YOLANDA RAY | STAFF WRITER
Darius Little (a senior in Science, Technology, and Society) finished his collegiate wrestling career this past Saturday as an All-American after advancing to the seventh place match in the wrestleback bracket. Little picked up four wins in the NCAA Tournament. He is a native of Thomasville, NC.
Little opened the tournament with a 6-4 win over Luke Goetti of Iowa State, but later was defeated by Nick Dardanes of Minnesota in a close 4-2 decision.
This loss placed him in the wrestleback bracket, but Little prevailed with three straight wins. Afterwards, Little ended up facing Borislav Novachkov of Cal Poly, ending up in the seventh place match where he was also defeated by Michael Nevinger of Cornell University.
NC State has been able to produce an All-American three of the last four years. Darius Little finishes his career with a record of 102- 58 (37-13 senior year), which places him third in the Wolfpack record book behind Sylvester Terkay and Darrion Caldwell.
“The experience was amazing. Actually being grouped with the best wrestlers in the country is quite a feat in itself, but to be mentioned in the discussion is phenomenal,” Little said.
“Hard work and perseverance pays off in the long run. My teammates also did a great job wrestling and supporting me throughout the tourney, especially Quinton,” stated Little.
Little plans to continue to wrestle post-graduation in which he hopes to get a chance to compete for in the Olympics. Afterwards, he would like to teach and coach on the high school level.
The other participants were Quinton Godley, Colton Palmer, Colton Fought, and Matthew Nereim.
