Former NC State heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski won the U.S. Open and NC State overall had a successful weekend at the tournament.
To my knowledge, all of the best American heavyweights were in competition at the tournament (Adam Coon is the only significant one I can think of I didn't see in bracket) and Gwiz finally beat Zach Rey (who he had lost to a few times in recent tournaments), so basically you can look at this as if 2017 was an Olympic team (2016 was), he would be the front-runner to represent the U.S. in the Olympics at 125 kg in freestyle wrestling (this is technically the precursor to the world team trials, but it will be the same guys at the trials for the most part). Regardless, it's huge for him and the program.
As a club on the senior level, the Wolfpack Regional Training Center placed second … again, that is huge. 2016 graduate Tommy Gannt placed 7th at 70 kg to earn a bid to the US World Team Trials. Six others — mostly former NCSU wrestlers, although they've picked up a few others that did not go to NCSU — also competed on the senior level.
Rising redshirt senior Pete Renda put up a winning record but did not place on the senior level. A few other current guys took part in the junior competition and qualified for their level's world team trials by placing in the top four. Rising sophomore Nick Reenan placed second at 84 kg and had some really impressive scores. He lost in the finals to 2017 All-American Zahid Valencia of Arizona State. Valencia, IIRC, wrestled 184 this year and Reenan was at 174, but it is really encouraging to see Reenan do so well on this level.
Rising redshirt freshman Tariq Wilson placed fourth at 60 kg, while classmate Hayden Hidlay took fourth at 74 kg. Hidlay's wins included 2017 157-pound ACC Champ Taleb Rahmani of Pitt and 2016 All-American David McFadden of Virginia Tech, who did that all the way up at 165.
To my knowledge, all of the best American heavyweights were in competition at the tournament (Adam Coon is the only significant one I can think of I didn't see in bracket) and Gwiz finally beat Zach Rey (who he had lost to a few times in recent tournaments), so basically you can look at this as if 2017 was an Olympic team (2016 was), he would be the front-runner to represent the U.S. in the Olympics at 125 kg in freestyle wrestling (this is technically the precursor to the world team trials, but it will be the same guys at the trials for the most part). Regardless, it's huge for him and the program.
As a club on the senior level, the Wolfpack Regional Training Center placed second … again, that is huge. 2016 graduate Tommy Gannt placed 7th at 70 kg to earn a bid to the US World Team Trials. Six others — mostly former NCSU wrestlers, although they've picked up a few others that did not go to NCSU — also competed on the senior level.
Rising redshirt senior Pete Renda put up a winning record but did not place on the senior level. A few other current guys took part in the junior competition and qualified for their level's world team trials by placing in the top four. Rising sophomore Nick Reenan placed second at 84 kg and had some really impressive scores. He lost in the finals to 2017 All-American Zahid Valencia of Arizona State. Valencia, IIRC, wrestled 184 this year and Reenan was at 174, but it is really encouraging to see Reenan do so well on this level.
Rising redshirt freshman Tariq Wilson placed fourth at 60 kg, while classmate Hayden Hidlay took fourth at 74 kg. Hidlay's wins included 2017 157-pound ACC Champ Taleb Rahmani of Pitt and 2016 All-American David McFadden of Virginia Tech, who did that all the way up at 165.
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