It was a season of ups and downs for NC State wrestling. The Wolfpack battled injuries to key starters and experienced disappointing performances throughout the regular season, suffering three dual losses for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. Due to a surprising loss against Pittsburgh, the Pack had to share the regular-season ACC title with rival North Carolina after both finished 4-1 in league action.
But none of that matters now. The postseason gives everybody a clean slate, and NC State started it off by walking away with the lone trophy from the ACC Championships.
In a tight race, the Wolfpack outpointed host Virginia Tech despite both having three champions. NCSU’s depth won out, with nine of the 10 starters placing in the top three and claiming automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, held in two weeks in Pittsburgh.
“This hasn’t been our most dominant season,” head coach Pat Popolizio admitted. “But when you can win a team title and put nine guys in the top three at the ACC Tournament and get nine NCAA qualifiers, that speaks volumes for this team, the direction we’re going, and the will and the fight.
“It’s a total team effort, from top to bottom — everybody is working. Even guys you don’t see out there scoring points, they play a huge role getting these guys ready. All these guys are in that room every day. You’ve got coaches sacrificing their time and bodies, and administrators making sure we got everything we need.”
Popolizio was even impressed by his lone wrestler to not place in the top three, true freshman heavyweight Deonte Wilson, who had been supplanted in the lineup midseason. He had wrestled in just three duals since the calendar turned to 2019, but earned back his spot for ACCs and won two matches to score team points and place fourth in the conference.
“Getting on the board there was big team points for us. I don’t think a lot of people thought heavyweight would score points for us this year if you look at our dual meets,” the coach said. “He came through and showed today that he was a guy on a mission to be a part of this program and to start.”
However, the biggest surprise was fifth-year senior and third-seeded Malik McDonald climbing to the top of the podium with a pair of wins over grapplers ranked among the nation’s top 11, joining 157-pound redshirt sophomore Hayden Hidlay and 141-pound fifth-year senior Jamel Morris as gold medal winners. However, Hidlay and Morris both entered the tournament as the No. 1 seeds.
When one writer told Popolizio he thought McDonald should’ve won the event’s Most Outstanding Wrestler (M.O.W.) award, the coach couldn’t disagree. Pittsburgh’s 133-pound champion Micky Phillippi — his weight’s No. 1 seed — was given the honor.
“Phillippi beat some good guys, but was expected to,” Popolizio said. “Malik obviously being the underdog, sometimes that’s the way it goes. Winning the title is in our control; winning M.O.W. is a vote.
“He gave us big team points, and more than anything it’s momentum going into NCAAs. It just shows anybody at any given time — it doesn’t matter what you’re seeded — can go out and win it.”
That will be the lesson Popolizio tries to impart of his squad before they go to Pittsburgh for the NCAA Championships, March 21-23.
“Winning ACCs shows we’re improving,” he said. “There was a point there during the season that not a lot of people thought we would win this tournament.
“If you looked and said [Morris and McDonald] are going to be the guys that win it for you, people would’ve thought you’re crazy — but that’s what I love about wrestling. It’s always open for anybody that wants the opportunity. A couple guys proved that last year — Tariq [Wilson, the Pack’s 133-pounder] finished fourth at ACCs last year, then went to NCAAs and took third.
“Even if their season didn’t end where they wanted it to today, it's the ACC Tournament — it’s not over for anybody.”
Popolizio and his Pack know better than anybody the postseason has just begun and the biggest prize of them all still sits dead ahead at the NCAA Championships.
Weight-By-Weight Results
125 R-Sr. Sean Fausz — second*
133 R-So. Tariq Wilson — second*
141 R-Sr. Jamel Morris — first*
149 R-Sr. Justin Oliver — third*
157 R-So. Hayden Hidlay — first*
165 R-So. Thomas Bullard — second*
174 R-So. Daniel Bullard — third*
184 R-So. Nick Reenan — third*
197 R-Sr. Malik McDonald — first*
HWT Fr. Deonte Wilson — fourth
* — automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships
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