The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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58 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY RYAN TICE I t did not take long for teammates to start ribbing two-time national cham- pion Nick Gwiazdowski after the NCAA Championships wrapped up in March. The redshirt junior heavyweight became the first in program history and just the third in ACC annals to win multiple national crowns, but that wasn't what they were focused on. His fellow NC State grapplers imme- diately compared his NCAA debut — he finished eighth as a true freshman at Bing- hamton — to Wolfpack rookie Kevin Jack, who placed fifth in the 141-pound weight class on the sport's biggest stage. The two gave NCSU its first All-American duo since 1993 and helped the Pack finish 16th, second best in the ACC and the school's finest NCAA performance since 1993. Gwiazdowski entered the tournament as the favorite, but admitted having another Wolfpacker doing so well at nationals pro- vided a boost. "It fires me up," he said. "When I saw Kevin winning in the quarterfinals and making the semifi- nals — everyone ex- pects that of me, but I had to keep up with Kevin. He wrestles before me and sets the tone, but I had to go out there and outdo him. "If I know some- one like Kevin is go- ing to be on my heels as being the most accomplished guy in the room, I have to pick it up. I want that spot. I'm sure he wants it, too." Teammates were sure to take advantage when one of them did something better than Gwiazdowski because it doesn't hap- pen often. He was named the nation's sec- ond-most dominant wrestler by the NCAA and finished his redshirt junior campaign a perfect 35-0. He pinned all five of his conference foes during the regular season — another first in program history — and then breezed through the NCAA Tourna- ment, outscoring his five opponents 46-15. "I think it just shows the kind of per- son and athlete that he is," third-year head coach Pat Popolizio said. "He worked ex- tremely hard to improve off of last year's season, and it showed. Obviously, the re- sults were the same — winning it — but for people that have been following him, they can see the little jumps that produce major results." Nobody Beats The Gwiz The Delanson, N.Y., native was named the league's Wrestler of the Year for the sec- ond straight campaign, and his ACC record of 55 consecutive wins is the nation's lon- gest active streak heading into next season. Both he and Popolizio agree that while the 2014 version of Gwiazdowski was the best in the country at the most important time, he wouldn't s t a n d a c h a n c e against the current edition. The big man is always working, making sure that he continues to improve while the target on his back grows. "After you win one, you can't come into the season like I did last year — there was a possibility of win- ning it, but I wasn't the guy," he admitted. "This year, I was on everyone's radar. Ev- erybody was thinking about me 24/7. "I saw everyone's best match. They tried to run from me, they tried to stay on my head the whole time, they tried to keep matches close. "I could feel it with different things guys would do. Probably halfway through the year, I knew it was going to be like that every time. That was something I had to get used to in matches." While Gwiazdowski was still winning, he was not dominating his opponents. He entered the Kent State match Jan. 24 with 21 wins, but just a third of them had come by pin. Assistant coach Frank Beasley asked Gwiazdowski when the dominant pinner he recruited in high school would show up. "The way these guys were wrestling me, it would be tough," Gwiazdowski remem- bered thinking. "They would be sealed off in every position, but then I got a pin at Kent State for the record of consecutive wins here. Then, we went to ODU the next weekend and I got a pin there." Gwiazdowski reported back to Beasley, "You wanted it, so I gave it to you," and he was on a roll. He pinned every regular- season opponent from that point on until the finale, when he recorded a 4-1 decision over No. 5 Austin Marsden of powerhouse Oklahoma State. In his final 14 matches, including the postseason, he pinned half of his foes. "I was just wrestling real well, and I was forcing guys to open up," he said. "The second half of the year was completely different from the first half. Once I got in that groove of just being more loose and active, I had more speed and motion, and saw double the opportunities." "Any time you do that, it's a dominant statement in our sport," Popolizio added. "He has a lot of confidence, but I think that built even more confidence in him." Jack Sets The Tone Meanwhile, Jack was named the ACC Freshman of the Year after a surprising run to the NCAA semifinals, where the un- seeded competitor beat two top-10 seeds, including a win over four-time ACC cham- pion Devin Carter of Virginia Tech. He finished the campaign with an NCSU HISTORIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS Nick Gwiazdowski's Second National Title Pushes The Wrestling Team To Its Best NCAA Finish In 22 Years Gwiazdowski became the first grappler in program history and just the third in ACC annals to win multiple national crowns, pro- pelling the Wolfpack to its best showing as a team (16th) since 1993. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS "It's a building process — and we're still in it — but each year that we're able to have these little strides is going to be huge for us down the road as a program. We want to become one of the elite programs in the country." ■ Head coach Pat Popolizio