North Carolina
ACC Championships
Mueller Claims ACC Title; Six Tar Heels Headed To NCAAs
March 7, 2009 | Wrestling
March 7, 2009
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Senior Keegan Mueller captured the 165-pound title to lead North Carolina to a fourth-place finish at the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Championships at Virginia Tech's Cassell Coliseum. The Tar Heels sent four wrestlers to the finals and finished with 54.5 points, 15.5 points behind Maryland, which claimed its second straight title.
Mueller claimed his first ACC title with a 4-1 victory over Virginia's Mike Sewell in the title match to improve to 32-7 in his senior season. The Dallas native received a bye to open the day and advanced to the final win an 8-0 major against Virginia's Brian Letters.
With his victory, Mueller receives a bid to the 2009 NCAA Championships for the second straight year. He will be joined at nationals by five teammates - Mike Rappo (133), Vincent Ramirez (141), Nick Stabile (149), Dennis Drury (197) and Justin Dobies (heavyweight). Dobies and Mueller head to NCAAs for the second straight year, while Ramirez will make his first national appearance since 2006. The Tar Heels' six qualifiers share the ACC lead with Virginia and Virginia Tech.
In addition to Mueller, three other Tar Heels advanced to the finals but earned runner-up finishes - Rappo at 133, Stabile at 149 and Dobies at heavyweight.
Rappo reached the 133-pound finals in impressive fashion, outscoring the opposition by a combined 29-12 margin. The Holland, Pa., product opened with a 16-9 decision over Virginia Tech's Brock LiVorio and toppled Virginia's Matt Bonson with a 13-3 major in the semis. Maryland's Steve Bell downed Rappo, who is 24-8 on the year, in the final by an 11-7 margin.
After an opening-round bye at 149, Stabile bested No. 20 Pete Yates of Virginia Tech by a 5-2 margin to avenge a regular season loss. In the final, Stabile, now 27-9, was downed by No. 3 Darrion Caldwell by a 13-1 margin.
Dobies, now 28-8 on the year, reached the heavyweight final for the second straight year but fell short of title No. 2 with a 7-5 loss to Duke's Konrad Dudziak. After a bye, he scored a 2-1 decision against the Hokies' David Marone in overtime to advance to the championship bout. Dobies' win over Marone was the 108th of his career, which is tied for seventh on the Tar Heels' career list.
The Tar Heels also had a pair of third-place finishes in senior Vincent Ramirez at 141 and junior Dennis Drury at 197. The 19th-ranked Ramirez opened with a 6-4 overtime win over NC State's Joe Caramanica - the 100th victory of his career - but fell to the consolation bracket with a 9-5 loss to Virginia Tech's Chris Diaz. Ramirez bounced back with a 3-1 decision over Virginia's Nick Nelson in the third-place bout to improved to 31-8 on the season.
After a first-round bye, the 18th-ranked Drury was downed by Virginia's Brent Jones by an 8-7 margin. He responded with a pin of NC State's Joe Trotto in just 1:35 and a 1-0 win over Virginia Tech's D.J. Bruce to take third. Drury is 27-8 on the year.
The Tar Heels will be back in action at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships March 19-21 in St. Louis.
Team Standings 1. Maryland, 70.0 2. Virginia, 68.0 3. Virginia Tech, 57.5 4. North Carolina, 54.5 5. NC State, 49.5 6. Duke, 30.52009 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Finals 125: Brendan Byrne (MD) dec. Jarrod Garnett (VT), 7-6 133: Steve Bell (MD) dec. Mike Rappo (NC), 11-7 141: Alex Krom (MD) dec. Chris Diaz (VT), 8-5 149: Darrion Caldwell (NCSU) maj. dec. Nick Stabile (NC), 13-1 157: Kody Hamrah (NCSU) fall Jesse Dong (VT), 4:00 165: Keegan Mueller (NC) dec. Mike Sewell (VA), 4-1 174: Chris Henrich (VA) maj. dec. Anthony Trongone (VT), 10-1 184: Rocco Caponi (VA) dec. Tommy Spellman (VT), 4-1 197: Brent Jones (VA) fall Hudson Taylor (MD), 0:38 285: Konrad Dudziak (DU) dec. Justin Dobies (NC), 7-5
NCAA Automatic Qualifiers y Weight: 125 (2): Garnett (VT), Byrne (MD) 133 (3): Bell (MD), Rappo (NC), Little (NCSU) 141 (5): Krom (MD), Diaz (VT), Ramirez (NC), Nelson (VA), Caramanica (NCSU) 149 (3): Caldwell (NCSU), Stabile (NC), Balum (VA) 157 (3): Hamrah (NCSU), Dong (VT), Moore (VA) 165 (1): Mueller (NC) 174 (1): Henrich (VA) 184 (2): Spellman (VT), Caponi (VA) 197 (4): Taylor (MD), Jones (VA), Drury (NC), Bruce (VT) 285 (3): Dudziak (DU), Dobies (NC), Marone (VT)
Qualifiers By School: North Carolina: 6 Virginia: 6 Virginia Tech: 6 Maryland: 4 NC State: 4 Duke: 1
Most Outstanding Wrestler: Brent Jones, VA
Players Mentioned
