UNC's Individuals Highlight Wrestling Tourney

At the Sharpie-Carolina Open on Saturday at Carmichael Auditorium, a meet involving more than 260 wrestlers and 14 universities, UNC's wrestlers placed first in the heavyweight and 125-pound weight classes and took second in the 133, 141 and 174 classes.

"We definitely have the potential to be top-10 again this year. This is a very young team with a lot of potential," said redshirt freshman Chris Rodrigues, who wrestles in the 125 class.

Rodrigues, a transfer from Michigan, dominated UNC-Greensboro's Tony Stewart 16-0 in the semifinals before taking down Cornell's Travis Lee 13-11 in the finals.

Lee and Rodrigues went toe-to-toe throughout the three periods. Lee made a closing run in the final period, but it wasn't enough to make up for Rodrigues' 4-0 advantage.

Senior Matt Kenny also won his weight's final match -- but in a different fashion than Rodrigues.

Kenny, a three-time ACC champion in the heavyweight division, won all four of his competitions and defeated Howard's Adrian Thompson 11-1 in the finals.

The senior was tested in the semifinals 5-3 by unattached contestant Billy Linane but rebounded to overwhelm Thompson in the final.

"I thought Matt Kenny did a great job and pretty much didn't have a tough match in the tournament," said North Carolina coach Bill Lam.

Five North Carolina wrestlers placed in the top three in their class, in addition to Kenny and Rodrigues.

Freshmen Evan Sola and Mark Canty, as well as senior Brad Byers, took second place in their respective weight classes.

Sola won three matches Saturday, defeating teammate John Paul Igoe in the semifinals before falling 4-2 in the finals against Appalachian State junior Travis Drake in the 133-pound division final.

In the 174 class, Canty fought his way to wins in the first four rounds but did not have enough to pull out a victory against Cornell senior Jim Stanec.

The final match was marked by vicious drops and quick escapes but ended with the elder competitor's hand in the air.

Byers prevailed in his first three matches before hitting a roadblock in the finals against Cornell's Byron Warner in the 141 class.

Warner won the physical match 7-4, nailing down the match with a late third period takedown from behind for the final points of the match.

After its performances on Saturday, UNC will take the lessons learned into next week's Las Vegas Invitational.

And despite some disappointments, Lam said he was pleased with the team's performance.

"We had five freshman in the finals, and I felt pretty good about that," Lam said. "But I think we got too satisfied and didn't finish strong."

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