA Tournament action, Scott Garren has won 37 of his last 39 matches, with both losses coming to wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the country at the time.
* Garren has never lost a match at 157 pounds to an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. He is 17-0 vs. the ACC at that weight.
* Garren's career won-lost percentage of .802 (69-17) ranks 11th in school history, just a whisker behind Jim Zenz, who went 92-22-1 in his career for a .804 winning percentage.
* Garren currently is tied for 18th in school history with 69 career victories.
* Garren and Giamoni are two of just five NC State wrestlers ever to win three ACC individual championships.
* Four of Giamoni's six losses this season came to ranked wrestlers, two of them by a combined score of 7-4.
* A strong finisher since he transferred to NC State from Boston University, Giamoni has won seven of his last eight bouts and 11 of his last 13.
* Kawa's 77 career victories are tied for 11th in NC State history.
* This year marks the first time since 1999-2000 that an NC State freshman has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and the first time since 1997-98 that two Wolfpack freshmen have qualified.
