The ACC Wrestling Championships are today. The Hokies need to wrestle to seed and above to take home the tournament championship in addition to their regular season ACC title.
First 3 rounds streaming on ACCNX:
11am - First Round
1pm - Semifinals
3:30pm - Consolations
7pm - Finals on ACCN
"๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฉ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐."๐๐'๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐#ALLINALLTHETIME๐ฆ pic.twitter.com/aWR8KuDhuBโ Virginia Tech Wrestling (@HokiesWrestling) February 28, 2021
Another thing to keep an eye on is how many Hokies can qualify for the NCAA tournament. The automatic qualifiers for each weight class in the ACC, along with the Hokie seeds, are as follows:
125 (3) - Sam Latona #1
133 (4) - Korbin Myers #2
141 (3) - Sam Hillegas #5
149 (3) - Bryce Andonian #2
157 (4) - Connor Brady #3
165 (3) - Mekhi Lewis #2
174 (3) - Dakota Howard #4
184 (3) - Hunter Bolen #1
197 (3) - Andy Smith #5
285 (4) - Hunter Catka #3
Thoughts? Predictions? Go Hokies!!!
Comments
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Let's Go!
Hokies!
If Lewis wrestles I got hokies with 4 or 5 champions
What's the latest status of Lewis? If he doesn't wrestle today do we have to leave his weight class empty today so he can qualify for NCAA championships?
He is in the bracket so he would at least have to weigh in and then medically forfeit his semifinal match to be eligible for an NCAA at large. We will know at 1:30 or so.
If Mekhi has to medically forfeit than we are all but eliminated from the team title contention.
EDIT: VT wrestling twitter said the whole "squad" has weighted in, so that is technically all required from him today to qualify for an at large.
First round mat assignments:
141 | Sam Hillegas will be Bout 5 on Mat 1
174 | Dakota Howard will be Bout 12 on Mat 2
197 | Andy Smith will be Bout 16 on Mat 2
285 | Hunter Catka will be Bout 19 on Mat 1
deleted heard it wrong
Need howard to get a tech fall against the pitt guy again
Lewis out via annoucers
Does that have any impact on him in the ncaa tournament?
Just seeding, will almost certainly get a bid but might be higher than his weight rank with no tournament
So doesn't that mean the team chances are out for ACC?
Yes unless a slew of upsets and bonus points
Plus Pitt might really have a shot now
I dont get wrestling. How the F can we be eliminated from the championship because 1 guy is hurt?
Not eliminated but now we get 0 points at a weight were we had a great chance at a title and all the points that would accompany that since he had to at least show up and forfeit to qualify for the NCAAs so we can't wrestle anyone else
Not trying to be a jerk- just want to understand- So the team gives up on a ACC championship so that he can hope to get a chance at an individual slot in the NCAA's when he's hurt anyway? With no guarantee that he would be healthy to compete in that?
The NCAAs are 2 weeks away so he would have additional time to heal up. If he had no chance of competing in the NCAAs then we would have put a replacement out there. I trust our coaches and medical staff, It's the right call.
I mean yeah considering he is a defending ncaa champ who could repeat, plus I assume they are confident he'll be fully healed by then but it was too soon to wrestle with the injury and cause additional damage. Olympic/world champ (which he also won a couple years back acc tournament champ
Ok - i guess what you are saying is that wrestling is more of an individual sport, and that any overall team accolades are just icing on the cake. I didnt realize that.
Not really. It's more of a business/personal decision. The team is doing what is best for their wrestler, who happens to be the only national champion in school history. If they didn't, it would certainly lead to a huge rift between the school and the wrestler.
From a business perspective, it is a good look for recruiting. Recruits will see that the teams cares about wrestlers as people and wants to give them the best chance to succeed on the biggest stage. The team also has a good chance at having another national champ (also world champ/Olympic champ) if he's allowed to heal properly. I'd imagine a wrestling recruit would care far more about an individual title than a team title.
It will be interesting to see how he gets seeded in the NCAAs. I am assuming both of the matches today will count as losses on his record so he will be 8-3 going into the tournament coming off an injury. I am thinking he will be 5 or 6.
JYD is fun to watch but also gets out of position a ton, but a win is a win I guess but would be a miracle to win this without Lewis and need all the bonus points possible
First round VT results (2-2):
Hillegas loses by decision in OT
Howard wins by decision in OT
Smith loses by decision
Catka tech fall win
Way to go Catka! looking strong
Reenan shoulda been called for his 1st stall call long before 9 seconds left in the match๐ก
they switched latona to mat 2... are they broadcasting that one
finally got mat 2 camera showing live.... Way to go Latona
BRYCE!!! what an exciting match
End of the semifinals and 5 hokies make it to tonight's championship round at 7pm:
125 - Sam Latona
133 - Korbin Myers
149 - Bryce Andonian
184 - Hunter Bolen
285 - Hunter Catka
VT is 12 points behind NCSt in the team standings.
Scoring breakdown (excluding bonus pts):
Each ACC champion will add 3 points to the team score.
Upcoming consolation matches - wins here are worth 2.5 points.
141 (3) - Sam Hillegas
157 (4) - Connor Brady
174 (3) - Dakota Howard
197 (3) - Andy Smith
3rd place match is worth an additional 2 points.
How many wrestlers does NCST have in finals and consolations?
They have 6 in the finals and they had a 3rd place finsher
Alright Connor Brady going to NCAA's!
That was awesome for howard
DMF Howard never quits - what a comeback!
HOWARD STRAIGHT BREAKS DUDES
How many wrestlers typically need to qualify for the NCAAs to have a chance at the team title?
I think 8 Hokies have qualified this year(?)
We have qualified 7 and Mekhi is gonna get a at large bid
Um would be huge to even get a team trophy, top 4 and would probably need 5 AAs at least to pull that off. Basically Iowa and Ped State at the top and then it's a little more open. Never say never but I would say we have a good shot at maybe 4 AA if everyone wrestles up to their potential and would need a Cinderella run or two by some lower seeded guys
I say Brady can make a run.
We mostly control our destiny in the championship round, but need Hidlay to go down.
MYERS!!!!
Korbin Myers ACC CHAMP!!!!!!
What are the standings bitches!
We are 14 points back of State.
Andonian had it ๐ tough loss
Love Bryce for his funky unorthodox moves... but #1 seed beast AOC just too strong at this time
You can't tell me O connor is 49. Hes so big
Hidlay is such a bitch hiding on the line all match
Logging in to say Big Hidley is a big bitch. Stalled for 2.9 periods and acted like a child when he won. 1-4 bro.
Bolen shouldn't have took that awful shot
Bolen seemed off in his semi-match. Seemed to turn it on for this one, but i feel his gas tank was running near empty.
Still rather go to TB. thats bolen strength
Katka looked to just run out of gas there sadly
Hard to do anything when you got a fat ass lying on ya
Latona comes up big nice match and win FAM
What were the final standings?
1. NCSU
2. HOKIES
3. UNC
4. UVA
5. PITT
6. DUKE
Onto St Louis, hoping Mekhi gets an at-large and is ready to go.
I think there's a couple of invitationals our wrestlers will take part in next week. Redshirts and freshmen at least.
Wait what tournament
Last chance open?
They usually did one this time of year, but I'm not seeing anything. I wasn't even thinking about COVID. Could be cancelled?
I heard it's gonna be a go. It be nice to take Hilliegas and Smith plus the backups