Wrestling takes it by a single point Sunday

Christian Barber knew he could turn things around.

The North Carolina wrestling team was trailing Appalachian State, but during overtime of his 149-pound match, No. 19 Barber pinned the Mountaineers’ No. 8 Dylan Cottrell to give the Tar Heels the momentum and help lead them to a 22-21 victory in Boone, N.C.

“Going into the match, we were really struggling,” said Barber, a redshirt junior. “I needed to get us headed in the right direction, and I knew with the guys behind me that my win could become a turning point in the dual.”

His victory did just that, with UNC’s heavyweight wrestlers picking up where Barber left off.

“It wasn’t looking good early when our lightweight guys had a tough time out there,” said senior Alex Utley. “Christian being able to win in overtime in an upset really energized us and fired up the heavyweight guys that were getting ready to wrestle.”

After the match, Coach C.D. Mock called Barber the MVP of the night.

“Cottrell was a very tough kid,” he said. “But Barber was more aggressive and was the better wrestler: a huge win for Christian.

“We lost so many matches by a point last year, so it’s good to get one.”

Utley agreed.

“After losing a tight dual earlier this year to Stanford, it was good to be on the other side of one of those,” Utley said.

As excited as Barber was to pick up the win from an individual standpoint, he knew that his match — and the six points he picked up with it — could help the team get back on track.

The Tar Heels did exactly that, with Ethan Ramos, Joey Ward and Utley all picking up critical bonus points after Barber’s win.

“It was a good win, and we were able to score a lot of bonus points that we ended up needing,” said Utley, who was victorious in his 184-pound bout. “We let up some early pins, but we did a great job fighting back and getting the win.”

Despite trailing at intermission, the UNC wrestling team rallied its way past the Mountaineers to earn its first dual victory of the season.

“It was definitely a good feeling to beat someone that’s a tough opponent,” Barber said. “I don’t think it was my best performance, but I was pretty psyched to come out on top and it was satisfying to win after grinding it out in an eight-minute match.”

For Utley, he’s optimistic that the experience of competing in tight situations will help his team in the future.

“A lot of duals come down to just a few points,” Utley said. “So it was a great experience for our guys to learn how to win a close dual, so there are a lot of positives that we can take away from this.”

sports@dailytarheel.com