O'Connor Wins ACC Title At 149 Pounds, Tar Heels Finish 3rd

RALEIGH --- For the second year in a row, Austin O'Connor won the ACC tournament title at 149 pounds, leading North Carolina to a third-place finish at the 2021 ACC Wrestling Championship. Both Zach Sherman (141) and Clay Lautt (174) posted runner-up finishes for the Tar Heels at Reynolds Coliseum on Sunday.

Devin Kane took third at 184 pounds, while Max Shaw also earned the third podium spot at 197 pounds.

In total, seven Tar Heels earned NCAA automatic qualifier spots from Sunday's competition. Josh McClure (157) and Andrew Gunning (285) both took fourth place at their respective weight classes, good to qualify for NCAAs, which will take place March 18-20 in St. Louis.

O'Connor cruised to a win over Duke's Josh Finesilver in the semifinals early in the day to set up a 2020 ACC finals rematch against Virginia Tech's Bryce Andonian. In that finals match, Andonian scored on a dramatic early flurry, a takedown and four near fall points to open up an early 6-0 lead over O'Connor. However, the Tar Heel junior chipped his way back into the match and ultimately wrapped up a 10-8 decision to win his second ACC title for Carolina.

Both Sherman and Lautt won their semifinal matches before falling in the finals. Sherman knocked off Virginia's Brian Courtney to advance and ultimately punch his ticket to NCAAs. Lautt also qualified for the national tournament after his semis match, a win over Virginia's Vic Marcelli.

Kane and Shaw – both of whom earned well-fought third-place finishes – wrestled tight one-point matches in the semifinals to nearly make it to Sunday's finals. Kane narrowly lost to No. 2 Trent Hidlay, while Shaw nearly upset Virginia's top-10-ranked Jay Aiello. Shaw, a freshman who qualified for his first-ever NCAA Championships, defeated North Carolina State's Nick Reenan in the consolation finals, 5-3.

Though Wil Guida (125), Joe Heilmann (133) and Kennedy Monday (165) did not finish within the range needed to earn an automatic qualifier spot, all are still eligible to be selected as at-large entries to the NCAA tournament. These at-large selections are made on March 10.

For more information as the Tar Heels get closer to the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, follow the team on Twitter (@uncwrestling).

Results and more information on the tournament can be found here.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Wil Guida

Andrew Gunning

Joe Heilmann

Devin Kane

Clay Lautt

Josh McClure

Kennedy Monday

Austin O'Connor

Max Shaw

Zach Sherman

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