Mock pinned in final

Chapel Hill High wrestler Corey Mock suffered his first defeat of the year in the 135-pound final of the Powerade Christmas Wrestling tournament in Canonsburg, Pa., last week. After tearing through the competition on the opening day, Mock won his quarterfinal match 4-0, then pinned his opponent in 5:36 in the semifinal.

But Josh Kindig, who resides about three hours away from Canonsburg in Blue Mountain, Pa., proved to be a foe of real quality, and he pinned Mock within the match's first minute. The result was stunning to area wrestling fans who witnessed Mock's performance in the Tiger Holiday Classic last week, when he didn't surrender a point in earning MVP honors.

Kindig's match statistics were staggering, winning every bout by a fall. Before pinning Mock in 54 seconds, he won in 55 seconds in the semifinal, in 2:29 in the quarterfinal, and his only other two matches lasted 2:22 and 46 seconds. Altogether, it took him just seven minutes on the mat to win his division at the prestigious tournament.

Wilson Diaz's squad finished 29th out of 42 schools in the team scoring. Devin Solow and Josh Craig made it to the round of 16 at 112 pounds and 125 pounds before losing. At 103 Ryan Mumper got to the round of 32, as did Peter Dreher (119 pounds), Aaron Squires (152), Matt Huge (171), Joseph Dallke (189) and Nicolas Speaker (215).

Heels take fifth place

North Carolina's Vincent Ramirez, Keegan Mueller and Dennis Drury each took third in their respective weight classes to lead the Tar Heels to a fifth-place finish Tuesday at UNC Greensboro's Southern Scuffle at the Greensboro Coliseum.

UNC's trio of third-place finishers led a group of nine Tar Heel place-winners in the highly-competitive tournament. Carolina was fifth with 104 points. No. 3 Cornell took the team title with 139 points, while No. 17 Edinboro was second with 134.

In addition to Ramirez at 141 pounds, Mueller at 165 and Drury at 197, Nick Stabile took fourth at 149, Mike Rappo was fifth at 133, Thomas Scotton placed sixth at 157 and Ben Fiacco was eighth at 174. A pair of unattached Tar Heels also placed as Nick Tenpenny placed seventh at 174 and Kyle Kiss was eighth at 165.

Carolina is back in action this weekend against Oklahoma, Cal Poly and Army at the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas.

SOCCER

Callahan honored

North Carolina senior midfielder Michael Callahan capped his final season with yet another honor last month -- a spot on the NSCAA/adidas Men's Collegiate Scholar All-America Team. The Cary native owns a 3.37 grade point average in economics and was a four-year starter in the UNC midfield.

Callahan, a Cary native, who tallied 11 points on three goals and five assists in 23 games in 2008, was a second-team NSCAAA/adidas All-America selection and also claimed All-Atlantic Coast Conference and All-South regional honors this past season.

He helped lead the Tar Heels to the national final and provided memorable late-game heroics in NCAA tournament's round of 16. With Carolina down 2-1, Callahan equalized in the 87th minute to force extra time, where UNC won 3-2.

Callahan was also recognized with a spot on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III Team and was a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

BASKETBALL

Hatchell nears 800

Italee Lucas hit four of five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 18 points to help No. 2 North Carolina thump Austin Peay 93-61 on Tuesday to improve 14-0. Rashanda McCants added 14 points, while Jessica Breland and She'la White each had 11.

Austin Peay made just 8-of-36 (22.2 percent) of its first-half shots and 21-of-73 (28.8 percent) total.

The win was North Carolina's 29th consecutive victory at home and No. 798 for Hatchell as the Tar Heels' head coach. She could win her 800th next Sunday against N.C. State.

...and George Karl reaches 900

Former North Carolina standout George Karl won his 900th game as an NBA coach Wednesday as his Denver Nuggets beat the Toronto Raptors. The Dean Smith-taught Pittsburgh native is 12th on the all-time win list for NBA coaches.