ACC Weekly Recap (1/1/2025)

Two of the three major holiday tournaments have concluded and the ACC had some stellar performances. Stanford kicked off their first Midlands in the ACC by bringing home the team title and three individual titles. Pittsburgh also had a strong showing at the Midlands, finishing fourth as a team and earning two individual titles. North Carolina sent a small contingent of starters to the Soldier Salute, finishing with one finalist and four placers. 

#22 Stanford 

Stanford used their time in Hoffman Estates to put the conference on notice that they are a legitimate threat to win the ACC in their inaugural season. The Cardinal will be loading a lot of hardware on the plane back to Palo Alto. They crowned three individual champions in #10 Tyler Knox (133), #8 Jaden Abas (149), and #7 Lorenzo Norman (174) On top of their gold medals, Knox was named the Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler and Norman was the Jack Leese Champion of Champions. 

Knox has been fantastic this season and looked strong throughout the tournament, notching two bonus point wins before beating #32 Ryan Miller in the semifinals. He then had a very impressive showing in the finals with a controlling 10-3 win over #16 Dylan Shawver. Abas has seemingly shaken whatever early-season jitters he had and has been on an absolute tear. He was solid all weekend, taking out a sneaky good #19 Cross Wasilewski in the finals. Lorenzo Norman has put the country on notice this season; after his statement at the Midlands, his record stands at 14-1 with his lone loss a tight 4-3 decision to a reinvigorated #3 Dean Hamiti. Norman opened the tournament with tech fall, pin, tech fall before beating #23 Alex Cramer in the semifinals. He made a big impression with a decisive win over #5 Nick Incontrera in the finals. 

They also had podium performances from seven wrestlers to separate themselves in the team race. #13 Hunter Garvin (165) placed third after dropping his semifinal bout in sudden victory to the eventual champion, Tyler Lillard. #22 Nick Stemmet (197) and Jason Miranda (141) both finished in 4th place while Peter Ming (285) finished in fifth. They rounded out the tournament with seventh-place finishes from #28 Grigor Cholakyan (157) and Brock Byers (197) and an eighth-place finish from Collin Guffey (174). 

Pittsburgh

The Panthers turned in an impressive team performance despite losing two key starters to injury in the tournament. #18 Reece Heller (184) added a second Midlands title after being atop the podium in 2023. Heller earned three bonus point victories in his four matches, including a ranked win over #29 Shane Cartegena-Walsh in the finals. #15 Mac Stout (197) claimed his first Midlands title with impressive and consistent performances on both days; he beat #32 Dillon Bechtold 10-3 in the semifinals before taking out #26 Gabe Sollars 13-9 to stand on the top step of the podium.  

Kade Brown (149) had an amazing run to finish in third that included ranked wins over Malyke Hines and Andrew Clark. #26 Finn Solomon also placed at 149, ending the day in sixth after medically forfeiting his final two bouts. #20 Luca Augustine (174) started off the tournament strong, knocking off #22 Jackson Turley in the quarterfinals before an injury ended his tournament early; he finished in sixth after medically forfeiting the second day. The final placer for the Panthers was #22 Dylan Evans (157) who earned fifth; he won a battle over #28 Grigor Cholakyan in SV in the quarterfinals and dropped a tight match to eventual champion #21 Johnny Lovett in the semis before battling back to win his fifth-place bout 2-1. 

#28 North Carolina

The Tar Heels took a small squad made up of a few starters and several back-ups to Iowa for the Soldier Salute. Lachlan McNeil (149) had a great tournament, running through the first three rounds and beating #17 Colin Realbuto in the semifinals to meet #4 Kyle Parco in the finals. The final match is worthy of a rewatch, but McNeil dropped the bout 8-5 to finish as the runner-up. McNeil continues to improve as he settles into 149 and I expect him to be in the thick of a very competitive weight class within the conference. #19 Josh Ogunsanya (174) made his second appearance for the Tar Heels after his debut at the Collegiate Duals. He looked great in the opening rounds before dropping the semifinal match to Iowa’s #8 Patrick Kennedy; he won a match on the backside, but fell in the third-place bout to #15 Jared Simma of Northern Iowa. Also placing for the Tar Heels were Laird Root (157) and Collin Carrigan (165) who both finished in eighth. 

The ACC will be represented by three teams in the Southern Scuffle to finish off the holiday tournaments. Duke, Virginia, and Virginia Tech are all scheduled to be represented in Chattanooga this weekend.