The No. 17 North Carolina wrestling team (4-1) earned a 10th place team finish at the Midlands Championship on Monday, with two Tar Heels finishing in the top three of their respective divisions.
What happened?
Redshirt sophomore Austin O’Connor put together an impressive performance in the 149-pound weight class. O’Connor topped Iowa senior Vincent Turk in his first bout with a hard-fought 3-1 decision before ultimately falling to another Hawkeye, senior Pat Lugo, by way of an 8-4 decision. He was the runner-up in his division.
Redshirt sophomore Zach Sherman also notched a top-three finish for the Tar Heels. Sherman put together a series of two wins to advance to the semifinal round, where he ultimately fell in a 6-4 decision in an overtime period against Ohio redshirt sophomore Shakur Laney.
Sherman returned in winning fashion against redshirt Illinois redshirt junior Dylan Duncan to take third place in the 141-pound division.
Redshirt junior Kennedy Monday also earned a top-10 finish for North Carolina. Monday scored a 9-6 decision over Campbell’s Quentin Perez, a senior, before suffering a second round loss. Monday came back to take seventh place in the ensuing match with a pin over Northern Illinois' redshirt first-year Izzak Olejnik with a pin just 28 seconds into the bout.
Redshirt sophomore Jaime Hernandez, redshirt senior A.C. Headlee, redshirt sophomore Clay Lautt and sophomore Brandon Whitman also competed for UNC. All of these Tar Heels lost by decision in their first bout excluding Hernandez, who suffered an early fall against Northwestern junior Colin Valdiviez in the first round of 133-pound action.
Who stood out?
Sherman put together an impressive showing for North Carolina in what was a stacked weight class. Finishing third in the 141-pound division, Sherman fought his way through four bouts, only dropping one, and notched a third-place finish that had major ramifications in North Carolina’s top ten placement at the end of the meet.
