North Carolina State University Athletics
Wrestling Flies To Vegas For Invitational
11/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. December is not a busy month for the NC State wrestling team. It is, however, a significant month for the Wolfpack. The two biggest in-season college wrestling tournaments serve as bookends for the month of December, and NC State will participate in both.
First up is the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, this Friday and Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is the granddaddy of in-season tournaments. Thirteen of this week’s top 25 teams and more than 90 individual wrestlers ranked in the latest NCWA coaches poll will be at the Vegas Invitational.
NC State wades into that loaded talent pool with a team that is 1-5 in dual matches, but this is not a dual match. The Wolfpack, head coach Carter Jordan says, is improving and will continue to improve in dual matches as the season progresses, but tournaments and dual matches are entirely different things. Jordan believes the tournament format favors his team.
“No one is more disappointed than I am with our dual-match record,” Jordan says. “We’ve gotten better and we’ll continue to get better. We’ve had some inexperienced guys in the lineup, and they’ve had to learn some tough lessons.”
Not that the Pack has been without bright spots. Sophomore 149-pounder Darrion Caldwell is 8-1 with six pins, all in the first period, two of them against ranked opponents. Last week he pinned then-No. 6 Brent Metcalf of Iowa. Junior 141-pounder Joe Caramanica is 4-1, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents. Sophomore 125-pounder Taylor Cummings is 7-4, and freshman heavyweight Bobby Isola is 5-4. The Pack has faced three teams from the Big Ten and one from the Big 12; both are perennial power conferences in college wrestling.
As demanding as NC State’s early schedule has been, however, this weekend will be unlike anything the Wolfpack sees until the NCAA Championships in March. Caldwell is ranked No. 6 nationally in the latest NCWA poll, but probably will be seeded fifth at 149 pounds this weekend. Caramanica is No. 14 at 141 this week, but probably will be seeded seventh at the Vegas Invitational. Cummings, the defending ACC champion at 125 pounds, is unranked and will be in a bracket that includes nine wrestlers ranked in the top 20 this week. Isola is unranked at heavyweight, and that bracket has 10 names that appear in this week’s top 20.
The Las Vegas Invitational field includes five wrestlers ranked No. 1 nationally in their respective weight classes, and 23 (out of a possible 50) who are in the top 5.
“This tournament is a serious test for any team, but it’s also a great measuring stick,” Jordan says. “We’ll get a real good indication of exactly where we stand by what happens this weekend.”
Individual wrestlers can play a much larger role in a team’s success in a tournament format than in a dual match. The deeper a wrestler advances through his bracket, the more points he scores for his team. In a dual match, he wrestles one match, win or lose, and is done. Tournaments, therefore, favor teams with standout individual performers.
Based on their records to date, Caldwell and Caramanica both could score significant points for NC State in Las Vegas. A wild card for the Pack will be Ryan Goodman, a two-time ACC champion and an All-America candidate. Goodman will be making his season debut this weekend after spending the fall with the Wolfpack football team.
Just how ready Goodman will be for the competition in Las Vegas remains to be seen. He worked out with the wrestling team about once a week the last six weeks of the football season and is not in top wrestling condition yet. When Jordan tried to leave Goodman off the roster for the weekend, however, the junior 184-pounder protested loudly, so loudly, in fact, that Jordan felt he had no choice but to reconsider.
“Having Ryan Goodman back definitely helps us, especially heading into these two tournaments,” Jordan says. “I tried to tell him that he might not be ready for a tournament like this yet, and he said he didn’t care, that he definitely wanted to go. You have to love his comeptitiveness. He wants it badly.”
If Goodman can wrestle his way deep into the bracket at 184, a bracket that includes six of the current top 10 and nine of the top 20, the Wolfpack could be one of the surprise teams in this tournament. And even if he doesn’t, his presence in the lineup, along with the continued development of youngsters like Cummings, Isola, Mark Jahad (197), Ryan Tice and Darrius Little (133) should bode well for the Wolfpack’s prospects at the Southern Scuffle later this month (December 28-29 at the Greensboro Coliseum), and for the postseason in March.
“I’ve said from the beginning of the season that this team probably won’t be as good a dual-match team as last year’s team,” Jordan says. “That doesn’t mean we won’t get better at dual matches, because we will. But with several standout individuals scoring points, this could be the best tournament team we’ve had in years.”
College wrestling determines its national championship in a tournament format, not in dual matches. If NC State is as improved a tournament team as Jordan suggests, then March could be a special month for the Wolfpack. We’ll know more by the end of December.
First up is the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, this Friday and Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is the granddaddy of in-season tournaments. Thirteen of this week’s top 25 teams and more than 90 individual wrestlers ranked in the latest NCWA coaches poll will be at the Vegas Invitational.
NC State wades into that loaded talent pool with a team that is 1-5 in dual matches, but this is not a dual match. The Wolfpack, head coach Carter Jordan says, is improving and will continue to improve in dual matches as the season progresses, but tournaments and dual matches are entirely different things. Jordan believes the tournament format favors his team.
“No one is more disappointed than I am with our dual-match record,” Jordan says. “We’ve gotten better and we’ll continue to get better. We’ve had some inexperienced guys in the lineup, and they’ve had to learn some tough lessons.”
Not that the Pack has been without bright spots. Sophomore 149-pounder Darrion Caldwell is 8-1 with six pins, all in the first period, two of them against ranked opponents. Last week he pinned then-No. 6 Brent Metcalf of Iowa. Junior 141-pounder Joe Caramanica is 4-1, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents. Sophomore 125-pounder Taylor Cummings is 7-4, and freshman heavyweight Bobby Isola is 5-4. The Pack has faced three teams from the Big Ten and one from the Big 12; both are perennial power conferences in college wrestling.
As demanding as NC State’s early schedule has been, however, this weekend will be unlike anything the Wolfpack sees until the NCAA Championships in March. Caldwell is ranked No. 6 nationally in the latest NCWA poll, but probably will be seeded fifth at 149 pounds this weekend. Caramanica is No. 14 at 141 this week, but probably will be seeded seventh at the Vegas Invitational. Cummings, the defending ACC champion at 125 pounds, is unranked and will be in a bracket that includes nine wrestlers ranked in the top 20 this week. Isola is unranked at heavyweight, and that bracket has 10 names that appear in this week’s top 20.
The Las Vegas Invitational field includes five wrestlers ranked No. 1 nationally in their respective weight classes, and 23 (out of a possible 50) who are in the top 5.
“This tournament is a serious test for any team, but it’s also a great measuring stick,” Jordan says. “We’ll get a real good indication of exactly where we stand by what happens this weekend.”
Individual wrestlers can play a much larger role in a team’s success in a tournament format than in a dual match. The deeper a wrestler advances through his bracket, the more points he scores for his team. In a dual match, he wrestles one match, win or lose, and is done. Tournaments, therefore, favor teams with standout individual performers.
Based on their records to date, Caldwell and Caramanica both could score significant points for NC State in Las Vegas. A wild card for the Pack will be Ryan Goodman, a two-time ACC champion and an All-America candidate. Goodman will be making his season debut this weekend after spending the fall with the Wolfpack football team.
Just how ready Goodman will be for the competition in Las Vegas remains to be seen. He worked out with the wrestling team about once a week the last six weeks of the football season and is not in top wrestling condition yet. When Jordan tried to leave Goodman off the roster for the weekend, however, the junior 184-pounder protested loudly, so loudly, in fact, that Jordan felt he had no choice but to reconsider.
“Having Ryan Goodman back definitely helps us, especially heading into these two tournaments,” Jordan says. “I tried to tell him that he might not be ready for a tournament like this yet, and he said he didn’t care, that he definitely wanted to go. You have to love his comeptitiveness. He wants it badly.”
If Goodman can wrestle his way deep into the bracket at 184, a bracket that includes six of the current top 10 and nine of the top 20, the Wolfpack could be one of the surprise teams in this tournament. And even if he doesn’t, his presence in the lineup, along with the continued development of youngsters like Cummings, Isola, Mark Jahad (197), Ryan Tice and Darrius Little (133) should bode well for the Wolfpack’s prospects at the Southern Scuffle later this month (December 28-29 at the Greensboro Coliseum), and for the postseason in March.
“I’ve said from the beginning of the season that this team probably won’t be as good a dual-match team as last year’s team,” Jordan says. “That doesn’t mean we won’t get better at dual matches, because we will. But with several standout individuals scoring points, this could be the best tournament team we’ve had in years.”
College wrestling determines its national championship in a tournament format, not in dual matches. If NC State is as improved a tournament team as Jordan suggests, then March could be a special month for the Wolfpack. We’ll know more by the end of December.
#PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast: Ep. 147 - VT Preview & Will Denny
Tuesday, January 27
#PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast: Ep. 146 - Midseason Report for Start of ACC Duals
Wednesday, January 07
#PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast: Ep. 145 - Transfer Patrick Brophy
Monday, January 05
#PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast: Ep. 144 - Season Shifts into Second Semester Action
Tuesday, December 16