Tar Heels Take Third At ACC Championships

Saturday, March 9

Blacksburg, Va.

All Day

North Carolina

ACC Championships

Austin O'Connor
University of North Carolina Wrestling v Cornell
Carmichael Arena
Chapel Hill, NC
Saturday, February 16, 2019

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 9, 2019 | Wrestling

BLACKSBURG, Va. --- North Carolina finished third in the ACC team race and posted a pair of runner-up finishes in the 2019 ACC Wrestling Championships on Saturday at Cassell Coliseum. Six Tar Heels earned automatic qualifying bids to the 2019 NCAA Championships.

The following wrestlers earned spots to nationals: Gary Wayne Harding (133), AC Headlee (141), Austin O'Connor (149), Chip Ness (184), Brandon Whitman (197) and Cory Daniel (285).

O'Connor was the runner-up at 149 pounds, dropping the championship match to Duke's Mitch Finesilver. After the Tar Heel freshman knocked off NC State's Justin Oliver, 4-2, in the semifinal match, he couldn't find a way past Finesilver. The Duke veteran collected a 5-1 win over O'Connor in the finals.

Daniel fell to Demetrius Thomas in the final heavyweight bout of the night to finish second. He downed NC State's Deonte Wilson in the semifinals, a 10-3 decision to earn an automatic qualifier spot at heavyweight.

Harding earned a qualifying spot for Carolina courtesy of his win over Virginia's Louie Hayes in the consolation semis, an 11-3 major decision. That came after his 20-3 tech fall over Duke's Arien Leigh to start off the day. He dropped a tight, back-and-forth 5-2 decision to Virginia Tech's Korbin Myers for third place.

Headlee's 3-1 win over Virginia's Sam Krivus and 5-1 decision over Pittsburgh's LJ Bentley helped him pick up an automatic qualifier spot, his second-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships for Carolina.

Ness dropped a 12-8 decision to NC State's Nick Reenan in the third-place match, but the redshirt senior did enough to earn another bid to NCAAs. Helped by his pin of Virginia's Will Schany in 6:04, Ness earned a spot to Pittsburgh, looking to cap off his Carolina career with another All-American season.

Whitman got revenge on Duke's Alec Schenk to punch his ticket to the tournament. After falling to Schenk twice during the season, including a 3-2 decision in the dual against the Blue Devils, Whitman fired out of the gate and cruised to a 6-2 decision. He lost to VT's Tom Sleigh by fall in the third-place match.

At 157 pounds, Josh McClure suffered a knee injury in the first period against Virginia's Jake Keating. It was enough to end his day and chances at earning an automatic qualifier spot. If he is healthy enough to compete, he will be in play for a wild card spot.

Joe Heilmann dropped a heartbreaker in the 125-pound third-place bout in sudden victory to Virginia Tech's Joey Prata, finishing 4^th in the conference. Heilmann will need a wild card to make it to NCAAs.

Sawyer Davidson went 0-2 and failed to earn an automatic qualifier spot at 165 pounds.

The 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships are set to begin March 21 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Joe Heilmann
QF - Brandon Fenton (Pitt) - W, MD - 14-5
SF - Jack Mueller (UVA) - L, MD - 3-13
Cons. SF - Harrison Campbell (Duke) - W, Fall (1:20)
Third-place match - Joey Prata (VT) - L, Dec - 1-3 (SV)

Gary Wayne Harding
QF - Arien Leigh (Duke) - W, TF - 20-3 (5:00)
SF - Tariq Wilson (NCSU) - L, Dec - 4-7
Cons. SF - Louie Hayes (UVA) - W, MD - 11-3
Third-place match - Korbin Myers (VT) - L, Dec - 2-5

AC Headlee
QF - Sam Krivus (UVA) - W, Dec - 3-1
SF - Mitch Moore (VT) - L, Dec - 3-6
Cons. SF - LJ Bentley (Pitt) - W, Dec - 5-1
Third-place match - Sam Krivus (UVA) - L, Dec - 5-9

Austin O'Connor
SF - Justin Oliver (NCSU) - W, Dec - 4-2
F - Mitch Finesilver (Duke) - L, Dec - 5-1

Josh McClure
QF - Jake Keating (UVA) - L, Inj. Def.
Cons. SF - BC LaPrade (VT) - L, Med. FF

Sawyer Davidson
QF - Zach Finesilver (Duke) - L, MD - 2-13
Cons. SF - Cam Coy (UVA) - L, Dec - 7-11

Devin Kane
QF - Gregg Harvey (Pitt) - W, MD - 12-1
Cons. SF - Robby Patrick (UVA) - W, Dec - 8-6
Third-place match - Daniel Bullard (NCSU) - L, MD - TF - 10-3 (6:49)

Chip Ness
QF - Kaden Russell (Duke) - W, TF - 18-1 (4:36)
SF - Zack Zavatsky (VT) - L, Dec - 1-8
Cons. SF - Will Schany (UVA) - W, Fall (6:04)
Third-Place Match - Nick Reenan (NCSU) - L, Dec - 8-12

Brandon Whitman
QF - Malik McDonald (NCSU) - L, Dec - 0-4
Cons. SF - Alec Schenk (Duke) - W, Dec - 6-2
Third-place match - Tom Sleigh (VT) - L, Fall (4:24)

Cory Daniel
SF - Deonte Wilson (NCSU) - W, Dec - 10-3
F - Demetrius Thomas (Pitt) - L, Dec - 3-1