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Nov. 17, 2006
Charlottesville, Va. – – After two dual meet wins over Liberty and George Mason at home to open the season, the Virginia Wrestling team takes to the road to take part in the first annual ACC/Big Ten Clash Saturday at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The event kicks off at noon and features North Carolina, NC State and Virginia of the ACC versus Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin of the Big Ten.
Each team will wrestle the three schools from the opposing conference in a dual match format, and the league with the most victories will bring home the ACC/Big Ten Clash Cup. Fans will be able to watch simultaneous action on three mats.
Virginia opened the season with a 31-9 win over Liberty and a 23-9 victory over George Mason. Kyle Narkiewicz and Rocco Caponi each recorded falls and seven Virginia wrestlers went 2-0 in the meets. Ross Gitomer, Eric Albright, Kellon Balum, Drew DiPasquale, Mike Sewell, Caponi and Narkiewicz each won both of their bouts.
Caponi at 184 pounds is preseason ranked No. 12 nationally by W.I.N magazine while Albright is ranked No. 18 at 184 pounds.
In addition to featuring the nation’s 10th-ranked team in Northwestern, the event will showcase 19 wrestlers ranked in the InterMat/NWCA/NWMA Division I Preseason Individual Rankings. Five wrestlers ranked in the top five in their respective weight classes are also expected to be in action: North Carolina’s Spencer Nadolsky (No. 4, heavyweight), Northwestern’s Ryan Lang (No. 1, 141 pounds), Jake Herbert (No. 1, 184 pounds) and Dustin Fox (No. 5, heavyweight) and Wisconsin’s Tyler Turner (No. 5, 149 pounds).
2006 ACC/BIG TEN CLASH SCHEDULE
Noon
North Carolina vs. Purdue
NC State vs. Wisconsin
Virginia vs. Northwestern
2 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Northwestern
NC State vs. Purdue
Virginia vs. Wisconsin
4 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Wisconsin
NC State vs. Northwestern
Virginia vs. Purdue