Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Wrestling is trending upward in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. — The cleanup crew was rolling up mats Sunday afternoon and hauling them out of Reynolds Coliseum as North Carolina State coach Pat Popolizio stood at one end of the arena reflecting on the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. In one sense, the teardown signified an end — the conclusion to a wrestling weekend that included the coronation of the Junior World Team and the last step before Final X. In another sense, it symbolized a beginning, and perhaps the start of something bigger in the state of North Carolina. There’s no mistaking that this is college basketball country, but the wrestling programs along Tobacco Road have had flickers of past success too. North Carolina finished seventh or better at the NCAA Championships three times during a six-year stretch in the 1980s. North Carolina State posted Top 10 finishes in 1992 and 1993. Perhaps never before, though, have the programs across the state been better positioned to flourish than they are now. And they might be able to take the sport along for the ride.

Popolizio has injected new life into the North Carolina State program during his seven seasons in Raleigh, taking the Wolfpack from fifth in the ACC in his first year to fourth in the country in 2018. During that time, he’s seen attendance for N.C. State home duals spike from roughly 100 spectators during his first season to nearly 4,000 a year ago when the Wolfpack wrestled Ohio State. “Our clientele down here is rather new as opposed to maybe some fans who have been in the sport for 50 years,” Popolizio said. “That’s a hard sell. Once they come to a dual meet, I think they’re hooked on the intensity and the pure emotion of the athletes and the excitement. But one of the things we’ve done as a program is making it an event. It’s hard to do, but we’ve gotten the band there, we’ve gotten the cheerleaders, we’ve had a raised stage, we’ve had intermissions and fun things. I think that’s a huge part of it when we have dual meets.” Winning drives box office sales, too, of course, and North Carolina State is having its best run in school history. The Wolfpack set a program record in 2018 with four All-Americans when they collected the school’s first NCAA team trophy and another heralded incoming recruiting class has N.C. State set up for sustained success. Rest of the story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1558579490421&twSessionId=yvbfxyssid&postId=1450258132&mc_cid=fcf7c0b6ee&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

May 26, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Take a tour of the North Carolina wrestling facility with Coleman Scott

May 26, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment