NC State’s Jakob Camacho embraces no quit mentality en route to ACC title

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Each time Jakob Camacho walks into the Weisiger-Brown building at NC State, there’s one quote that sticks with him upon arrival. It’s one of the most famous quotes around Raleigh from the late-Jim Valvano, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Those eight words are plastered in multiple places around the Wolfpack’s campus, but they resonate with Camacho each time he reads them. And for good reason. 

Camacho, a redshirt junior, missed all of last season with an injury. He worked his way back from that, and rose to the No. 1 ranking at 125 pounds this season. Though he was the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class with seven straight wins to open the 2023-24 season, that didn’t last for long. 

The Danbury, Conn., native dropped four bouts in a row from mid-December to early January, including a pin by Ohio State’s Brendan McCrone, the 18th-rated wrestler at the time. Camacho was pulled from the Wolfpack’s starting lineup and ended up wrestling in the Appalachian Open 22 days after his fourth consecutive loss, which came against Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley. 

That time away from the Pack’s starting lineup helped Camacho reset. He earned a trio of win at the Appalachian Open, and Camacho earned his way back into the team’s dual meet roster. 

Ever since then, he has been unstoppable on the mat. Camacho has posted eight straight wins, the latest, a 4-2 decision over No. 16 Cooper Flynn to claim the 2024 ACC title — the third of his career — on Sunday night at North Carolina’s Carmichael Arena. 

“Life’s full of highs and lows, and sometimes the lows are lower than you’d think and the highs are cool. I think, for me, it’s more so me being proud that I’m a fighter and I don’t quit. … The scary part about that is it’s easy to put your head down and say things aren’t going my way and it’s not meant to be, but that’s not who I am.”

Camacho fought his way back into the national spotlight with his showing on the mat down the stretch of the season. He was able to put the quartet of losses behind and focused on what was in front of him. 

And while his ACC title winning bout was impressive, he wrestled his way into that with a pin just 5:41 into the semifinal against Duke’s Logan Agin earlier in the day. 

Camacho, who holds a 14-4 record this season, said he’s been working on “honing in on positional wrestling” this season. He equated it to a chess match, and well, it seems he’s been able to master that as the season winds down. 

“Every time you step out there against anybody, it’s a different puzzle,” Camacho said. “You gotta go out there and solve it. Sometimes it’s different, sometimes it’s not as fun, but for me, wrestling’s fun. I like to go out there and put it on the line.”

Camacho has found joy in wrestling, and it seems like his best performances of the season have shown up at the right time. An ACC championship is the latest fruits of his labor, and the lightweight wrestler wore a smile when he talked about his path this season. 

“I put my head down, I trusted the coaches, I got back to work,” Camacho said. “I chipped away and it feels good. It’s kind of a validation that I’m doing the right things and I’m sticking to it. I’m excited to keep moving forward.”

While he has impressed on the mat with his winning streak, and his unblemished record since his rocky part of the year, Camacho has positioned himself for a shot at the NCAA title in less than two weeks. 

The now three-time NCAA qualifier has an opportunity to make some noise in Kansas City, and NC State coach Pat Popolizio beamed about Camacho’s resurgence. 

“It’s been up and down, but really all that matters is you’re up going into the NCAA tournament,” Popolizio said. “Coming off of being out for a year, I think he’s right back where he needs to be.”

He wasn’t the only one to be high on Camacho, either. Redshirt senior 197-pound Trent Hidlay, who won his fourth ACC title Sunday night, raved about his teammate.

“He bounced back from some tough losses and he put his head down and went to work,” Hidlay said of Camacho. “He’s an elite performer. He wrestles his best when the lights are on, so if he can do that at the national tournament, he could come away as the champ.”

Though Camacho has found success again, he is taking it all one day at a time. There is plenty of wrestling in front of him at the NCAA tournament, and he said he wants to use the ACC title as a stepping stone to the national championship. 

But when he reflected on the path to get to the top of the conference podium, his eyes lit up. Camacho is one with words, and well, he could not have summed up his season any better than he did after winning one of NC State’s seven individual championships in Chapel Hill.

“I can’t help but have a smile on my face when I go out there to compete because no matter what, win or lose, I’ve already won,” Camacho said. “I’m on the best team in the country, I’ve got the best support system, my family’s awesome, and I get to do what I love. … At the end of the day, regardless of whatever outcome happens, I’m already a winner in my own eyes because I get to do what I love with the team that I love.”