North Carolina State University Athletics
Gwiazdowski Earns Top Seed; Pack Sending Five to NCAA Championships
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. - Led by the top-seed and defending national champion at 285 pounds Nick Gwiazdowski, the NC State wrestling team will be sending five individuals to the 2015 NCAA Championships taking place next week in St. Louis, Mo. Under third-year head coach Pat Popolizio, the Pack will be sending five individuals to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year.
In addition to Gwiazdowski, freshman Kevin Jack (141 pounds) and sophomore Pete Renda (174) also were awarded NCAA automatic bids based on their finishes at the ACC Championship this past weekend. Redshirt senior Joe DeAngelo (125 pounds) and sophomore Max Rohskopf (165) were both awarded at-large berths announced earlier this afternoon to complete the Pack's participants.
Gwiazdowski becomes the fourth NC State wrestler all-time to enter the NCAA Championships as a No. 1 seed, last done by Darrion Caldwell in 2011 at 149 pounds. He is also vying to become only the third wrestler in ACC history to win multiple NCAA titles, and the first since 1995. The 2015 ACC Champion, Gwiazdowski enters the NCAA Championships with a 50 match-winning streak, including a perfect 30-0 mark this year.
DeAngelo is making his second NCAA Championships appearance. In his first season with the Pack after transferring from Nassau Community College, DeAngelo was an NCAA Qualifier in 2013. After redshirting last season, DeAngelo returns to the NCAAs as a redshirt senior in his last collegiate tournament.
Renda has now been an NCAA Qualifier at 174 pounds in both seasons at NC State. Jack will be at the NCAAs as a true freshman at 141 pounds, and in his first season as a starter, Rohskopf also received a bid.
Competition starts next Thursday (March 19) and runs through the finals on Saturday (March 21) at the Scottrade Center.
Full brackets for the 2015 NCAA Championships were released on Wednesday and can be found at the link here. A complete preview of the Pack's NCAA participants will be on GoPack.com next week.
Players Mentioned
