NC State Tops UVa Wrestlers 25-13

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Feb. 9, 2007

Charlottesville, VA – The Virginia wrestling team lost to NC State 25-13 Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium. The loss dropped the Cavaliers to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the ACC. The Wolfpack improved to 9-7 and evened their conference record at 2-2.

Virginia managed four wins in the match, highlighted by junior Rocco Caponi’s win at 184 pounds against reigning ACC Champion Jeremy Colbert.

The Cavaliers got out to a quick lead when Ross Gitomer defeated Taylor Cumming at 125 pounds 6-2 and Eric Albright followed with a 7-3 decision against Garrett Cumming at 133. Albright’s win improved his record to 26-8 overall and 10-4 in duals.

The Wolfpack equaled the scoring at 6-6 in dramatic fashion when 20th-ranked Darrion Caldwell pinned UVa’s Kellon Balum 17 seconds into the third period. Caldwell’s win as his 12th this season and the sixth time the Wolfpack freshman has won by fall.

NC State took the lead at 149 when Joe Caramanica picked up five points by registering a 15-0 technical fall against UVa’s Drew DiPasquale. No. 18 Kody Hamrah took an 9-5 decision against UVa’s Mike Sewell at 157 and Obie Simpson defeated the Cavaliers’ Damian Johnson 4-2 at 165 to increase the visitors’ lead to 17-6.

Virginia’s Mike Grogan stopped the Wolfpack string of wins with a 6-0 decision against Rick Brownlee at 174 to cut NCSU’s lead to 17-9. Caponi followed up Grogan’s victory with a 14-4 major decision against Colbert at 184. The win improved Caponi, ranked 19th in his weight class, to 29-7 overall and 11-2 in duals. He enters Saturday’s matchup with Duke having won 11 of his last 12 bouts.

NC State’s Ryan Goodman put the match away for the Wolfpack with a 10-0 major decision against Kyle Narkiewicz at 197. In the heavyweight division, NC State’s ninth-ranked Jainor Palma handed UVa’s Scott Smith a 10-2 defeat to record a major decision and improve to 19-5 overall and 13-3 in duals.

During the intermission of the match the Cavaliers honored the 1974, 1975 and 1977 Virginia teams that won ACC championships. A banner was unveiled at Memorial Gym that will hang from the rafters recognizing those team’s conference titles.

The Cavaliers host Duke at 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Gym. The Blue Devils are 7-6 overall with a 0-3 record in ACC competition. It will be Duke’s first match since losing at North Carolina on Jan. 31.

Virginia-NC State Dual
February 9, 2007
Charlottesville, VA

NC State 25, Virginia 13

125: Ross Gitomer (UV) dec. Taylor Cummings (NCSU), 6-2 UVa 3-0133: Eric Albright (UV) dec. Garrett Cummings (NCSU), 7-3 UVa 6-0141: #20 Darrion Caldwell (NCSU) fall Kellon Balum (UVa), 4:17 6-6149: Joe Caramanica (NCSU) tech. fall Drew DiPasquale (UVa), 15-0, 5:16 6-11 NCSU157: #18 Kody Hamrah (NCSU) dec. Mike Sewell (UVa), 9-5 6-14 NCSU165: Obie Simpson (NCSU) dec. Damian Johnson (UVa), 4-2 6-17 NCSU174: Mike Grogan (UVa) dec. Rick Brownlee (NCSU), 6-0 9-17 NCSU184: #19 Rocco Caponi (UVa) major dec. Jeremy Colbert (NCSU), 14-4 13-17 NCSU197: #15 Ryan Goodman (NCSU) major dec. Kyle Narkiewicz (UVa), 10-0 13-21 NCSUHWT: #9 Jainor Palma (NCSU) major dec. Scott Smith (UVa), 10-2 13-25 NCSU