Pack Preview: Duke & Northwestern

Duke

Duke has a young team that has improved throughout the season.  Coach Lanham is in his second year as the head coach. Highlight matches should be 157 and 197 pounds.  At 157 pounds, both Gantt and Kerr-Brown are nationally ranked.  At 197 pounds, senior KaRonne Jones faces another nationally ranked wrestler.  He will have wrestled six nationally ranked competitors in his last nine matches.

125 - open
133 - Botwin - redshirt freshman (4-15), his best position is top
141 - Ramos - freshman (7-19), likes to shoot a single leg and is funky
149 - Bass - freshman (11-13), good on top with legs and tilts
157 - #22 Kerr-Brown - redshirt junior (21-9), likes to shoot a single and wrestle from an underhook
165 - Cain - redshirt sophomore (10-14), shoots a double, has a good navy ride on top
174 - Adamson - redshirt sophomore (15-11), solid both neutral and on the mat
184 - Kasper - freshman (12-14), shoots a double and bodylocks
197 - #22 Hartman - redshirt sophomore (18-8), NCAA qualifier, has good reshot and wrestles from an underhook
285 - Walsh - redshirt sophomore (8-4), hard to score on and keeps good position

#21 Northwestern

Northwestern enters the weekend with a very solid team that is ranked  in the top 25 nationally on the strength of seven ranked wrestlers. The highlight matches of the dual will be 141, 174, and heavyweight.  Speno will have a battle tested redshirt junior who is ranked.  Renda has an opportunity to climb in the rankings with a match that will see #19 against #15.  Heavyweight will be a battle of two retuning All-Americans that will be important for seeding at the NCAA tournament.

125 - White - sophomore (7-13), rides well and has a nice single
133 - #33 Malone - sophomore (10-11), wrestles hard and is very solid on top
141 - #30 Greco - redshirt junior (13-12), NCAA qualifier, wrestles from an underhook and has good reattacks
149 - #5 Tsirtsis - redshirt freshman (22-3), explosive shots and stays in great position
157 - Sullivan - redshirt freshman (7-9), attacks a lot to his opponents right leg
165 - #7 Harger - redshirt junior (21-5), two-time NCAA qualifier, tough to score on and is solid in all positions
174 - #15 Munster - redshirt junior (6-4), two-time NCAA qualifier, wrestles from a 2-on-1 and has a nice single to the right side
184 - Berkowitz - sophomore (9-12), low single shot and duck unders
197 - #14 Poluzzi - redshirt junior (18-7), NCAA qualifier, shoots to a body lock and rides legs on top
285 - #1 McMullan - redshirt junior (10-1), two-time All-American (3rd and 2nd), active heavyweight that moves well and shoots

Pack Preview: American

Pack Preview: Virginia

Red Out the Rams!

Pack Preview: UNC Part II

Pack Preview: Virginia Tech

Pack Preview: Campbell

Pack Preview: Northeast Duals

Wolfpack Open Preview: 197 lbs & HWT.

Wolfpack Open Preview: 174 & 184 lbs.

Wolfpack Open Preview: 157 & 165 lbs.

Wolfpack Open Preview: 141 & 149 lbs.

Flowrestling catches up with Coach Beasley

Check out the Flowrestling videos below from the Journeymen Classic.  The first is an interview with Coach Beasley, and the second is a feature on Coach Popolizio & his high school alma mater, Niskayuna High School.

Watch more video of Journeymen Classic on flowrestling.org



Watch more video of Journeymen Classic on flowrestling.org

Wrestlers Recognized at Scholar Athlete Banquet

Monday evening, several wrestlers were honored at the 2013 Caterpillar Scholar Athlete Banquet.  The purpose of the event is to recognize those student athletes holding a 3.0 GPA or higher.

Pictured (left to right): Coach Frank Beasley, KaRonne Jones, Tommy Gantt, Cohl Fulk, Nick Gwiazdowski, and Quinton Godley.  Also honored but not pictured: Eloheim Palma, Ryan Fox, and Brandon Jorge. 

Elite Level Sports Marketing: NC State Promo

Learn about Elite Level Sports Marketing here.

FloWrestling: NC State Enters the Season

Watch more video of NC State Enters The Season on flowrestling.org

Check out these photos from Flo's visit to the Wolfpack.

D1CW Spotlight on New Head Coaches

 
 

To read the entire article from D1CW, click here. Below is the segment featuring Coach Popolizio:

NC State-Pat Popolizio

Coaching Resume:

2006-2012 Head Coach-Binghamton University

2004-2006 Assistant Coach-American University

2003-2004 Assistant Coach-US Military Academy

2002-2003 Assistant Coach-Sacred Heart University

Background:

The NC State Wolfpack won the Pat Popolizio coaching sweepstakes.  Over the past few seasons it was rumored that Popolizio would land at a handful of different big time jobs.  He earned the title of "Hot Coaching Prospect" by taking a non-fully funded Binghamton team from scratch to become a team that finished 14th at the NCAA Championships with two NCAA All-Americans in 2011-12.  Prior to the 2008-09 season Binghamton never had a DI All-American.  He has also been credited with helping Mark Cody lay the foundation that helped become a top ten program at American University.

The Future:

The Future is exactly what they are building for in Raleigh.  Pat Popolizio and his staff are in the midst of changing the culture at NC State, so the 2012-13 edition of the Wolfpack will feature a young, inexperienced team after multiple veterans are no longer with the program.  One of Popolizio's prized pupil's from Binghamton, 2012 True Freshman All-American Nick Gwiazdowski, has transferred to NC State but will redshirt in the 2012-13 season. 

Pat Popolizio has assembled a very good coaching staff to assist him at NC State starting with one of his coaches from Binghamton in Frank Beasley.  He doesn't get the credit that other assistant's nationwide get, but Beasley is one of the better assistants out there. Prior to his stint in Binghamton, Beasley helped Buffalo haul in the #11 overall recruiting class by D1CW in 2010-11. Also on board is Popolizio's Oklahoma State teammate Jamill Kelly, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist.  How many coaching staff's can claim that?

One intangible that has to be mentioned about the NC State coaching position is the support that they will be getting from their administration.  Athletic Director Debbie Yow is one of the biggest proponents for Olympic sports as far as AD's go.  She previously was the AD at the University of Maryland and oversaw the construction of the program by Pat Santoro, and also hired current Head Coach Kerry McCoy.  As soon as she took the position at NC State the program got a boost forward.  In the long run, don't be suprised if the Wolfpack breakthrough and unseat the northern ACC teams (Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech) as the class of the conference.