The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JULY/AUGUST 2023 ■ 45 and eventually Olympic relay gold med- als. Fox, a native of Raleigh, won his NCAA title in 1993, while Jones, of Ir- vington, N.J., captured his in 2006. Both followed with Olympic gold med- als, Fox in Atlanta in 1996 and Jones in Beijing in 2008. Matt Hill, men's golf, 2009 A rain delay forced Hill, a native of Brights Grove, Ontario, to wait a full 24 hours before he was officially named medalist — and individual national champion — at the 2009 NCAA Men's Golf Championship. He had birdied 2 of his last 5 holes to establish an insurmountable lead at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, and then waited for the rest of the field to finish the next day. It capped off one of the greatest individual seasons in col- legiate golf history. Rivaled only by Stanford's Tiger Woods in 1996, Hill won eight of his nine tournaments during the fall and spring seasons and became the only player in collegiate golf history to win conference, regional and national championships in the same season. He was named both the college golfer of the year and the ACC Athlete of the Year. Hill returned for his junior season in 2010 and won two more tournaments, giving him 10 in his college career. He turned professional after that year and continues to play internationally. David Amerson, football, 2011 For some reason, even after the soph- omore from Greensboro's Dudley High School intercepted 8 passes in the Wolf- pack's first seven games, opposing of- fenses kept throwing to his side of the field. And he kept picking off pass after pass. By the end of the season, Amerson had established school and ACC records with 13 interceptions, a total that also was tied for second in FBS history. He capped off the most remark- able year by intercepting 2 passes in NC State's 31-24 victory over Louis- ville in the Belk Bowl, returning one 65 yards for a touchdown to give the Pack a 21-point lead and catching another with 41 seconds remaining to seal the win. Amerson was named a first-team All- American in 2011 and won the Jack Ta- tum Trophy as the nation's best defensive back. Opposing quarterbacks stopped throwing in his direction the follow- ing season, but he still picked off 5 more passes to finish his college career with 18. Selected in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft by Washington, Amer- son spent time over six seasons with the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and Arizona Cardinals. He retired from pro football after the 2018 season with 9 ca- reer interceptions. Diana Shnaider, women's tennis, 2023 In much the same way as John Sadri changed the course of NC State men's tennis in 1978 with his appearance in the NCAA championship match against Stanford's John McEnroe, Shnaider changed the perception of Wolfpack women's tennis with her performances over the past year, leading the team to un- precedented success. The powerful freshman from Moscow, Russia, competed against collegians and professionals, performing well in the Australian Open while also leading the NC State women's team to its first ACC championship this past spring. She also was the ACC individual cham- pion, beating No. 1-ranked Fiona Crawley of North Carolina in straight sets. That helped set up an unprecedented run to the team national championship match, where the Wolfpack again faced the Tar Heels in a tight but unsuccessful match. Shnaider was unable to compete for an individual NCAA championship because it conflicted with her preparation for the French Open in Paris, a pretty good indi- cation of the kind of individual season she had for the Wolfpack. Nick Gwiazdowski, wrestling, 2015 A transfer into coach Pat Popolizio's program from Binghamton University, Gwiazdowski not only matched the suc- cess of some of the greatest wrestlers in school history, he exceeded them, be- coming the program's first athlete to win back-to-back NCAA titles. Gwiazdowski posted a 32-0 record as a junior in 2015 en route to his second 285-pound individual championship. The previous year, he was 33-1 and won his first NCAA title. As a senior in 2016, he lost just two of his 44 matches and finished second at the NCAA Championships. He completed his career with a 109-3 record. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Wrestler Nick Gwiazdowski went 32-0 as a junior in 2015, finishing his season by winning his second consecutive NCAA heavyweight crown. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS 2022-23 YEAR IN REVIEW BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASONS