University of North Carolina Athletics
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ACC Championships
Five Tar Heels Earn NCAA Bids At ACCs
March 9, 2015 | Wrestling
PITTSBURGH --- Five members of the North Carolina wrestling team booked NCAA Championships spots Sunday at the 2015 ACC Wrestling Championships at Pitt's Petersen Events Center. Troy Heilmann, Joey Ward, Christian Barber, Ethan Ramos and John Michael Staudenmayer earned automatic bids to NCAAs thanks to their finishes at Sunday's event. UNC finished fifth in the team competition with 43.0 points, with Virginia taking the team title ahead of Pitt and Virginia Tech.
Ward, Barber and Ramos each advanced to their respective weight class finals, with Heilmann taking third place at 133 and Staudenmayer finishing fourth at 174. In addition to the five NCAA qualifiers, Scott Marmoll also took third place at 184. By finishing second, Ward, Barber and Ramos all earned All-ACC honors.
Heilmann had to battle through the wrestlebacks to claim one of three automatic bids at 133 pounds. After falling to Duke's Mitch Finesilver 5-3 in the semifinals, Heilmann scored a 5-3 overtime win over Pitt's Nick Zanetta. With a trip to St. Louis on the line, the South Plainfield, New Jersey, sophomore beat Virginia Tech's Kevin Norstrem 4-2 to take third place.
Ward used a dominant third period to beat Kevin Jack of NC State 6-1 in the 141 semifinals and clinch a spot at nationals. The Cincinnati product fell to four-time champion Devin Carter of Virginia Tech 11-3 in the final.
Barber is headed to NCAAs for the second year in a row after advancing to the final at 149. The No. 3 seed, Barber opened the day with a 5-2 win over NC State's Sam Speno. He would need overtime to secure a spot in the final, as he got two back points in the second of two 30-second tiebreaker periods to upset Virginia Tech's Sal Mastriani. Barber ended up on the wrong side of an overtime decision in the final, as Pitt's Mikey Racciato scored a sudden victory takedown to win it.
Ramos pinned NC State's Max Rohskopf in the third period of their semifinal bout to set up a rematch with Virginia's Nick Sulzer in the 165 final. Ramos beat Sulzer in overtime during the regular season, one of only two losses for the Virginia senior on the year. Sulzer got a pair of takedowns in the final to score a 5-2 win.
Staudenmayer will make his third consecutive trip to nationals after finishing fourth in a loaded field at 174. He beat NC State's Pete Renda to open the day before falling to ACC Championships MVP Tyler Wilps of Pitt. Staudenmayer then clinched his NCAA bid with a 12-3 major decision win over Duke's Trey Adamson before dropping a 3-1 decision to Virginia Tech's Zach Epperly.
Marmoll fell to Virginia's Tyler Askey in the opening round at 184 before beating NC State's Nicky Hall 3-1 in the wrestlebacks. The Marietta, Georgia, redshirt sophomore then topped Askey in a rematch for third place, 8-5.
Cody Karns, Chris Mears, Chip Ness and Frank Abbondanza each went 0-2 on Sunday to round out the Tar Heel competitors.
The 2015 NCAA Championships are set for March 19-21 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Team Scores
1. Virginia, 85.5
2. Pitt, 71.0
3. Virginia Tech, 59.5
4. Duke, 44.0
5. North Carolina, 42.0
6. NC State, 31.0
Most Valuable Wrestler—Tyler Wilps, Pitt
Individual Results—Championship Finals
125: Joey Dance, Virginia Tech dec. Nick Herrman, Virginia, 6-2
133: George DiCamillo, Virginia dec. Mitch Finesilver, Duke, 12-6
141: Devin Carter, Virginia Tech dec. Joey Ward, North Carolina, 11-3
149: Mikey Racciato, Pitt dec. Christian Barber, North Carolina, SV-1, 3-1
157: Nick Brascetta, Virginia Tech major dec. Andrew Atkinson, Virginia, 13-4
165: Nick Sulzer, Virginia dec. Ethan Ramos, North Carolina, 5-2
174: Tyler Wilps, Pitt dec. Blaise Butler, Virginia, 4-1
184: Max Thomusseit, Pitt major dec. Jacob Kasper, Duke, 14-6
197: Conner Hartmann, Duke dec. Zach Nye, Virginia, 6-5
285: Nick Gwiazdowski, NC State major dec. Ryan Solomon, Pitt, 14-3
Players Mentioned
