Caldwell, who improved to 15-0 on the season, won three matches on Friday to advance to the semifinals, pinning his first-round opponent, Nick Walpole of Indiana, in just 28 seconds, then winning a technical fall in the second round over Arizona State's Vincent Varela, 20-5. He won a 7-2 decision from Trevor Chinn of Lehigh in the quarterfinals.
Since losing by technical fall to defending national champion Brent Metcalf of Iowa at the NCWA All-Star Classic on November 24, Caldwell has won seven straight matches, three by pin, one by technical fall and one by major decision. The three pins lasted a combined 2:34. The loss to Metcalf is officially an exhibition match and does not count towards either wrestler's won-lost record.
"This just in," Wolfpack head coach Carter Jordan said. "Darrion Caldwell is really good. I think it's safe to say that he is very focused right now."
Caldwell's victory over Palmer in the finals was his second of the season over the Ohio State All-American. He defeated Palmer 2-1 at the NC State Open on November 8. That match was a close-fought defensive battle that Caldwell won by virtue of an escape and a minute of riding time. This time, he dismantled Palmer.
"He didn't mess around with him," Jordan said. "He took him down, got him in a cradle, turned him and pinned him. Palmer never had a chance."
In the team standings, NC State finished 22nd out of 44 teams, despite fielding a lineup of just five wrestlers. Senior 197-pounder Ryan Goodman is still with the Wolfpack football team, and senior 141-pounder Joe Caramanica is recovering from a knee injury and won't be ready until the Southern Scuffle at the end of the month at the earliest. In addition, sophomore heavyweight Bobby Isola is out due to illness.
"I'm really pleased with the fact that we finished ahead of half the teams out here and only fielded half of our lineup," Jordan said. "Our goal was to finish in the top half of the standings and we did that. Even the guys who were eliminated yesterday all wrestled well. No one went out in two matches, which is what you have to have to score well in these tournaments.
"It would have been nice to have had a full lineup. I think Ryan and Joe in particular would have done really well here. But that's something we can't control. What we can control is how well the guys we had here wrestled, and I thought they all did well."
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