North Carolina
ACC Championships
Tar Heels Win 15th ACC Championship
March 8, 2003 | Wrestling
March 8, 2003
2003 Mat Jam Brackets
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BOONE, N.C. - The University of North Carolina wrestling team claimed its 15th Atlantic Coast Conference title, first since 2000, tonight at the 2003 Mat Jam scoring 104.5 points. The Tar Heels blew away last year's champion NC State by 22.5 points. Regular-season champion Virginia placed third with 68 points, while Maryland took fourth with 36 points and Duke finished fifth scoring 17.5 points. Sophomores Dustin Heist (Meadville, Pa.), Mark Canty (Gahanna, Ohio), Evan Sola (Wernersville, Pa.), Chris Rodrigues (Marietta, Ga.) and freshman David Dashiell (Chesapeake, Va.) won their first ACC titles.
The title became Head Coach Bill Lam's 15th title as well in his 30 years at Carolina. Lam is coaching the Tar Heels for the final time and will end his career at Carolina as the winningest coach in the ACC. His 15 titles are second most in the conference as a coach (Maryland's Sunny Crouse won 20).
At 125 pounds, No. 18 Rodrigues pinned UVA's Brian Sticca in 4:42 in the semifinals to set up a rematch of the 2002 ACC Championship bout versus NC State's George Cintron. Rodrigues returned the favor in 2003 upsetting the top seed Cintron 6-1.
No. 17 Sola picked up a forfeit victory in the semifinals and advanced to his second straight championship final at 133 pounds. Sola and Joe Alexander from Virginia battled for the second consecutive year, but this time Sola downed Alexander 2-0 to earn his first individual title.
141-pounder freshman Brian Baglio (York Haven, Pa.) made his first appearance at the ACC Championship count with a semifinal victory over Maryland's John-Henry Zarcyki, a 7-5 decision. In the finals, Baglio fell to Virginia's Bob Seidel for the second time this year, 11-3.
Senior Christopher DiGuiseppe (Holland, Pa.) wrestled up a weight class at 157 pounds and defeated Tim Foley (Virginia) 2-1 in the semifinals to advance to the championship bout against No. 17 Scott Garren. DiGuiseppe fell in a closely fought match 2-1 to finish second at the tournament.
The 165-pound weight division put the top two seeds, senior Jimmy O'Connor (Woodbine, Md.) and NC State's Dustin Kawa in the finals against one another. No. 12 Kawa won his second straight title (174 pounds in 2002) with a 6-5 decision over O'Connor. UNC's O'Connor defeated Duke's Mike Mitchell for the second straight time, 7-5, in the semifinals of the tournament.
Canty won a thrilling 2-1 overtime match against Virginia's Brian Muir for his first championship. The 174-pounder downed Tim Marcantonio (Duke), 13-7, in the semifinals.
Heist made his first appearance in the ACC finals at 184 pounds with his 7-1 decision over Duke's Tom Cass. Heist upset No. 17 Jake Stork (Maryland) 10-4 for his first championship and advanced to his first NCAA Championship.
Freshman David Dashiell (Chesapeake, Va.) picked up a semifinal win over UMD's Sal Aquia 5-4 and earned the title with a 5-4 overtime victory over Virginia's Zach Freday, avenging an earlier season loss.
The heavyweight division pinned the top two seeds junior Ryan Adams (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Virginia's Josh Etu in the finals. Etu picked up a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Adams to earn his first championship. Adams defeated Leroy Harris (NC State) for the second time in a row, 3-2 in the semifinals.
All the individual champions automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship March 20-22. The championship will be held in Kansas City, Mo.
* - All rankings by InterMat wrestle
Players Mentioned
