North Carolina
ACC Championships
Kraisser Claims ACC Title To Lead Tar Heels
March 9, 2014 | Wrestling
BLACKSBURG, Va. --- Nathan Kraisser claimed North Carolina's first league title at 125 pounds since Drew Forshey in 2005 to lead the Tar Heels to a fourth-place finish at the 60th Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Championships Saturday at Virginia Tech's Cassell Coliseum. Kraisser defeated top-seeded Anthony Zanetta of Pittsburgh in the final to cap a remarkable turnaround to his sophomore season.
Kraisser, who also secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with his win Saturday, was one of four Tar Heels to lock up spots at nationals. Evan Henderson (141), Christian Barber (149) and John Michael Staudenmayer (165) were also automatic national qualifiers for UNC.
Kraisser opened his title run with a dominant 17-5 major decision over Maryland's Paul O'Neill in the quarterfinals. The Ellicott City, Md., sophomore then avenged a regular season loss with a 5-4 overtime win over Virginia Tech's Joey Dance in the semis.
In the final, Kraisser and Zanetta were even in the first period with neither wrestler able to score. After trading escapes to make it 1-1 early in the third, Zanetta scored a takedown with less than a minute left that looked to seal the win. But Kraisser struck late with a reversal in the final 10 seconds to tie the bout at 3 and force overtime. The Tar Heel sophomore then avoided a quick shot early in the sudden victory period and got a takedown of his own with 14 seconds left to win it.
Staudenmayer was the other Carolina finalist, and in the 165-pound weight class with only two automatic bids to NCAAs, his semifinal win was the key bout of the day. Facing second-seeded Chris Moon of Virginia Tech, Staudenmayer took the lead with a quick escape to open the second period. After no other scoring in the second, Staudenmayer banked over one minute of riding time that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 victory.
Henderson was unable to defend his title at 141, falling to Edgar Bright of Pitt in the semifinals, 12-5. But the All-America junior pinned Virginia's Joe Spisak in the consolation semis and dominated NC State's Sam Speno, 9-0, in the third-place match to secure his spot at NCAAs.
Barber was the fourth Tar Heel to earn an automatic bid with his fourth-place finish at 149. The clinching victory for Barber came in the consolation semis when the redshirt sophomore bested Maryland's Frank Goodwin, 6-0.
Fourth-seeded Alex Utley will be forced to wait for a potential at-large bid after losing both of his matches at 184. Utley fell to Virginia's Jonathan Fausey in the quarterfinals before losing to Virginia Tech's Nick Vetterlein in the consolation semis. The only other Tar Heel to finish in the top four was Troy Heilmann, who upset second-seeded Joe Martinez of Virginia in the consolation semis before losing to Pitt's Shelton Mack in the third-place bout.
Virginia Tech won the team competition with 87 points, topping Pitt's 67 and Virginia's 61.5. Carolina took fourth with 38 points, just ahead of Maryland 37.5. NC State (33.5) and Duke (18) rounded out the field. The Blue Devils were the only school to not have a champion on the day.
The 2014 NCAA Championships take place March 20-22 in Oklahoma City.
Players Mentioned
