North Carolina State University Athletics
Wrestling To Close Home Schedule With Doubleheader
2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. — With the regular season winding down, NC State will host its final home dual matches of the season Saturday when No. 24 Virginia and No. 14 Virginia Tech come to Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack will take on the Cavaliers at 11 a.m., then will take on the Hokies at 1 o’clock.
The Wolfpack, battered and bruised from an uncanny string of injuries, is coming off a 19-14 victory over UNC Greensboro on Wednesday. The Wolfpack again will be without the services of No. 20 149-pounder Bobby Ward (23-7), who suffered a mild concussion at Old Dominion on Tuesday. He is being held out of action for seven days as a precautionary measure. He could be ready to return to action on Tuesday at Campbell. In addition to being ranked No. 20 by the NWCA, Ward is ranked 12th in the first coaches’ RPI rankings, released Friday.
Ward is not the only Wolfpack wrestler on the disabled list. He is joined by 125-pounders Mike Moreno and Taylor Cummings, 133-pounder Darrius Little, 149-pounder Darrion Caldwell (the defending national champion), 157-pounder Colton Palmer, 184-pounder Jonathan Becker, 197-pounder Andrew Tumlin, and heavyweight Bobby Isola all are out. Cummings, Little, Caldwell and Becker are out for the year, and Tumlin left the team. All of the above were starters or potential starters heading into the season.
Heading into the weekend, the only starters left from the team’s preseason projections are freshman Dale Shull (16-11 overall and 2-0 at 133) and sophomore Quinton Godley (10-17 at 174).
“It’s just been crazy what’s happened to us, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Wolfpack head coach Carter Jordan said. “Nobody’s feeling sorry for us. All we can do is work to get better and ask the guys who are in the lineup to give us everything they have. And they’ve done that.”
The Cavaliers and Hokies present stiff challenges for the Wolfpack. Virginia has won five of its last seven matches and features No. 3 174-pounder Chris Henrich and No. 20 184-pounder Mike Salopek.
Virginia Tech lost its last two dual matches, but both were to top 10 teams. The Hokies won seven of eight prior to that and feature No. 10 141-pounder Chris Diaz, No. 5 157-pounder Jesse Dong, and No. 19 184-pounder Tommy Spellman.
“These are two excellent wrestling teams,” Jordan said. “They both have a number of outstanding individuals. Our focus has to be on us, however. We can’t get caught up in who it is we’re facing and just work on getting better.”
The Wolfpack will be led by a pair of freshmen. Dale Shull moved down a weight to 133 pounds this past week and is 2-0 with a pair of first-minute pins in that time. In his first match at 133, he pinned highly regarded freshman Justin LaValle of Old Dominion on Tuesday, getting the fall in one minute flat. The next night he pinned UNC Greensboro’s Casey Boyle in 47 seconds. Shull was 14-11 at 141 and has won five of his last seven bouts.
Palma snapped a four-match losing streak Tuesday at ODU with a 5-1 decision over Grant Chapman, then dominated Peter Sturgeon of UNCG 8-2. At 19-13, Palma has tied the school record for victories by a freshman heavyweight. Tab Thacker went 19-3 as a frosh in 1980-81.
Following are the probable starters for Saturday’s matches:
NC State (6-11)
125 - vacant
133 - Dale Shull (16-11)
141 - Scott Norris (3-13)
149 - Greyson Mills (3-4)
157 - Brett Farina (8-10) or Colton Gleason (0-0)
165 - Bobby Ward (6-10)
174 - Quinton Godley (10-17)
184 - Cedric Moore (3-10) or Colin Genthert (0-1)
197 - Christian McClean (1-9) or KaRonne Jones (0-0)
Hwt - Eloheim Palma (19-13)
#24 Virginia (14-5)
125 - Ross Gitomer (17-12
133 - Matt Snyder (21-12)
141 - Derek Valenti (20-6)
149 - Dave Ebbott 4-6)
157 - Danny Gonsor 15-6)
165 - Pat Riley (15-9)
174 - #3 Chris Henrich (25-2)
184 - #20 Mike Salopek (24-8)
197 - Brent Jones (19-9)
Hwt - Jack Danilkowicz (15-9)
#14 Virginia Tech (14-5)
125 - Schuyler Swanton (3-3)
133 - Brock LiVorio (7-4)
141 - Nick Murray (15-5) or #10 Chris Diaz (24-3)
149 - Brian Stephens (18-10)
157 - #5 Jesse Dong (27-3)
165 - Taylor Knapp (11-14) or Matt Epperly (17-8)
174 - John Dickson (3-4) or Taylor Knapp (11-14)
184 - #19 Tommy Spellman (22-9)
197 - Chris Penny (2-13)
285 - Tim Miller (3-15)
