Maryland Looks to Win Third Consecutive ACC Crown
by Earl Smith
The 2010 ACC Championships will likely mirror the 2009 edition, a nailbiter in which the top three teams finished within twelve and a half points of each other. Maryland narrowly edged Virginia 70 to 68 for back-to-back ACC titles. A young Virginia Tech team was also in title contention; the Hokies actually swept all 08-09 dual opponents.
After a tenth place finish at the 2009 NCAA Championships, Maryland has maintained a top ten ranking all season long. The Terps finished the 2010 regular season at #8 in D1CW’s national rankings. Kerry McCoy’s squad amassed a 19-4 overall dual record winning all four of their ACC duals. Along the way, Maryland set program highs with a sixth place finish at the Midlands Championships and a seventh place finish at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals.
Hot on the Terps heels will be Kevin Dresser’s Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies enter the ACC Championships with an impressive 17-5 dual record and won all four of their ACC duals as well (The Maryland/Virginia Tech dual was cancelled because of inclement weather). Virginia Tech finished the 2009-10 season ranked 20th in the nation by D1CW.
Virginia enters the ACC Championships in a situation very similar to last season’s team. Many ACC followers projected the 2009 Cavalier team to finish third behind Maryland and Virginia Tech and on paper it would look the same this season. However, last year Steve Garland’s group gave Maryland all they could handle and nearly walked away with the conference crown. Virginia will start three wrestlers who have won ACC titles at one point in their careers.
A notch below the top three teams is CD Mock’s North Carolina Tarheels. UNC is the team that was hit hardest by graduation, losing three 2009 NCAA qualifiers. The Tarheels still have a solid nucleus which could be dangerous in a small tournament like the ACC’s.
Fighting for fifth place will be the host NC State Wolfpack and Duke Blue Devils. The Wolfpack took the dual meet between the two, but in a tournament setting Duke is will score big points from NCAA Runner-Up Konrad Dudziak.
Here is a breakdown of each individual weight class:
125 Pounds (3 Automatic Bids)
Returning ACC Runner-Up and 14th ranked Jarrod Garnett is the slight favorite. Garnett has defeated 2008 ACC Champ Ross Gitomer of Virginia twice, both times by razor-thin 2-1 margins. Gitomer himself, owns a 3-2 victory over Maryland’s 125 James Knox. If anyone can beat Garnett it could be Knox, whose former teammate and current coach Brendan Byrne upset Jarrod for the 2009 ACC Championship. UNC’s Brian Bokoski, Duke’s Peter Terrezza and NC State Mike Moreno have exchanged wins with each other.
133 Pounds (1 Automatic Bid)
133 is one of only two weight classes with a single automatic bid. 2009 All-American Steve Bell is a very heavy favorite. He will be aiming to win his third ACC Title in 2010. Chasing Bell will be Virginia Tech’s Brock Livorio and Virginia’s Matt Snyder. The pair split their two head-to-head matches in 2010. Livorio had a solid second half of the season going 10-4 as the starter. Snyder, a natural 125lber, won 21 matches competing at both 125 and 133.
141 Pounds (3 Automatic Bids)
This is one of two weight classes with the potential for a rematch of the 2009 ACC Finals. It is also the only weight class with a potential matchup between two top-ten wrestlers. 2009 All-American Alex Krom of Maryland, currently ranked #8 in the nation will possibly see his 2009 ACC Finals opponent, the #10 ranked Chris Diaz of Virginia Tech. Looking to spoil this rematch will be a pair of tough competitors, Derek Valenti of Virginia and UNC’s Mike Rappo. Mike, a 2009 NCAA Qualifier at 133, had a tough 09-10 campaign going 11-9 on the season. Derek currently holds a top twenty ranking. Coincidentally, both Derek and Mike have older brothers (Matt Valenti/Rick Rappo) who wrestled for the University of Pennsylvania.
149 Pounds (2 Automatic Bids)
I contend that the team race could be won at this weight class or at 157. Both weight classes have at least four different guys capable of winning a championship. The favorite at 149 is NC State’s Bobby Ward. Bobby started the season at 157, but once he dropped to 149 he found the most success going 17-4. The highlight of his season was a 5th place finish at the Southern Scuffle. One of the conference’s best freshmen in 2010 was Virginia Tech’s Brian Stephens. Brian went 11-2 after having his redshirt pulled in early January and finished the regular season on a 10 match winning streak. Not to be overlooked is 2008 141lb ACC Champ Jon Kohler. Although Kohler enters the ACC Championships with a record under .500, he is more than capable of going on a title run again in 2010. North Carolina will start the dangerous Jon Burns. Jon saw limited action during the second semester, but he has loads of potential and should be considered a threat. Finally, a last wrestler to lookout for is UVA’s Shawn Harris. Shawn, while sharing the 149lb duties for most of the 2010 season, was able to rack up 16 victories. His biggest victory was his win over then top-ten ranked Thomas Scotton...up a weight class at 157.
157 Pounds (4 Automatic Bids)
157 was the ACC’s deepest weight class in 09-10, the only weight with four automatic bids. The favorite is Virginia Tech’s Jesse Dong, a runner-up in 09 as a true freshman. Dong, the #5 ranked wrestler in the nation, finished the 2010 regular season winning his last 17 matches. One of the three wrestlers to defeat Dong was the Tarheels Thomas Scotton. Thomas, the 2009 Southern Scuffle Champ, defeated Dong early in the season, before Jesse avenged the match in January. Scotton finished the season in a bit of a slump, losing five of his last eight matches. The first loss of Scotton’s season was to Kyle John. The Terps John had an impressive 25-8 record in his sophomore season. A final contender is Dan Gonsor of Virginia. Gonsor, had a breakout 2010 campaign, finishing 5th at the Southern Scuffle. He has proven himself to be one of the most prolific scorers in the conference from the top position.
165 Pounds (2 Automatic Bids)
Another of the ACC’s top freshman has been Maryland’s Josh Asper. The young Terp won all of his ACC duals, lost only five matches overall and ended the regular season ranked #14 in the nation. He is a favorite even over 2008 ACC Champ Matt Epperly of Virginia Tech. Epperly won all of his ACC duals as well, yet he did not face Asper. Also contending will be North Carolina’s Kyle Kiss. Kyle lost two point decisions to both Asper and Epperly in 2010.
174 Pounds (1 Automatic Bid)
This is the second weight class with only one bid. Like 133, it features a returning All-American who is the hands down favorite. 2009 ACC Champ Chris Henrich of UVA is the aforementioned favorite. The only ACC wrestler to hold Henrich to a regular decision was Duke’s Voris Tejada, in a 10-3 loss. With the injury to Maryland’s 2008 ACC Champ Mike Letts, Tejada looks to be the finals opponent for Henrich. Voris is a battle tested senior who seems to give everyone a close match.
184 Pounds (2 Automatic Bids)
184 looks like a tossup between wrestlers from the two Virginia schools. Tommy Spellman, a 2009 ACC Runner-Up, will be the top seed after winning two of three matches from UVA’s freshman Mike Salopek. The scores of the three matches were 2-0, 2-1, and 3-1, so get ready for a low scoring, tight match. It wouldn’t be a huge shock if Maryland Sophomore Corey Peltier is able to pull an upset and make it to the final. With only two automatic bids available here, look for whoever is the third place finisher at this weight class to be in the hunt for an NCAA Wild Card.
197 Pounds (3 Automatic Bids)
This is the second weight class which could feature a rematch of the 2009 Finals. And what a final it was. 2x NCAA 3rd Place finisher Hudson Taylor of Maryland was launched to his back early in this first period by UVA’s Brent Jones. Taylor fought valiantly before giving up the fall to Jones. In this final dual of the 2010 season, the pair met again and in a wild match Taylor won a 13-5 major decision. Over the course of their collegiate careers, Taylor holds a 5-1 lead over Jones in their 6 meetings. Don’t go penciling in Jones for the final just yet though, he will first have to defeat UNC’s Dennis Drury, also a 2009 NCAA Qualifier. Drury owns three career victories over Jones. Brent won a 4-3 decision in the pairs’ only meeting this year. One shouldn’t overlook Duke’s John Barone either. Barone qualified for Nationals at 184 last season, and this year took Brent Jones to sudden victory before falling 12-10.
285 Pounds (3 Automatic Bids)
It would appear on paper that 2009 NCAA Runner-Up Konrad Dudziak of Duke has to be a huge favorite at heavyweight. With apologies to Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend”! Dudziak missed a significant portion of this season via suspension, so it remains to be seen if he will be in NCAA Finalist condition. Also to be considered is the fact that Maryland’s heavyweight Pat Gilmore lost a very tight decision to Dudziak at the 2009 ACC Semi-Finals. Gilmore was inches away from a winning takedown at the buzzer. He returns bigger and better after a second year under the tutelage of the legendary heavyweight Kerry McCoy. Early in the 2010 season, Gilmore gave Midlands Champ Jarod Trice his only defeat. Keep an eye on the two athletic freshman heavyweights from North Carolina. The Tarheels Ziad Haddad was a Southern Scuffle place winner who has gotten better as the year has progressed. His rival Eloheim Palma of NC State, pulled a huge upset of Minnesota’s Ben Berhow early in the season. Unlike Haddad, Palma has not been able to maintain that same level of performance. Since the Berhow match, Palma has gone just 7-11. Also look out for the improved Jack Danilkowicz of Virginia. Jack won 15 matches in his junior season, including one over Eloheim Palma.