The college wrestling world was focused on all the great action at the Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas a couple of weeks back. One of the premier tournaments each year, NC State makes it a point to include it on their schedule to go up against the best wrestlers in the first half of the season.

Each of the previous two trips out to Las Vegas, NC State brought home a pair of champions each year and posted back-to-back top-four team finishes.

This year was different if you look at the final brackets. Only one Pack wrestler advanced to the second day of action, but the Pack went into the event shorthanded with four starters sitting out the weekend of action.

Kai Orine, Ed Scott and Dylan Fishback did not compete, and each would have been a top-10 seed in their respective weight class. Also, Christian Knop is still out of action up at 197 pounds.

“Anytime you have that kind of experience not out there competing it shows in regard to the team points,” NC State head coach Pat Popolizio said. “We knew going into it we wanted to get guys good competition that was there, and we accomplished that at some weights. We had some good wins across the board, and we learned a lot. 

“There were some positives to take away, but at the same time, there is obviously some stuff that we need to continue to work on and improve. We’ve addressed it since we’ve been back and have had a good two weeks of training since then.”

The best result the Pack brought back from the Cliff Keen Invite was the second-place showing at heavyweight by Isaac Trumble. It wasn’t just his podium finish, but he also avenged an earlier loss with a bonus point win.

Coming into the weekend, Trumble’s lone loss in his first season at heavyweight was to four-time All-American Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State in early November. The two were in an bodylock, and it resulted in a first-period fall for Schultz.

But in the semifinals at Las Vegas, Trumble reversed the result and came away with a dominating 9-0 major decision, thanks to a pair of turns in the second period.

“He made some great adjustments in that match, and that was a really great win for Isaac,” Popolizio said. “The good news is, hopefully we get another opportunity in our dual to wrestle that championship match back.

“You have to learn from the experiences you have (on the mat), and that is one thing Isaac does extremely well in making those adjustments.”

In the final, Trumble suffered his second loss of the season to #3 Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State. The Pack will travel to Stillwater for a dual on January 12.

It’s All About Wrestling

Since NC State returned from Las Vegas, the Pack wrapped up the fall semester with finals. Now between semesters, NC State has been solely focused on practice and getting better in the room.

“There are no distractions right now, school is over for the semester,” Popolizio said. “Our guys did really well in the classroom, so our GPA remains at a good standard. 

“This is a great time of the year for our guys when you finish school and basically have two weeks to focus on wrestling. We have a great dual this weekend, then the guys get a little bit of a break, and they return and hit the second part of the season running.”

For NC State, December tends to be a month with only a couple of events. The focus during previous years was to take the November results and make adjustments in the practice room to gear up for all the action during the second semester.

“Getting guys healthy was the most important thing for us during this month,” Popolizio said. “Our guys were able to heal up and focus in on this upcoming dual (against Cornell). It will be nice to have our guys back in the lineup this weekend, a nice upgrade as far as experience goes.”

Onto Cornell

NC State will travel up to Ithaca, N.Y., this weekend to take on Cornell Sunday at 4 p.m. The dominant team from the Ivy League, the Big Red have brought home back-to-back team trophies at the NCAA Championships. In 2023 it was a third-place team finish, and last year Cornell jumped up to second.

“When you look at our schedule across the board, we want to see the best guys in the country, and their lineup from top to bottom has that,” Popolizio said. “Our guys are going to be tested, and they need to be ready to go. 

“Going into this match-up, we have been able to get in some good training with our guys zoned in and strictly focused on wrestling.”

Ranked wrestlers litter the probable lineups for both teams.

One of the better battles will be at 184 pounds with #13 Fishback taking on #14 Chris Foca. Both wrestlers will be getting back into the swing of things, as Fishback missed the Cliff Keen and Foca has been unable to wrestle in a Cornell singlet the first semester due to Ivy League restrictions on the number of semesters an athlete can participate. It’s a rematch from last year’s dual that saw Fishback score a tight 6-4 decision in Reynolds Coliseum.

“Two skilled guys that are very offensive,” Popolizio said. “Last year’s match was really entertaining, and this is one people are going to want to zone in on and watch. With both guys back in the lineup, this will be very impactful for the dual.

“Getting Dylan some time off to get back to 100 percent has been good, he has looked really good in practice. I’m excited to see him compete again.”

Battle Continues At 197 Pounds

Three different wrestlers have seen action at 197 pounds for the Pack this season, and the NC State coaching staff would like a decision to be made as to who will man the spot moving forward. 

In his sixth year at NC State, Knop earned the starting job in the preseason but has been out of action since injury defaulting with an ankle during the dual with Appalachian State on November 15.

In his absence redshirt sophomores Chase Horne and Andrew Macchiavello have seen action, including Macchiavello competing at the Cliff Keen.

That decision will be made in the practice room with a wrestle-off prior to the Pack leaving for Cornell.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have all three guys compete, get some experience, and see who can make the adjustments and improvements,” Popolizio said. “They will wrestle-off and see who is ready to go this Sunday at Cornell. They have all had time to heal up the last couple of weeks, and that will be an entertaining battle in our room to see who claims the spot for this weekend.

“This is a weight class where we really need somebody to make some gains and have an impact in our lineup.”