University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCAA Championships
Ramos Earns All-America Honors At NCAAs
March 21, 2015 | Wrestling
ST. LOUIS --- North Carolina redshirt freshman Ethan Ramos secured All-America status by advancing to the semifinals at 165 pounds Friday at the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Ramos defeated seventh-seeded Pierce Harger of Northwestern in the quarterfinals to secure his place on the podium in his first trip to nationals. The Hawthorne, New Jersey, product fell to Indiana's Taylor Walsh in Friday night's semifinal and will compete in Saturday's consolation round of six. UNC has now produced an All-America performer for three consecutive years for the first time since 1981-97.
After a scoreless opening period against Harger, Ramos quickly fell in a 3-0 hole when the Northwestern senior escaped and scored the bout's first takedown. But Ramos returned the match to neutral in less than 30 seconds and added a takedown and two back points to lead 5-3 after two.
Harger started the third on top and rode the Tar Heel freshman for 40 seconds before Ramos escpaed again. After a restart, both wrestlers went for shots at the same time, with Ramos coming out on top to take an 8-3 lead. Harger was able to avoid back points, but he appeared to aggravate a shoulder injury on the exchange and was forced to default.
Ramos was back on the mat in Friday night's semifinal against sixth-seeded Walsh. The redshirt senior from Indiana led from start to finish to book his place in Saturday's final. Ramos did well to avoid back points in the first period before Walsh scored a reversal to go up 4-0 in the second. Neither man tallied in the final period and the riding time point gave Walsh a 5-0 decision.
Ramos will face ninth-seeded Jackson Morse of Illinois in Saturday's consolation round of six. The Tar Heel All-America can finish as high as third with a pair of wins.
UNC redshirt sophomore Joey Ward was also in action Friday. After scoring a 13-2 major decision over Illinois' Steven Rodrigues in the second consolation round, Ward was defeated by Lehigh's Randy Cruz one match shy of the blood round.
Carolina stands in a tie for 24th in the team competition after two days with 18.0 points. Ohio State leads the race for the team title with 86.5 points, ahead of Iowa (73.0) and Cornell (66.5).
Players Mentioned
