North Carolina
NCAA Championships
Carolina's Evan Sola Earns All-America Honors At NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 22, 2003 | Wrestling
March 22, 2003
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of North Carolina wrestling team ended the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships in 34th place after scoring a total of 11 points in Kemper Arena. Sophomore Evan Sola (Wernersville, Pa.) became head coach Bill Lam's 37th All-american after finishing in seventh place at 133 pounds. The Tar Heels ended the season with a final record of 11-5, including their 15th Atlantic Coast Conference Championship on March 8.
Oklahoma State claimed its 31st NCAA championship with 143 points in the tournament, edging two-time defending champion Minnesota who finished second with 105.5 points.
Lam ends his coaching career as the winningest coach in ACC history-378-131-4; 136-351 ACC. Lam's credentials include five NCAA Champions, 37 All-Americans, 15 ACC Championships, 93 ACC champions, 10 ACC Coach of the Year honors and one NCAA Coach of the Year honor (1982) in his 30 years of coaching.
"I'm very proud of the way I am leaving the program," said Lam. "We really stepped it up at ACC's and I thought we had a good season considering how young we were.
"It made me feel really good when everyone honored me against NC State on Feb. 11. I knew that this year was it for me and I'm looking forward to my next step in life, whatever that might be."
Sola defeated West Virginia's Brandon Lauer 4-0 to earn his seventh place finish. He led the Tar Heels this season with 36 wins, tied for 10th best in school history. Sola finished the NCAA Tournament 5-2.
2002 All-American Chris Rodrigues (Marietta, Ga.) was unable to repeat at 125 pounds ending the championship with a 1-2 record. He won his first ACC crown this season and ranked second on the Carolina squad with 28 wins.
Seniors Jimmy O'Connor (Woodbine, Md.) and Christopher DiGuiseppe (Holland, Pa.) complete their careers at UNC with All-ACC honors at this year's conference championship. O'Connor went 1-2 at the national tournament, while DiGuiseppe dropped both matches.
Sophomores Mark Canty (Gahanna, Ohio) and Dustin Heist (Meadville, Pa.) ended the NCAA Tournament with 0-2 marks and each won league titles on March 8 at 174 and 184 pounds. Canty finished the season 24-12, while Heist went 16-11.
Freshman David Dashiell (Chesapeake, Va.) won his first ACC title this year at 197 pounds and ended the NCAA Championship 0-2. Dashiell ends his rookie season at 22-15.
Coach Lam will remain on staff part-time working in the Educational Foundation office to help raise money for Olympic Sports. Lam was named one of UNC's "Pricless Gems" earlier this year at a home men's basketball games.
Players Mentioned
