Kilty vs. Bruntil headlines tomorrow night’s 14-match Tar Heel Wrestling Club Open on Fite.TV

Graphic courtesy of the Tar Heel Wrestling Club.

Tomorrow night, the Tar Heel Wrestling Club is putting on a 14-match card streaming live on Fite.TV. The event’s first four matches are part of the free undercard, which will begin streaming at 6:30 p.m. EST. The main card begins at 8:00 p.m. and can be purchased for $19.99.

During the global pandemic, with competition being severely limited, we have seen numerous Regional Training Centers step up and host events, giving athletes invaluable opportunities to wrestle. While many of the cards have featured women’s freestyle matches, the Tar Heel Wrestling Club is the first RTC to have a women’s freestyle bout as the singular main event, with THWC resident athlete Macey Kilty taking on McKendree’s Emma Bruntil.

University of North Carolina head coach and Tar Heel Wrestling Club chair/associate head coach Coleman Scott emphasized the importance of promoting women’s wrestling by making a women’s freestyle match the main event.

“Growing women’s wrestling is growing wrestling. Here with the Tar Heel Wrestling Club, we want to not just talk about supporting women’s wrestling; we want to show it by making them a headliner. This is just the beginning of what we are doing, and we will keep looking to think outside the box as we progress,” Scott said.

Below, let’s dive into tomorrow night’s matches.

Main Card

Main Event

64 kg – Macey Kilty vs. Emma Bruntil
Macey Kilty and Emma Bruntil will close out the night at 64 kg. Kilty is currently No. 3 on the National Team at 65 kg but is going 62 kg for the Olympic Year. She finished runner-up at the 2020 Senior Nationals. More recently, she won titles at both the U23 and Junior Nationals last month in Omaha, Nebraska. Kilty has extensive international experience, competing and medaling at five age-group World Championships, taking gold at the 2018 Cadet Worlds, silver at the 2019 U23 Worlds as well as the 2018 and 2019 Junior Worlds and bronze at the 2016 Cadet Worlds.

Bruntil is the 2019 Senior Nationals champion. During her freshman year at McKendree she compiled a 20-3 record and earned the 2020 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship title. She won the 2019 Flatz Senior Open in Austria and is also a 2017 Junior Pan Am champion.

The last time the pair met, Bruntil defeated Kilty, 6-4, in the 2019 Senior Nationals semifinals.

Watch Bruntil and Kilty’s 2019 Senior Nationals semifinals match here.

Co-Main Event

155 pounds – Dean Heil vs. Austin O’Connor
The co-main event features two-time NCAA champion Dean Heil squaring off with two-time UNC All-American Austin O’Connor. Heil, who wrestled collegiately for Oklahoma State, now competes for the Navy Marine Corps RTC. On the senior level, Heil is the 2019 Last Chance Senior World Team Trials Qualifier champion. He also finished runner-up at the 2020 Henri Deglane Grand Prix in France and took third at the 2019 Cerro Pelado Tournament in Cuba.

O’Connor is entering his redshirt junior season for the Tar Heels. In 2019, he placed fourth at the NCAA Tournament. Last season, he earned NWCA First-Team All-American honors and was the No. 2 seed going into the NCAA Tournament with a 25-1 record. In freestyle, he took gold at the 2018 Junior Pan Am Championships and the 2018 UWW Junior Nationals

130 pounds – Joe Heilmann vs. Nicolas Aguilar
The first match of the main card pits UNC redshirt sophomore Joe Heilmann against Rutgers redshirt sophomore Nicolas Aguilar. Heilmann redshirted last season for the Tarheels, compiling a 22-8 record in open competition. He placed eighth at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, runner-up at the Wolfpack WC Open and third at the National Collegiate Open. In 2019, Heilmann started at 125 pounds as a true freshman for the Tar Heels, finishing fourth at the ACC Championships.

Aguilar was an NCAA qualifier at 125 pounds last season. He earned NWCA Honorable Mention All-American honors with a 24-11 record. In freestyle, Aguilar placed fifth at the 2019 U23 Nationals at 57 kg.

200 pounds – Max Shaw vs. Jordan Pagano
At 200 pounds, we’ll see UNC redshirt freshman Max Shaw take on two-time NCAA qualifier Jordan Pagano. During his redshirt season, Shaw went 15-5 competing at 184 pounds. He won the Pembroke Classic and the Newberry Open. He also placed fourth at the National Collegiate Open. Pagano was a 2017 NCAA qualifier at 174 pounds and a 2020 NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds for Rutgers. He now resides on staff as an administrative assistant.

143 pounds – Gabe Tagg vs. Sammy Alvarez
Gabe Tagg vs. Sammy Alvarez should be a compelling bout at 143 pounds. Tagg, a former Elite Accelerator Program athlete at the USOPTC, went 15-5 in redshirt for the Tar Heels last season. He is a bright freestyle talent, earning bronze at the 2019 Junior World Championships.

Alvarez was a 2020 NCAA qualifier and NWCA Second-Team All-American as a true freshman for Rutgers. He compiled a 26-10 record and earned the No. 10 seed going into the NCAA Tournament. During his freshman campaign, he claimed a title at Southern Scuffle and finished sixth at the Big Ten Tournament. Last month, Alvarez finished fifth at the UWW Junior Nationals.

143 pounds – Jaime Hernandez vs. Kamal Bekaguv
The second 143 pound bout on the card matches up UNC’s Jaime Hernandez against Russia’s Kamal Bekaguv. Hernandez will be a redshirt Junior this season. Last year, he was an ACC Championship runner-up at 133 pounds and a NCAA Tournament qualifier. In freestyle, Hernandez finished runner-up at the 2016 Cadet World Team Trials and the 2019 Junior World Team Trials. Bekaguv, who currently trains with the Scarlett Knights Wrestling Club, is a Cadet World Championships fifth-place finisher

165 pounds – A.C. Headlee vs. Nestor Taffur
At 165 pounds, we will see Tar Heel Wrestling Club resident athlete A.C. Headlee take on Nestor Taffur of the NYCRTC. Headlee graduated last year and was a three-time NCAA qualifier for the UNC. He is currently listed at 70 kg.

Taffur is a three-time World Team member for Colombia. Collegiately he competed for Boston University, where he was a two-time NCAA qualifier and an EIWA champion. He finished with silver at the 2018 Pan Am Championships and bronze at the 2017 Pan Am Championships.

170 pounds – Kennedy Monday vs. Mitch Finesilver
170 pounds features UNC redshirt senior Kennedy Monday and the NYCRTC’s Mitch Finesilver. Monday is a two-time NCAA qualifier and finished with a 20-8 record last season at 165 pounds. In 2018, Monday reached the Round-of-12 at the NCAA Tournament at 157 pounds. He is a 2018 U23 Nationals fourth-place finisher.

Finesilver was a 2019 NCAA All-American, finishing fourth for Duke University. He was a four-time NCAA qualifier and four-time ACC finalist, claiming a title in 2019. He is a 2017 Maccabi Games champion and currently competes internationally for Israel.

180 pounds – Clay Lautt vs. Joe Grello
NCAA qualifiers Clay Lautt and Joe Grello will wrestle at 180 pounds. Lautt, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season as a redshirt sophomore with a 21-7 record for UNC, was the ACC champion at 174 pounds. He earned NWCA Honorable Mention All-American honors. He was a 2016 Cadet Greco-Roman World Team member.

Grello, a redshirt senior for Rutgers, missed the majority of last season due to injury. In 2019, Grello went 18-11, making the round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament.

190 pounds – Matt Finesilver vs. C.J. Brucki
The last match before the co-main event features Duke University redshirt junior Matt Finesilver taking on C.J. Brucki of the NJRTC. Finesilver is a two-time NCAA qualifier, who excels in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. He was a member of the 2019 U23 Greco-Roman World Team and is a 2017 Maccabi Games champion in men’s freestyle. He also placed fourth at the 2019 U.S. Open in freestyle. Finesilver now competes internationally for Israel.

In addition to being an NJRTC resident athlete, Brucki serves as the Director of Wrestling Operations at The College of New Jersey. Collegiately, he competed for Central Michigan, where he was a two-time NCAA qualifier, reaching the round of 16 in 2017. On the Senior level, Brucki finished third at the 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial and eighth at both the 2019 U.S. Open and the 2020 Senior Nationals.

Undercard

165 pounds - Sawyer Davidson vs. Robert Kanniard
UNC redshirt senior Sawyer Davidson and Rutgers redshirt freshman Robert Kanniard will kick off the evening’s matches at 165 pounds. Davidson went 20-8 last season, primarily competing in open tournaments. Kanniard accumulated a 16-6 record in redshirt, taking third at the National Collegiate Open.

200 pounds – Hunter Queen vs. Billy Janzer
The second match on the undercard features Rugters NCAA qualifier Billy Janzer and UNC redshirt junior Hunter Queen. Janzer, a redshirt sophomore, went 21-10 last season at 184 pounds. He is expected to move up to 197 pounds this year. Queen began his career at 174 pounds and competed at both 184 and 197 pounds last season.

132 pounds – Timmy Decatur vs. Dylan Shawver
At 132 pounds, Tar Heel sophomore Timmy Decatur will face Rutgers new-comer Dylan Shawver. Decatur stepped into the lineup as a true freshman last season, going 3-8. Shawver is a three-time Ohio state place winner who did not have the opportunity to compete in the state tournament his senior year due to COVID-19.

160 pounds – Josh McClure vs. Brett Kaliner
The final match on the undercard will be contested between UNC’s Josh McClure and Stevens Institute of Technology’s Brett Kaliner. McClure, a redshirt senior, was a 2019 NCAA qualifier. Competing in mostly open tournaments last season, he went 22-5. Kaliner is a three-time Division III All-American. In 2018, he was an NCAA runner-up and in 2019 he placed third. Last season, he finished as an NWCA First-Team All-American. He is also a 2019 U23 Nationals seventh-place finisher.