Thoughts & Observations: NC State wrestling dominates Wolfpack Open

NC State wrestling held its annual Wolfpack Wrestling Club Open Sunday afternoon in Cary, N.C.

The Wolfpack dominated the event, with five wrestlers taking gold across the 10 weight classes, including three championship bouts where both finalists represented NC State (one of the three was not contested).

Here are some thoughts and observations on the action from former Wolfpack wrestler Ryan Tice:

Starting spots decided?

With the season-opening dual coming up Sunday versus West Virginia (1 p.m., Reynolds Coliseum, ACC Network Extra with live streaming), the Pack was able to use the first two weekends of the season to help decide who will get the starting nod against the Mountaineers.

• The biggest surprise happened at 133, where returning starter and two-time NCAA qualifier Jarrett Trombley was topped by teammate Kai Orine, 2-0. Orine wrestled up at 141 pounds last year, but dropped this winter for a chance to start. He looks on track to do just that — the finals result was no fluke (he rode Trombley the whole third period to close out the shutout) and was dominant prior to that, with two shutout technical falls (beating your opponent by 15 or more points), a 13-3 major decision and a 7-0 victory prior to the finals.

Orine showed to be a good scrambler, did not give up a takedown and looked healthy with plenty of gas left in the tank at 133, always a concern when dropping a weight.

• At 157, classmates AJ Kovacs and Ed Scott — both COVID-repeat freshmen — squared off for gold. Unfortunately, Kovacs was injured on the first takedown of the match and while he continued and Scott technically pinned him, it’s safe to say the injury was the cause of it.

That was supposed to be the “rubber match” between the two, after Scott won 6-1 in the wrestle-offs two weeks ago and then Kovacs prevailed at The Battle at The Citadel tournament, 9-8.

However, that is not to take anything away from Scott, who was dominant throughout the event. He posted a pin, 16-1 tech fall, 23-7 tech fall (where all points allowed were escapes), a 4-0 win over teammate Derek Fields in the semifinals and the first-period pin of Kovacs.

Other dominant performances

• While the above Pack-on-Pack finals were expected to some extent (Scott and Kovacs were the 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, while Trombley and Orine entered 1 and 3), super senior 165-pounder Thomas Bullard had a bit of a surprise opponent in the finals — No. 3 seed Donald Cates, a second-year freshman who topped former blue-chip recruit Sonny Santiago, who started one match as a true freshman last year for UNC and looks like the Tar Heels’ starter this year.

Cates, a Durham native, did get the start in last year’s season opener when Bullard was dealing with a minor injury and beat an eventual NCAA qualifier, but he looked even more improved Sunday. He’s very good at reattacks and wrestles a hard-nosed style.

However, he was just a speed bump on Bullard’s path to gold. Bullard logged three early pins (all in under four minutes), a medical forfeit and the 15-0 tech fall of Cates in the finals.

• Repeat frosh Isaac Trumble and junior Jacob Ferreira both made the finals at 197 after outstanding tournaments, but did not wrestle after matching up in each of the last two weekends. Trumble prevailed 4-0 in the wrestle-offs and 4-2 at The Citadel.

Trumble’s results Sunday: 16-1 tech fall in the first period, an injury default after he led 6-0 and his opponent got hurt, a 15-4 major decision and a 9-0 major over teammate Brock Delsignore in the semifinals.

Ferreira made the finals out of the 6 seed, following a second-period pin; a 12-4 major over Cade Lautt, another former top-50 recruit for UNC; and a 10-7 decision over the No. 2 seed.

Freshman turns heads

True freshman Jake Null looks like a miniature version of former NCAA champion Michael Maachiavello (former 197-pounder) at 174 pounds, and he showed a lot of tools NC State fans should be excited about.

After a close 6-4 decision in the opening round, he posted an 8-2 victory, a first-period pin in the semifinals that he was leading 6-0 at the time and then — in a move that will really endear him to Wolfpackers — topped North Carolina’s Gavin Kane in the finals. Kane started two duals last year for the Tar Heels, and both of their matches so far this season, so that’s a quality win … especially when you consider Null is on track to redshirt as the backup to four-time All-American Hayden Hidlay.

Nick Reenan looks healthy

Nick Reenan decided to return for his sixth season of eligibility alongside his classmates from the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class despite not having a clear spot in the starting lineup.

It was easy to see why Sunday. After dealing with knee injuries that clearly affected his grappling the last two years, the three-time NCAA qualifier (at three different weights) looked better than he has since he originally tore his in late December 2019. Wrestling at 184 pounds after splitting starting duties at 197 last season, he was able to take real shots, sprawl, get off bottom, etc.

He had arguably the team’s top win of the afternoon, and he was pretty dominant in a 10-3 victory over Campbell’s Caleb Hopkins, who entered the tournament ranked No. 17 nationally by Intermat. Reenan notched four takedowns while allowing only three escapes.

Full Pack placements

1st place — 133 Kai Orine, 157 Ed Scott, 165 Thomas Bullard, 174 Jake Null, 184 Nick Reenan
2nd place — 133 Jarrett Trombley, 141 Ryan Jack, 157 AJ Kovacs, 165 Donald Cates, 197 Isaac Trumble/Jacob Ferreia (did not wrestle)
3rd place — 157 Derek Fields, 174 Dylan Reinert
4th place — 125 Stevo Poulin (got hurt)/125 Jakob Camacho (did not wrestle after 3 matches), 141 Hunter Lewis, 184 Joey Milano, 197 Brock Delsignore, 285 Deonte Wilson/Owen Trephan (did not wrestle)
5th place — 197 Christian Knop, 285 Tyrie Houghton
6th place — 141 Jarred Papcsy

The Wolfpacker has more observations, including on those that did not win the tournament like 141-pound freshman Ryan Jack, heavyweight Tyrie Houghton, 125-pound rookie Stevo Poulin and more on The Wolves’ Den message board, the best place on the internet to talk NC State wrestling.

Bonus prediction sure to be wrong: Dual lineup

As mentioned above, NC State opens the season Sunday against West Virginia. The headlining match, if it happens, would be No. 9 Jakob Camacho vs. No. 8 Killian Cardinale (rankings per InterMat). They wrestled twice in the last two years, with Cardinale winning both, including a tie-breaker-two NCAA win last season.

Another matchup featuring wrestlers ranked right on top of each other should happen on 165, with No. 16 Peyton Hall vs. the Pack’s Thomas Bullard, ranked No. 17.

With no inside information, here’s our best guess as to what the Pack lineup looks like Sunday (assuming everybody is healthy):

125 Jakob Camacho
133 Kai Orine
141 Ryan Jack
149 Tariq Wilson
157 Ed Scott
165 Thomas Bullard
174 Hayden Hidlay
184 Trent Hidlay
197 Isaac Trumble
HWT Owen Trephan