North Carolina wrestling fans got a glimpse of their team in action at its intra-squad wrestle-offs held in Carmichael Arena on Friday. And throughout the exhibition, one thing became clear: the first-years are special.
“Those young guys set the pace of the older guys,” head coach Coleman Scott said. “And it showed that they’re here to make them better.”
Scott and his staff paired their young wrestlers against veterans in almost all of the bouts to showcase new and seasoned talent in the team. And of those 10 matches, a first-year came out on top five times.
One first-year who stood out was Austin O’Connor, who took down redshirt senior Troy Heilmann, 8-4, in the 149-pound match. The Lockport, Ill., native was a highly-touted recruit for the Tar Heels, winning four individual state titles at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago.
“To be honest, I didn’t really think I would be doing this well earlier in the year," O'Connor said. "I thought it would take me a couple more months to start getting close to these guys like Troy.”
O’Connor went on to cite how his coaches and teammates, especially Heilmann, have pushed him in practice and made him a better wrestler. It's given him a lot of confidence for this season going into the upcoming Hokie Open on Sunday.
Zach Sherman, a first-year from Blair Academy in New Jersey, also stood out in his 5-1 win over junior James Szymanski in the 133-pound match. Sherman, like O’Connor, was a huge get for the Tar Heels in recruiting last year. The No. 11 ranked recruit last year was a national prep champion in 2017 and three-time national prep runner-up.
“I thought Zach wrestled really well,” senior Danny Chaid said. “I never really watch him wrestle, but he did really well and was really composed, too. But I thought all the freshmen wrestled really well.”
Chaid, an experienced leader for the young team, is another reason to be excited about this upcoming season. His collegiate experience showed in a clinical 21-4 win in the second period over first-year Matt Smith in the 197-pound match.
