2 Tar Heel wrestlers claim ACC titles, 6 qualify for upcoming NCAA Championships

Buoyed by two ACC champions, the No. 15 North Carolina wrestling team finished in third place in the ACC Tournament in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday. 

Redshirt sophomore Ethan Ramos picked up his first ACC championship with a 3-2 win over Virginia Tech’s Zach Epperly in the 174-pound final.

Redshirt senior Evan Henderson picked up his second career ACC title with a win in the 149-pound championship match over Duke sophomore Mitch Finesilver. 

With the win, Henderson became the first Tar Heel since Evan Sola to win at least two ACC titles. Sola accomplished the feat three times — in 2003, 2005 and 2007. 

Other Tar Heels who punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships included redshirt senior John Michael Staudenmayer.

Staudenmayer fell 1-0 after Max Rohskopf of N.C. State got an escape with less than 15 seconds left to advance to the 165-pound championship match.

Redshirt junior Joey Ward, redshirt senior Alex Utley and redshirt senior Robert Henderson will also be competing in the NCAA Championships. 

Robert Henderson picked up two points at the buzzer in a dramatic victory in the third-place match to join his brother with a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Ward also navigated the consolation bracket for a third-place finish, and Utley joined them with his victory in the consolation match. 

Because Evan Henderson, Ramos and Staudenmayer finished in the top two of their respective weight classes, the Tar Heel trio was named to the 2016 All-ACC team.

North Carolina sophomore Chip Ness will find out this week if he will join the six other Tar Heels at the NCAA Championships as an at-large selection in the 197-pound division.

Notable

UNC coach Coleman Scott has a qualifying match of his own coming up, as he will be competing in the Olympic Trials in Iowa City, Iowa in April. Scott was a bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympics in London and is looking to qualify to compete in this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

Three numbers that matter

3: The number of years since Evan Henderson won his first ACC title. Henderson won a title as a sophomore in 2013 at 141 pounds. He earned a third-place finish in the 2014 ACC Tournament. 

10: Before Sunday, it had been 10 years since the Tar Heels last had two ACC champions in the same season. Jared Royer, Garrett Atkinson and Alex Maciag claimed ACC championships in 2006. 

4: Four of the six Tar Heels who advanced to the upcoming NCAA Championships are redshirt seniors. 

What’s next?

The qualifying Tar Heels will head to New York to compete at the NCAA Championships in Madison Square Garden on March 17.