The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/406183
NOVEMBER 2014 ■ 125 people and that's a hard thing for 18-year- old kids to buy into, but when they finally commit to it they see success and start beat- ing guys they haven't been able to in the past." Wrestlers need to look no further than their own defending national champion for proof. Gwiazdowski had lost to two-time NCAA champ Tony Nelson three times in college before their NCAA championship match last March. He had closed the gap each time and — as Popolizio routinely urges his guys to do — stayed the course. It paid off with a 4-2 victory and spot atop of college wrestling's grandest podium. It has helped elevate the Pack's national pro- file, but repeating will be no easy task for the big man. "People know you can win here and do it at a young age now," Popolizio said. "This will be my ninth year coaching, and this is, by far, the hardest-working team I've seen in a preseason. I loved that guys were willing to put a lot of time in and train extremely hard. Whether the talent is there on a guy on our team — it's all over the place — the mentality is the same, and that's what we need. "Last year, we had a good tournament team. We'll still have a good tournament team with guys that can go far at the national tournament, but we need to break through as a dual-meet team. We didn't beat a top-25 team in a dual meet last year, and we need to do that this year. "We want to be a top-25 dual meet team and finish higher than we did last year at nationals. Hopefully, we put ourselves in position to be a top-15 team." ■ Noting The Pack • Six of a possible 10 grapplers were listed in various preseason rankings. They were (with high- est rank and outlet): 125-pounder Joe DeAngelo (No. 32, Wrestling USA); 141-pounder Sam Speno (No. 9, TheOpenMat.com), 157-pounder Tommy Gantt (No. 11, TheOpenMat.com), 165-pounder Chad Pyke (No. 29, Wrestling USA), 174-pounder Pete Renda (No. 14, Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine) and heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski (No. 1, all outlets). • DeAngelo, Speno, Gantt and Gwiazdowski were all elected team captains. "We have four guys for captains, which I think is a lot," head coach Pat Popolizio noted, "but they are all deserving." ■ Key Matches • Vs. Pittsburgh, Feb. 14 — The Pack is bringing back its Beauty and The Beast competition, which it co-hosts with the gymnastics' squad. The Panthers have a strong wrestling tradition and finished 22nd in the country last year. They return five NCAA qualifiers and won the league dual championship in their first year of ACC competition. • Vs. Oklahoma State, Feb. 22 — In the last regu - lar-season meet of the year, the Pack welcomes the 34- time national champions to historic Reynolds' Coliseum. The Cowboys are also the alma mater of third-year head coach Pat Popolizio and are coming off of a third-place showing at NCAA Championships last year. The Pack won't see a tougher team this year. • At ACC Championships, March 8 — The Pack will be tested in the regular season with a chal - lenging slate, but bids for the NCAA Championships (March 19-21 in St. Louis) are earned here. Pittsburgh will host the league's championship tournament, and the Pack is aiming to improve on last year's sixth-place finish (though State did record the ACC's second-best showing at nationals last year). Three Wrestlers To Watch Redshirt junior Nick Gwiazdowski, heavyweight The defending NCAA champion enters the season as the consensus top-ranked heavyweight and will receive everyone's best shot. The athletic big man is the program's sixth national champ, but will look to become the first in the Pack's history to repeat. "Gwiz" enters this year ranked fourth in FloWrestling.org's pound-for-pound rankings and, "knows what he needs to do," according to head coach Pat Popolizio. "It's a huge challenge, but he's capable." Senior Tommy Gantt, 157 pounds There's a chance that Gantt redshirts and redshirt freshman Chad Pyke starts in his place, but if that doesn't happen then Gantt is a true All-America candidate. He posted a 35-10 record last year — which ranks as the eighth-most wins in school history — and finished one round shy of a top-eight finish at the NCAA Champion - ships. He has started his first three years and is proven with several notable accomplishments, including finishing sixth at the ultra-competitive U.S. Open this April. Sophomore Pete Renda, 174 pounds Renda had a debut campaign to remember that featured 27 wins, which is the third-most in program history for a freshman, while he ranked second on the squad with 16 dual wins and six pins. He was named the second-best rookie at 174 pounds by Amateur Wrestling News and became a FILA Junior national champion in April, when he outscored his five opponents 54-2 at the tournament. ■ By The Numbers 2 straight recruiting classes have been named con- sensus top-25 groups by the various wrestling outlets. Last year's class was ranked between fourth and 14th, while this year's batch of rookies checks in between 19th and 25th. 10 dual matches this year against teams that finished in the top 25 at last year's NCAA Championships. 19 The Pack's finish at last year's NCAA Cham- pionships was the program's best placement since 2009. Senior 157-pounder Tommy Gantt compiled a 35-10 record and finished one round shy of a top- eight finish at the NCAA Championships last year. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Newcomer To Watch Michael Boykin, 197 pounds The Coatesville, Pa., native was an undefeated state cham- pion in arguably the toughest state for prep wrestling in the country. By the end of his se- nior season, all of the major wrestling outlets ranked him in the nation's top six in his weight class, and then he added a na- tional crown at 2014 FloNationals at 220 pounds. He'll step right into the lineup, and head coach Pat Popolizio, who has been impressed by the rookie's strength, said: "I don't see any reason he can't go out and be an All-American as a freshman."