The 2018 Wolfpack Wrestling Club Open went down last Sunday. Here are the biggest stories from the tournament. 

1. Freshmen Don't Need Finals To Impress

NC State true freshman Jakob Camacho made it to the finals at 125 pounds, but the Wolfpack declined to wrestle him against redshirt freshman teammate Zurich Storm. 

Camacho had already impressed ahead of the championship bout, posting two bonus-point wins, an 18-3 technical fall over Virginia Tech redshirt sophomore Ryan More and a 23-11 major decision over Pembroke sophomore Nick Daggett. His best win was a 7-3 decision over Tennessee-Chattanooga fifth-year senior Alonzo Allen, a 2018 NCAA qualifier, in the quarterfinals. 

It was a similar situation for Wolfpack classmate Trent Hidlay at 174 pounds. He posted, in order, a 14-4 major decision, a 3-1 victory and then beat Campbell’s 2018 NCAA qualifier Quentin Perez, 13-5. Wolfpack starter and redshirt sophomore Daniel Bullard came through the other half of the bracket, but they did not face off in the finals. 

Camacho and Hidlay were the two highest-ranked freshmen from the Wolfpack’s sixth-ranked recruiting class, and they looked good although both are on track to redshirt. 

Watch Hidlay in the semifinals against Campbell's two-time NCAA qualifier Quentin Perez:

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A pair of Virginia wrestlers, sophomore Jake Keating and freshman Justin McCoy, also reached the finals at 157 pounds but declined to wrestle each other, and there was a medical forfeit at 165 pounds for NC State’s Thomas Bullard. 

2. All-American Tariq Wilson Returns To Action

NC State redshirt sophomore Tariq Wilson had not wrestled yet this college season, but announced his return by dominating his way to the championship. His bracket had the most NCAA qualifiers in it, with three, but he was still able to post a pair of shutout technical falls (16-0, 15-0) and two major decisions (12-2 and 10-1) on his way to the finals, where he beat North Carolina sophomore Zach Sherman 9-3.

Wilson beat Sherman twice last year, but they were much closer decisions — 4-1 in the regular season and 3-2 at the ACC Championships. 

Sherman reached the finals by taking out the third former NCAA qualifier at the weight, UNC teammate Gary Wayne Harding, who twice reached nationals while wrestling for Oklahoma State.

Watch Wilson's finals match against Sherman:

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3. Hunter Bolen Dominates

Virginia Tech sophomore Hunter Bolen was the only NCAA qualifier entered into the 184 bracket, and he looked like it. His day started off with a 51-second pin, and then he outscored foes 44-0 in his other three matches on the way to a gold medal. 

Watch Bolen utterly dominate in the championship match:

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4. Close Finals Bouts

The 197-pound finals featured a pair of former NCAA qualifiers. The Citadel’s Sawyer Root had some close calls, but made his way to the championship match with 6-2, 3-0 and 2-0 decisions. 

On the other side of the bracket, NC State’s Malik McDonald, a 2017 NCAA qualifier at 197 who competed last year at heavyweight, opened with a pair of 10-point wins and then a second-period pin to reach the championship. There, he posted a 5-3 victory over Root, which tied for the closest score in the tournament finals. 

The other two-point victory for the gold came from 149-pound redshirt freshman A.J. Leitten out of NC State, who topped Gardner-Webb’s Denton Spencer by the same score.

In the final championship match, NC State 141-pound fifth-year senior Jamal Morris posted an 8-3 victory over Pembroke’s Jon Miller, who took out the other Morris twin in the semifinals with a first-period pin. That also marked Jamal Morris’ first action of the season.

5. Get To Know Sauce Daddy Ceron

At heavyweight, Ceron Francisco triumphed while representing the Cavaliers Wrestling Club and beat Chattanooga’s Connor Tolley by a final score of 10-6. 

Watch Francisco power his way to a championship against Tolley:

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