For the second time in three seasons, Danbury’s Jakob Camacho is an ACC wrestling champion.
Camacho, a redshirt freshman, won the 125-pound weight class and helped North Carolina State claim the conference championship Sunday in Charlottesville, Va.
The No. 2 seed, Camacho hit the only takedown of the finals match with five seconds remaining and defeated top-seeded Sam Latona of Virginia Tech 3-1.
Ryan Jack, another Danbury wrestling alum, was the runner-up at 141 pounds, going 2-1 overall and falling to No. 1 Cole Matthews of Pittsburgh 3-2 in the final.
The Wolfpack won its fourth consecutive ACC team championship, tying the school’s record which had been set from 1988 to 1991.
North Carolina State scored 98 points, the second most in a conference tournament since the Wolfpack’s 103.5 in 2007. Virginia Tech was second with 76, and Pittsburgh was third in 51.
Camacho has reached the ACC finals three times in as many years. He was the Most Outstanding Wrestler and an ACC champ in 2020, and finished second in 2021.
This season, he had a bye through the quarterfinals before beating Pittsburgh’s Gage Curry 8-3 in the semis.
Jack, a No. 3 seed, won his opening match in a 20-5 technical fall against Duke’s Patrick Rowland, and then beat No. 2 Kizhan Clarke of North Carolina 4-3 in the semis.
As a team, North Carolina State had four champions and seven finalists.
Seeds will be announced for the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, and the tournament will be held March 17-19 in Detroit.
david.stewart@hearstmediact.com; @dstewartsports
