March 28, 2001

North Carolina's JohnMark Bentley has been named the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Year in a vote of the league's head coaches. The junior from Newland, N.C., competed at 149 pounds this season and captured his third ACC championship while finishing with a 30-3 overall record.

Bentley won 20 consecutive matches over a three-month span during the season. The final three matches of this stretch were at the ACC Championships where he was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

As the result of his ACC title, Bentley gained an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where he finished 1-2.

Bentley also earned first-place honors at the Cornell Invitational and the VerticalNet Open. He took a third-place finish at the Las Vegas Invitational as well.