Cary Kolat can admit it now. He had a four-year plan for Campbell wrestling to win a Southern Conference championship.

Thanks to a precocious young roster, the Camels are ahead of schedule. Kolat is wrapping up his third season in Buies Creek, but Campbell brought the Southern Conference Championship trophy home last week.

“We got there faster than I thought we’d get there,” Kolat said this week. “I honestly thought our fourth year was when we’d make a run for it.”

Instead, young wrestlers carried the Camels past regular-season dual champion Appalachian State by a narrow 89.5-86 margin, helping five Campbell wrestlers qualify for the NCAA Championships and giving Kolat significant hope for the program’s future.

“As the year progressed, we’re a young team, I saw our guys continually get better and that’s what you have when you have a bunch of freshmen in the lineup,” Kolat said. “Everyone contributed to it, but our freshmen toward the end of the year really started to pick up those wins for us and when we got to the tournament, they were extremely focused with the training.

“Leading up to the SoCon, they looked good, had good poise. (After) the opening round of the tournament, I felt pretty good that we could walk out of there as the champs.”

Campbell consistently improved throughout the second half of the season, winning its final six dual meets. Kolat saw potential following the Virginia Duals in late January. Campbell went 1-3, but suffered narrow defeats to Arizona State and Old Dominion by a combined six points.

“When I looked at my key freshmen, we’d dropped key matches by a point or in overtime,” he said. “And when you add up all that stuff, you get a point here, a point there, my guys are right on the bubble of breaking through. So after the Virginia Duals, we all recognized as a staff, we’re going to be OK. Sure enough we were, and I think we trained just right, mentally we were just right going into the SoCons.”

Two of Campbell’s six finalists won SoCon titles, but the Camels made them count, with both coming over foes from Appalachian State in head-to-head matchups. At 141 pounds, freshman Joshua Heil took a 10-2 major decision over Irvin Enriquez. And at 165, sophomore Quentin Perez defeated Forrest Przybysz 8-4, clinching the team championship.

“The finish wasn’t where we wanted to be,” Kolat said, “but in terms of a program with six in the finals and five going forward (to the NCAAs), it’s a big accomplishment.”

How big? Entering this season, Campbell had 12 NCAA qualifiers all-time in program history. Senior 125-pounder Nathan Kraisser, senior 184-pound Ville Heino and sophomore heavyweight Jere Heino will join the champions in St. Louis.

“If we can get one or two guys on the stand, then that glass ceiling in some part has been broken for these guys and you can just see these guys continue to improve with each year,” Kolat said. “That’s our hope going in that we continue to put on strong performances when it matters.”

Kraisser is the only seeded Camel; at No. 16 he could possibly face top-seeded Thomas Gilman of Iowa in a second-round matchup.

“He’s capable of wrestling with anyone at the national tournament,” Kolat said. “It’s whether he gets there and opens up as a senior, and has the mindset of, this is my last chance. If he thinks that way it’s not going to go well, but if he opens up it’s going to be fine.”

Jere Heino will face No. 6 seed Austin Schafer of Oklahoma State, but has a favorable draw if he can get past Schafer. He defeated No. 11 seed Jared Johnson of Chattanooga 13-3 in the SoCon finals.

“We think Jere’s got a real good shot where he sits, the way he wrestles, the type of heavyweight he is, his size,” Kolat said. “Last year he was really undersized at heavyweight. He worked to get bigger and is now almost a full-fledged heavyweight which makes him dangerous. We feel like he’s got a good shot of putting himself (on the medal stand) as well.”

SoCON SPREADS OUT QUALIFIERS

Nineteen Southern Conference wrestlers will take part in St. Louis, with the league’s 17 allocated qualifiers joined by wild cards in Appalachian State 133-pounder Colby Smith and 174-pounder Austin Trott of Gardner-Webb. The Mountaineers will have four qualifiers, led by 149-pound champion Matt Zovistoski and heavyweight Denzel Dejournette.

Gardner-Webb, SIU Edwardsville and Chattanooga will be sending three wrestlers apiece. SoCon 157-pound champion and tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler Ryan Mosley will lead Gardner-Webb. SIUE is coming off its best-ever performance in the SoCon tourney and will send 125-pound champion Freddie Rodriguez, 174-pound titlist Jake Residori and 197-pound champ Jake Tindle.

“We punched three tickets to the NCAAs,” said SIUE coach Jeremy Spates. “The guys wrestled hard throughout the tournament up and down the lineup.”

Chattanooga also sends three to St. Louis, with 133-pound champion Chris Debien, 184-pound champ Bryce Carr and Johnson all earning NCAA bids. The Citadel will be repped by 157-pound senior Aaron Walker, who’ll be making his fourth NCAA appearance after defeating Campbell’s Austin Kraisser in a true-place match.

BREAKING DOWN THE BRACKET

There are several interesting scenarios for SoCon wrestlers in St. Louis. At 125 pounds, the Cougars’ Rodriguez will face off against Appalachian State’s Vito Pasone in a first-round match. Rodriguez is the No. 14 seed, but Pasone tech-falled him 22-7 earlier this season.

184 pounds will also be crowded with SoCon ties. Chattanooga’s Bryce Carr leads the way as the No. 13 seed; he’ll face Army’s Samson Imonode. Ville Heino and Gardner-Webb’s Hunter Gamble will join him. Heino will face No. 10 seed Mike Macchiavello of N.C. State, and Gamble will meet No. 11 Emory Parker of Illinois.

Denzel Dejournette will be the highest-seeded SoCon wrestler; he’ll begin as the No. 9 seed against Oregon State’s Cody Crawford. Jere Heino and Jared Johnson will also join him in the heavyweight bracket.

(Photo: Campbell's Ville Heino is one of five NCAA qualifiers for Campbell/John Sachs)