You could tell by his post match reaction how meaningful it was for him. Always very satisfying to see a goal realized for someone.
UNC Wrestling 2025-2026
- Thread starter 81Heel/M1
- Start date
So happy for Hepner and our whole team! What a gutsy match.
Hepner’s blood round win gave us 3.5 team points and took us back to 30 th place. Great win for this young man and important for the program, as heelwrestler07 alluded to in his post.
Robideau! I thought Duke was one of the more unbeatable guys out there.
there have been some great matches this year, hoping we can have more guys involved in the big matches soon
8 years in a row with an AA for Carolina. Great streak, started by Coach Scott, continued by Coach Koll, with Coach Ramos there the whole time.
Hepner can't quite get out and runs out of gas with 30-40 seconds left to lose 2-0, he'll wrestle for 7th
Just looked at the bracket for 165, and Hepner‘s opponent in the 7/8 place match is the 16 seed, Gallagher from Ohio State. That is a very interesting turn of events.
Hepner with a dominate 9-1 win takes 7th place, also that is a major dec so he gets us a bonus point victory for the team score
T-31st season, basically what we've done the last 2 years
I wasn’t able to watch the match earlier, so I just now got to see it. Great job finishing by Hepner. He looked like he was having fun wrestling again, for the first time since before the state match. Very happy for this young man, and also for the program. It says a lot when a transfer can come in and improve his ranking significantly. Even with a tough stretch near the end of the dual season, he earned a #9 seed before finishing 7th at the tournament.
There will be a lot more to discuss in the coming weeks, including summaries of the tournament, the season, injuries, transfer portal evaluation, transfer portal expectation, etc. Tonight I think it’s best to celebrate Mr. Hepner’s accomplishments as a Tar Heel.
There will be a lot more to discuss in the coming weeks, including summaries of the tournament, the season, injuries, transfer portal evaluation, transfer portal expectation, etc. Tonight I think it’s best to celebrate Mr. Hepner’s accomplishments as a Tar Heel.
I agree. Our coaching staff should use this fact in their recruiting pitch to bring top level talent to come to the Heel.
For any of you not watching the finals 1. you should be they have been incredibly entertaining 2. Mesenbrink the guy that beat Hepner in the championships just won by Tech Fall in the finals and the fact that Hepner held him to a decision came up twice during the coverage, and I would argue watching him just destroy someone in the finals looking like he could do anything he wanted makes Hepner's match against him even more impressive
The season is over and with some success, based on the 7th place finish by Hepner. So I want to start looking at the a few key components of the team. Coach Scott has some successful years, but his teams were always low on depth. This left holes in the lineup almost every year. We had a little of that this year, with having to rely on true freshmen at 2 weights after injuries. One of our holes was at 149, and was a direct result of the transfer by Lachlan McNeil (who after an off year he finished third, losing only to the eventual champion). So lets start by looking at transfers.
Two years ago we had 4 transfer come into the program, including Oakley, Darracott, Ogunsanya, and Neves. All 4 were back, though Ogunsanya and Neves were lost for the season and Darracott did not have many opportunities to wrestle this year. Last year we picked up Terukina and Hepner (and at 1 point had a commitment from Ferrari) after losing McNeil, Moore, and Lautt to transfers. From the beginning until the tournament this weekend, Terukina and Moore were about an equal trade. When you look at the season Hepner and McNeil were a virtual even exchange, with Hepner seeded 9 and McNeil seeded 11 for the tournament. Then McNeil did his March thing and finished third vs Hepner's 7th place finish. I will add that Ferrari finished 6th, by medical forfeiting after losing in the semi finals (note that his younger brother also lost in the semis and medical forfeited to 6th place as well, speaking to the question of character that was always a concern with Ferrari's commitment before it fell apart).
Next year's roster from what I can tell includes:
125 - Stinson, Hickey, and true freshman Dunia Sibomana
133 - Botello, Guanajuato, Tocci, and true freshman Lukas Littleton-Mascaro
141 - Simcox, O'Neill, Navida and Askew
149 - Scott and Younger
157 - Root, Showalter, and Kane
165 - Hepner, Sipes, Nugent and true freshman Nafshi
174 - Ogunsanya, Carrigan, Murabito, Portella, and true freshman Gault
184 - Dailey, O'Boyle, Alvarez, Schlett, and true freshman Kelly
197 - Platt, Calcagno, and true freshman Jipp
285 - Neves and Levy
Obviously I have no insight to the exact weight classes for each of the wrestlers, but the above is my best guess as where they will be next year. I have had a hope for Guanajauto to be able to drop to 125, but I am guessing that will not happen. If neither transfer, I expect a stiff competition between Botello and Guanajuato for the 133 spot. Also, I would like to think O'Neill could bulk up a little and join the competition for 149. All of the freshmen coming in could move around from their high school weight. Schlett dropped from 215 in high school to the 184 weight class for college is an example of how weights change.
Returning ncaat qualifiers include Simcox, Scott, Root, Hepner, Carrigan, Ogunsanya, Dailey, and Neves. That is 8 wrestlers at 7 weights that should be good starters, and have an expectation to at least match past success. That leaves 3 weights that we need to improve on to move forward. Platt will be back and could reasonably be expected to improve enough to qualify for ncaat. Scott will be back at 149, and should shore up this weight. I think 133 will be at least as good next year with 1 of Guanajuato/Botello filling in this spot. Unless something changes drastically, or unless one of Hickey or Stinson can step up at 125, this is the most likely focus for the transfer portal targets.
Clearly we could lose key wrestlers like we did last year, either as probable starters or key depth roles, and this would add to any portal interest we may have. It also might help to get more depth at certain weights, including 197 and heavyweight.
This team will have a few key leaders that have only a year of eligibility left next year, including expected starters Hepner and Ogunsanya and key depth pieces in Showalter and Murabito. This is still a young team, but they should be getting better over the next year of 2.
Just a few thoughts for your consideration.
Two years ago we had 4 transfer come into the program, including Oakley, Darracott, Ogunsanya, and Neves. All 4 were back, though Ogunsanya and Neves were lost for the season and Darracott did not have many opportunities to wrestle this year. Last year we picked up Terukina and Hepner (and at 1 point had a commitment from Ferrari) after losing McNeil, Moore, and Lautt to transfers. From the beginning until the tournament this weekend, Terukina and Moore were about an equal trade. When you look at the season Hepner and McNeil were a virtual even exchange, with Hepner seeded 9 and McNeil seeded 11 for the tournament. Then McNeil did his March thing and finished third vs Hepner's 7th place finish. I will add that Ferrari finished 6th, by medical forfeiting after losing in the semi finals (note that his younger brother also lost in the semis and medical forfeited to 6th place as well, speaking to the question of character that was always a concern with Ferrari's commitment before it fell apart).
Next year's roster from what I can tell includes:
125 - Stinson, Hickey, and true freshman Dunia Sibomana
133 - Botello, Guanajuato, Tocci, and true freshman Lukas Littleton-Mascaro
141 - Simcox, O'Neill, Navida and Askew
149 - Scott and Younger
157 - Root, Showalter, and Kane
165 - Hepner, Sipes, Nugent and true freshman Nafshi
174 - Ogunsanya, Carrigan, Murabito, Portella, and true freshman Gault
184 - Dailey, O'Boyle, Alvarez, Schlett, and true freshman Kelly
197 - Platt, Calcagno, and true freshman Jipp
285 - Neves and Levy
Obviously I have no insight to the exact weight classes for each of the wrestlers, but the above is my best guess as where they will be next year. I have had a hope for Guanajauto to be able to drop to 125, but I am guessing that will not happen. If neither transfer, I expect a stiff competition between Botello and Guanajuato for the 133 spot. Also, I would like to think O'Neill could bulk up a little and join the competition for 149. All of the freshmen coming in could move around from their high school weight. Schlett dropped from 215 in high school to the 184 weight class for college is an example of how weights change.
Returning ncaat qualifiers include Simcox, Scott, Root, Hepner, Carrigan, Ogunsanya, Dailey, and Neves. That is 8 wrestlers at 7 weights that should be good starters, and have an expectation to at least match past success. That leaves 3 weights that we need to improve on to move forward. Platt will be back and could reasonably be expected to improve enough to qualify for ncaat. Scott will be back at 149, and should shore up this weight. I think 133 will be at least as good next year with 1 of Guanajuato/Botello filling in this spot. Unless something changes drastically, or unless one of Hickey or Stinson can step up at 125, this is the most likely focus for the transfer portal targets.
Clearly we could lose key wrestlers like we did last year, either as probable starters or key depth roles, and this would add to any portal interest we may have. It also might help to get more depth at certain weights, including 197 and heavyweight.
This team will have a few key leaders that have only a year of eligibility left next year, including expected starters Hepner and Ogunsanya and key depth pieces in Showalter and Murabito. This is still a young team, but they should be getting better over the next year of 2.
Just a few thoughts for your consideration.