The Virginia wrestling team will look to build upon a dominant performance in the American Quad Meet on Feb. 24 when it travels to Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday for Mat Jam 2002 - the ACC championships.
The Cavaliers (8-10, 2-2 ACC), who finished third of five teams in the ACC, have won four straight meets, beating Maryland, American, Bucknell and Eastern Michigan. Virginia has been plagued all season by injuries, but the team is as healthy as they have been all year.
"We're certainly a lot closer than we were," Virginia coach Lenny Bernstein said. "It looks like we're finally at the point where we're peaking."
The Cavaliers claimed third place in the conference when they squeaked by the Terrapins, 18-16, on Feb. 20, despite losing the last two matches of the meet.
Riding their conference success, the Cavaliers traveled to Washington, D.C., where they routed American, 37-9, and Bucknell, 45-4, while soundly beating Eastern Michigan, 24-13. Sophomore Joe Alexander, a national qualifier at 133 pounds last season who has been sidelined all year with an injury, returned to go 3-0.
Alexander's return "is huge," Bernstein said. "We're talking about a guy who can potentially win ACCs."
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Four other Virginia wrestlers also went 3-0 at American. Junior Tim Foley (157 pounds), senior Jimi Massey (184), junior Don Carlo-Clauss (174) and senior Ryan Painter (heavyweight) all took individual victories to lead the Cavaliers to the win.
Painter has not lost since Feb. 2, a seven-match winning streak, and he is the conference heavyweight favorite having won all four of his conference matches.
Painter's success "depends on if UNC puts back in their three-time ACC-champion Matt Kenny," Bernstein said. "If they put in Ryan Adams, Painter is the favorite."
Kenny, who missed most of the season with a broken hand, will wrestle, according to North Carolina coach Bill Lam, but not at 100 percent.
Foley also stands atop his weight class in the conference, having gone 3-1 with a lone loss to N.C. State's David Miller on Feb. 17.
Foley's chances of taking his weight class this weekend "are very good," Bernstein said. "He only had that one loss and he was very flat. His chances to win the conference are probably as good as anyone on the team."
Massey, the defending ACC champion at 184 pounds, will look to defend his title after spending much of the season battling a viral infection. Despite beating Maryland's Jake Stork in the ACC final last season, Massey has lost to Stork the other three times he faced them, including twice this season.
"I know he can beat him again," Bernstein said. "We expect Jimi to go in and win the conference."
Bernstein also identified freshman Paul Dunlap at 149 pounds as someone that could potentially win a conference championship, since there is no clear dominant wrestler at 149 pounds.
"When talking about winning the conference, we need at least three conference champions."
"Our chances are fairly solid," Bernstein said. "Obviously we aren't one of the top two seeds but we haven't been healthy. We're the sleepers of the conference"
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