photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com
Tonight DI wrestling returns as the first "all-DI" dual meet of the season, features #15 North Carolina hosting in-state foe Campbell. Earlier this week, TOM spoke with Campbell head coach Scott Sentes as he prepared to make his head coaching debut. Sentes takes over a Camel program that experienced new heights in 2019-20 with five NWCA All-Americans (two first-teamers), a school-record five SoCon Champions, and an 11-2 dual record. Campbell has also been incredible on the recruiting trail and signed a class ranked tenth in the nation by TOM. With this being a "free year," there's a strong possibility that we see some of those freshmen compete right away, possibly tonight.
For all of the positives for Campbell, much of the same can be said for North Carolina. Entering his sixth season as head coach of the Tar Heels, Coleman Scott led UNC to a 19th place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships, the best placement since 1995. The team heads into the 2021 season with a #15 national ranking and the top 149 lber in the land. His Tar Heels coaching staff has also been excellent recruiting and they finished third in the same recruiting rankings.
Here are the matchups we're expecting to see tonight as these two squads clash in Chapel Hill. There's a possibility that three bouts between ranked wrestlers occur and 11 ranked wrestlers could appear. TOM has also provided predictions for each of the ten matches.
125 - Zurich Storm (Campbell) vs. Julian Tagg (North Carolina)
We'll kick the season off with a bout between a young Tar Heel and an experienced Camel. Zurich storm started his collegiate career in the ACC at NC State, but transferred before the 2019-20 season. He stayed in North Carolina and made his way to Buies Creek, where he saw action in ten matches competing unattached. Storm started the year off with a Wolfpack Open title, where he defeated Virginia Tech's stud freshman Sam Latona and Tar Heel Timothy Decatur. He later won three matches at the Southern Scuffle but was unable to place. Though Zurich has not faced Julian Tagg, he's no stranger to the Tar Heel coaching staff. During the 2018-19 season, he lost via tech fall to UNC assistant Gary Wayne Harding. Tagg is a freshman that has spent the last two years at in Colorado Springs as a member of USA Wrestling's Elite Accelerator Program. While out west, Julian has entered Wyoming's Cowboy Open each year. He won the event in 2019 with bonus points in all four of his matches. The two-time Ohio state champion, Tagg, has a proficiency in freestyle, evidenced by a Cadet Freestyle title in Fargo in 2016, along with an appearance on the Cadet World Team a year later.
TOM Pick: Tagg by decision (3-0 UNC)
133 - Gabe Hixenbaugh/#26 Korbin Meink (Campbell) vs. Gabe Tagg (North Carolina)
The other half of the Tagg brother Gabe is expected to make his UNC debut in this dual, as well. Gabe is a redshirt freshman who's coming in off a 14-5 campaign while competing unattached last season. One of those wins came against a past national qualifier in Pat D'Arcy (Princeton) at the Midlands. Tagg's 10-2 major decision was one of three wins for the Tar Heel in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Like his younger brother, Gabe was a member of the EAP and spent the 2018-19 school year working out at the Olympic Training Center. Tagg also has international experience under his belt as he won a bronze medal at the Cadet World Championships in 2019. He may face a fellow redshirt freshman named Gabe in Alabama-native, Gabe Hixenbaugh. This Gabe was a five-time state champion in high school, a placer in Cadet freestyle in Fargo, and an NHSCA Sophomore National Champion. Hixenbaugh went 8-5 while redshirting last season, a year highlighted by a fifth-place finish at the Wolfpack Open. The Camels may send out two-time SoCon champion Korbin Meink. Korbin earned the 26th seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships and went 22-11 along the way.
TOM Pick: Tagg by decision (6-0 UNC)
141 - Shannon Hanna (Campbell) vs. #9 Zach Sherman (North Carolina)
The first two bouts are extremely important for Campbell to win as we move into the meat of the Tar Heel lineup from 141-174 lbs. That run will likely see UNC send out wrestlers ranked in the top-21 or higher at each weight. 2020 ACC champion Zach Sherman, a second-team All-American, returns at 141. Sherman went 27-5 last season and placed third at the Midlands for a second consecutive season. Throughout the year, he logged nine wins over past or future national qualifiers. Seeded 11th at the NCAA Championships, Zach presided over an ACC weight class that had three others earn national bids, two of which were ranked in the top-18. Not only did Daryl Thomas move over from Old Dominion after the Monarchs dropped their program, but 141 lber Shannon Hanna also came along. Hanna started for ODU as a true freshman at 133 lbs in 2019-20. He took some lumps going 13-18 overall, but did earn two wins over past NCAA qualifiers. Though his record may not reflect it, Shannon was rarely outclassed during his rookie season. In fact, four of his losses came in sudden victory or tiebreakers. With another year of seasoning on his side, he may be able to flip a few of those results.
TOM Pick: Sherman by major decision (10-0 UNC)
149 - #10 Josh Heil (Campbell) vs. #1 Austin O'Connor (North Carolina)
This is the headline match of the dual meet! A meeting between two of the top ten wrestlers in the nation at 149 lbs, Austin O'Connor and Josh Heil. The two-time All-American O'Connor was seeded second at the 2020 NCAA Championships after winning 25 of 26 bouts on the year. He had as good of a chance as anyone at taking the title in a balanced 149 lb weight class. In two years at Chapel Hill, Austin has amassed a 59-7 record and is on track to go down as one of the school's all-time greats. These two are no strangers to each other as they have met four times (three officially) during their collegiate careers. All three official matches came in 2018-19 and O'Connor won all three with a fall, a major, and a 4-1 win at the NCAA Championships. Heil was at 149 lbs that year and claimed the second of his three SoCon crowns before receiving the 11th seed at the 2019 national tournament. Last season, Josh dropped down to 141 and went 29-4 with a title at the Reno Tournament of Champions and a finals appearance at the Midlands. Heil would go on to receive first-team All-American honors from the NWCA. An interesting, unrelated subplot is that O'Connor recently handled Heil's older brother, Dean, in freestyle at the Tar Heel Open.
TOM Pick: O'Connor by decision (13-0 UNC)
157 - #33 Ben Barton (Campbell) vs. #21 Josh McClure (North Carolina)
We've got another clash between ranked wrestlers here with #21 Josh McClure and #33 Ben Barton. Both of these competitors qualified for nationals in 2019. McClure was quite busy in 2019-20 taking the mat 27 times; however, only two were during dual meet action. He registered 22 wins and picked up titles at the UNCP Classic, the Appalachian Open, and the Newberry Open. Though these two have been at 157 lbs for the past two years, they have not met. McClure did see Barton's teammate Cameron Pine twice in 2018-19 and was victorious both times. Ben made the national tournament in 2019 on the strength of a SoCon title, despite entering the postseason with only 13 matches to his name. Last year, Ben's only competition outside of the Camel wrestling room came at the Southern Scuffle, where he went 3-2.
TOM Pick: McClure by decision (16-0 UNC)
165 - #32 Austin Kraisser (Campbell) vs. #13 Kennedy Monday (North Carolina)
The last in our run of three consecutive matches with ranked opponents from both teams sees #13 Kennedy Monday meet #32 Austin Kraisser. Monday is a two-time NCAA qualifier that was a match away from earning All-American honors as a freshman in 2018. He went 20-8 in 2019-20 and picked up wins over nine national qualifiers. None was more significant than his tech fall victory over four-time All-American David McFadden in UNC's 23-10 rout of Virginia Tech. Kennedy has been active in the preseason, competing in freestyle against All-Americans Mitch Finesilver and Evan Wick. In both bouts, Monday showed a lot of fire early and jumped out to quick leads on his competition. Kraisser is a senior with a respectable 66-33 career record that is still seeking his first bid to nationals. Last season, Austin was up above his ideal weight at 174, because of the presence of two-time SoCon Champ, Quentin Perez. Even so, Kraisser was able to tally a 24-9 mark and placed third at the conference meet for a second time. Austin's most notable tournament finish last season came at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where he was fifth, despite dropping only one match.
TOM Pick: Monday by decision (19-0 UNC)
174 - Austin Murphy (Campbell) vs. #13 (184) Devin Kane (North Carolina)
With defending ACC Champion Clay Lautt out of the lineup, Devin Kane has moved into the lineup at 174. Kane did not see action last year, but still has a remarkable run at the 2019 NCAA Championships fresh in many fans' minds. Despite getting seeded 33rd out of 33 wrestlers, Kane notched four wins in Pittsburgh and came up a match shy of earning All-American honors. It was his first time competing at the national tournament for Coach Scott's team. Devin will have to deal with Campbell veteran Austin Murphy. Austin has went 10-9 then 9-10 in his two years with the program. During that time, Murphy has seen action in six dual meets, winning one. In the 2019-20 season-opening Southeast Open, Austin fell to the aforementioned Lautt, 8-3. One of the highwater marks from Murphy's sophomore season came at the Southern Scuffle when he won four matches and downed eventual national qualifier Michael O'Malley (Drexel).
TOM Pick: Kane by decision (22-0 UNC)
184 - Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) vs. Chasen Blair (North Carolina)
With Kane stepping in at 174, it has provided an opportunity for Chasen Blair to stake a claim at 184. Blair has seen action in 11 dual meets over his two years competing attached for the Tar Heels, but has never started in the postseason. In those two seasons, he's accumulated a 14-12 record. One of the highlights for Chasen in 2018-19 was a major decision in a dual meet against Rodney Jones (Chattanooga), who later earned a trip to NCAA's. Caleb Hopkins is the first of two brothers we may see for Campbell that came in all the way from Alaska. After redshirting his first year in Buies Creek, Caleb went 15-12 in 2019-20, competing primarily in open tournaments. He started the year at 174 lbs, but eventually moved up to 184. Hopkins was able to win three bouts at both the Navy Classic and the Reno Tournament of Champions.
TOM Pick: Hopkins by decision (22-3 UNC)
197 - Levi Hopkins/Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) vs. #29 Brandon Whitman/Max Shaw (North Carolina)
Both teams have a couple of options at 197 lbs. The younger Hopkins brother, Levi, is an option here. He redshirted in 2019-20, but did not see any action. Levi was a three-time state finalist and one-time champion in Alaska. He also was a runner-up in the high school portion of the Reno Tournament of Champions in 2019. The other possibility for Campbell is Taye Ghadiali. Taye is also a redshirt freshman who went 9-4 competing unattached last season. Ghadiali was fifth at the Wolfpack Open and the freshman/sophomore division at the Southeast Open. UNC could send out either Brandon Whitman or Max Shaw, though Shaw seems like the probable starter today. Whitman was a national qualifier in 2019, as a true freshman, but experienced some growing pains last season and finished 14-15. Though Brandon had a sub .500 record, he did notch wins over All-American Ben Darmstadt (Cornell) and past Final X participant, Nick Reenan (NC State). Shaw was 15-5 last year while redshirting during year one with North Carolina. The former all-state running back was fourth at the National Collegiate Open and won titles at the Newberry and UNCP Opens.
TOM Pick: Shaw by decision (25-3 UNC)
285 - Luke Davis (Campbell) vs. #24 Andrew Gunning (North Carolina)
Attempting to close the dual meet out for North Carolina will be another returning national qualifier, Andrew Gunning. Andrew made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2020 despite finishing with an 11-14 record. He knocked off Quinn Miller (Virginia) at the ACC Tournament, which helped him finish fourth and secure an automatic bid to nationals. Gunning started the 2019-20 campaign with a Southeast Open title and a win over returning national qualifier Brandon Ngati (West Virginia) in the process. Campbell will be extremely young at 285 lbs this season with a redshirt sophomore and two true freshmen expected to contend for the starting role. One of those freshmen is Luke Davis of Port Huron, Michigan. Davis was a two-time state finalist in Michigan and a champion at 215 lbs as a senior.
TOM Pick: Gunning by decision (28-3 UNC)
Final Team Score Projection:
North Carolina: 28
Campbell: 3
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