NC State Wrestling Sign HS National Champion
Travis Hammons Joins Joe Caramanica In Stellar Recruiting Class
RALEIGH, N.C. – With one nationally ranked signee already aboard, Wolfpack wrestling coach Carter Jordan continued to build an impressive recruiting class this week when he signed high school national champion Travis Hammons of Hubbard High School in Chicago, Ill.
Hammons joins falls signees Joe Caramanica of Nazereth (Pa.) High School and Jake Smith of Britt High School in Fayetteville, N.C., as the cornerstones of a strong recruiting class for the Wolfpack, which expects to sign more recruits before wrapping up the recruiting season.
Caramanica, a two-time state champion in Pennsylvania, finished third at 145 pounds at the National High School Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, Ohio. Smith won the North Carolina state title at 145 pounds as a junior and senior.
Hammons swept through the 160-pound classification at the national tournament in Cleveland, after winning the Illinois state championship and posting a perfect 36–0 earlier this spring. At the national high school tournament, Hammons beat three-time Ohio state champion Mike Miller 8-4 in the quarterfinals, then controlled freestyle and Greco-Roman superstar Rocky Cozart, 8-2 to reach the finals. Miller and Cozart were ranked Nos. 3 and 2 in the nation, respectively, at the time. In the championship match, Hammons won a double-overtime match with then-top-ranked Alton Lucas of Long Island, N.Y., defeating Lucas 6-3. The loss was only the seventh in 167 career matches for Lucas.
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