The NCAA Wrestling Championships start today at 11am
Here are the brackets for each weight class.
Hokies representing today are:
125: Sam Latona, #2
133: Korbin Myers, #3
149: Bryce Andonian, #6
157: Connor Brady, #20
165: Mekhi Lewis, #4
174: Dakota Howard, #27
184: Hunter Bolen, #5
285: Hunter Catka, #18
How to watch: ESPNU
Schedule:
Round 1: March 18, 11am
Round 2: March 18, 6pm
Quarterfinals: March 19, 11am
Semifinals: March 19, 8 pm
Medal Rounds: March 20, 11am
Championships: March 20, 7pm
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Let's Go!
HOKIES!!!
2 mins
Latona is in the hole on mat 4
Latona advances 12-9
12-7. He got caught on a roll early, down 4-1, and had to work his way back. His opponent stalled the match out so Latona didn't get a shot at bonus points.
Myers on Mat 2
Edit: Myers advances 12-4
13-4. Myers dominated. Was hunting for a turn, almost got an early pin on a suck back but his opponent slipped out.
I don't know why I keep missing a score
Thanks for the ombudsmanship
Couldn't see any of the Myers match - heard it over the PA in the arena while ESPNU was showing the Penn State match, though.
Not sure how you are watching, but each mat has a dedicated feed on ESPN3 if you are able to watch via the ESPN app. No commentary though, just the PA and crowd noise.
Only able to watch on ESPNU right now, unfortunately. :-/
ESPNU announce team absolutely going in on Stanford's decision to drop programs, wrestling, specifically. Lauded their guys for not instantly running to the portal when the news hit.
PSA: in ESPN App you can choose which Mat to watch.
Spencer Lee from Iowa just got a technical fall on McCormick from UVA with 1:27 to go in the first. Geez.
Lee gets near fall points at will against almost everyone.
That's insanely impressive. Did he get back points on every shot he took? Without getting a pin?
Pretty much.
Andonian should be up soon
Is there a method to the madness of which wrestlers are one which mats and when? Would love to know when to tune in to watch a VT wrestler, but can't seem to make out any discernable structure. Thanks!
Follow Hokies Wrestling on twitter or use the mat assignment tracker on Trackwrestling. That's the best way to see when Hokies will be up on which mats.
So it appears they are going by weight class as the primary, but then random draw thereafter
You do have to stay on your toes!
Andonian is killing it early
Mat 2
love me some bryce!!!!!
8-3 by Andonian, to advance
FALL!!!
Andonian was looking for the fall early and Finesilver got out of it due to a potentially dangerous call. Start of the second Andonian got a reversal and would not be denied his fall.
Brady on Mat 4
Brady goes down 2-0
Big missed opportunity from Brady. The match looked completely even going in to the third and he got rode out. Had a couple good chances to get out but didn't make it happen. You have to want it more than the other guy if you are going to pull a big upset.
Hokies currently t-3 with 6 team points. 2 behind Penn State, 2.5 behind Iowa
4 matches still going this round. NC State will jump up when Hidlay wins.
Hokies in a 4 way tie for 4th. Going as expected for the Hokies so far but big opportunity to make some noise in round 1b coming up.
What would be a good team finish this year? Top 5? Top 10?
Top 5 would mean some good results. Anything below 6th would probably be a little disappointing.
#1 is likely going to be Iowa
#2 is probably going to be Penn State
After that it's anyone's to take
So in competition for the top spot.
Iowa is 5-0 with 3 TF, 1 MD
Penn State is 4-0 with 2 TF, 1 MD
NC State is 4-0 with 2 MD, 1 TF
VT is 3-1 with 1 fall, 1 MD
Other possible top 5 contenders include:
Missouri: MD
Nebraska: Fall, SV1
Michigan: SV1
Oklahoma St: MD, Fall
Lewis on deck mat 3
Lewis advances 8-3
His shoulder is clearly not 100%
Mekhi struggling with that shoulder mightily. Sucks to see.
Hats off to Mekhi for being out there
I'm not sure if that shoulder is going to make it through the tournament
If he makes it to the semis he did good
I think he can do it. Has to be a bit strategic but you can tell he wants to win pretty badly.
Wentzel escapes after official review overturns a last second takedown. The no offense savant survives.
Eat shit Pitt!
Howard gives up a pin. He was down 2 late and got caught on a shot and put on his back. He looked good up until that point. Hopefully he can get a win on the backside.
Bolen wins 15-3. He was aggressive and was hunting for back points the whole way. Potentially dangerous calls saved his opponent a couple of times. Great showing from Bolen.
My favorite style of Bolen๐
Reenan from NC State went from almost pinning the Iowa wrestler in the first to losing in Sudden Victory. What a collapse.
Thats what you get for trying to stall the rest of the match
I know who to root for, but outside of rooting against the higher seed, who do we need to lose to get a top 3-5 finish?
Cheer against NCSU MICH Nebraska Oklahoma Missouri
Especially NC State and Nebraska. Thankfully the #2 Seed at 197 for Nebraska got upset so good start.
I lived in Misery (I mean Missouri) for 6 mostly awful years. Always root against Missouri. Well maybe if they are playing Penn State, UVa, or Harvard you can root for them. But otherwise ...
Wait, what do you have against Harvard athletics?
Fitzmagic or Linsanity. Take your pick
Graduate school at Yale.
Catka mat 4
Catka defeated 1-3.
Ugh, that was terrible.
Yeah tough loss. He looked better most of the match. Hopefully he can get a win in consolations.
Sam Latona on deck Mat 3
Chaos at the end
Care to elaborate for those of us who can't watch right now?
Latona was on his back for a little too long during a roll through. Official review said no takedown/reversal (I don't remember which). This was a tough matchup for Latona so good win.
I see on the tracker that Myers advanced again.
Myers wins 6-4. He looked good. His opponent was pretty tall, didn't give Myers a chance to get near fall points.
Way to go Bryce --- defeated a Mich guy
Andonian wins 10-7. He locked up a cradle late in the second for 2 and 2, and rode that lead to the finish. He looked like he was running out of gas there at the end. Should be refueled tomorrow.
I dont know that much about scoring wrestling, but That kid from Campell just got completely fucked by the refs. Clock doesnt run while he rides out a 1 point lead with 7 seconds left in 2ot and the refs review then decide to repeat with the full 7 seconds again and he gets taken down to lose by 1. Total bullshit.
I didn't see the part right before the last 7 seconds. If there is a review they go back to the point of the review. All he has to do was not put his hand on the mat at the end and he doesn't give up the takedown. He lost concentration in the last second and it cost him the match.
Here is the NCAA's excuse. That's some garbage.
Brady loses 8-7. Terrible third period. He was leading 4-2 going in to the third. Gave up a takedown off of his own shot with 10 seconds left while the score is as tied 6-6.
To the untrained eye it certainly looked like a brain fart at the end
Ain't gonna finish top 5 if Howard and Catka get some wrestleback wins
Lewis on deck mat 3
On ESPN2. Never mind. They switched.
I'm hurting for Lewis
Same. Feel really bad but I would hate for him to get more hurt.
He won, but Jesus, he was in pain
The fact that he won effectively one handed is insane
Gutsy performance for Lewis to gut out the win. Hopefully he can wrestle tomorrow.
"He wrestled his nuts off" Bud Foster probably
Applaud for Mekhi gutting it out for a win but that was painful
He's an extreme competitor. Out there fighting through the injury to score some team points. Hats off to him.
has VT ever said what is wrong with his shoulder? Is something torn?
Radio Silence. Has been a closely guarded secret.
By looking at it. I say rotator cuff
That was also my guess when it first happened
Tough loss for Howard, 1-3, in Sudden Victory. Was in on a shot late and ran out of time in the third.
Bolen cruised to a 6-2 win over Brands of Iowa. Always good to beat an orange ๐.
Catka finishing us up on Mat 1
2pt takedown to win in OT. Catka advances in the Consolations
Atta boy
Going into Day 2 of the Tournament:
125: Latona is 2-0, with an early matchup against #7 Taylor Lamont of Utah Valley. A win would put Latona in the semi's likely against Jakob Camacho of NC State tonight. The two fought to a 2-1 Latona victory in the ACC tournament.
133: Myers is 2-0 with a MD and has his matchup against #6 Matt Schmitt of Missouri. A win would move him to the semis where he would likely face Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State.
141: No Hokies
149: Andonian is also 2-0 with a Fall and will face off against #3 Brock Mauller (the best named wrestler ever). Should Andonian win, he would probably face off against Austin O'Connor of UNC. O'Connor edged Andonian 10-8 for the ACC title.
157: Brady is 0-2 and eliminated from the tournament
165: Lewis is 2-0 and will face off against #5 Zach Hartman of Bucknell. Lewis was in agony in the final two rounds of his second match yesterday. If his shoulder is still intact and he can somehow pull off a win, he will be facing #1 Alex Marinelli of Iowa* tonight. I don't know if he can manage it, seeing as I've known horses to have been put down in less pain than he was showing last night.
174: Howard is 0-2 and eliminated from the tournament.
184: Bolen is 2-0 and will face #4 Parker Keckeisen from Northern Iowa. If he can manage the narrow upset, he will face off against #1 Aaron Brooks of Penn State*.
197: No Hokies
285: Katka is 1-1 and is facing #17 Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force.
I wouldn't say Camacho is the likely favorite to see latona. Hes gotta get past the 3 seed first
Thanks for the update
Mekhi Lewis being pulled from further competition.
Disappointing but not surprising. Last night during the 3rd period it looked like one of the coaches was signaling to him to concede.
Watched his match last night, incredibly proud of him for persevering. That was very difficult to watch, cant imagine what he was feeling. Heal up for next year man!
Having had 2 shoulder surgeries I can tell you that shoulder issues are extremely painful (rotators cuff, bicep tendon, labrum, etc.). Even with shots the pain never really goes away.
It's very likely Mekhi's shoulder, and I'm only speculating here, is really damaged and the Drs told him if he can push through go for it, especially if they are going in there to fix it anyway.
The thing I worry about with Mekhi is that the timeline for health following shoulder surgery can be long depending on the injury. I can't imagine what the timeline would be like to get back to doing what he's doing following a surgery.
Much respect to him for trying to muscle through. I wish him the very best.
Latona mat 6
Latona loses 4-7
They really need to get stalling consistant. UVU dude hasnt taken a single shot and its going to win
Bad first period by Sam and he loses 4-7
It's just so frustrating to watch. Dude stalled all first period, got lucky on a 50/50, and then stalled the rest of the match. He did nothing but hold the tie-up. Yet only one stall call. Sam gets pushed out of bounds and gets a stall call despite being the only one shooting. It's ridiculous.
Yeah those stalling calls on the out of bounds were both bad but especially the second one. That was a push out and they rewarded Lamont anyways. Latona just didn't control the tie ups well enough early.
Myers on 5
Can someone explain the thought process for Schmitt choosing neutral to start the 3rd period? Just hoping for a takedown to seal the deal? Choosing down and getting the escape would have tied it, right?
probably personal preference.
Myers is pretty good on top and Schmitt only got 2 seconds of riding time. Could be that they were afraid of Myers top game or they felt Schmitt was better on his feet even though he was pretty passive until he had to shoot.
Myers with 1-0 win to the semi's. To be fair he probably should have been hit with stalling sooner.
Nah he was doing constant level changes and controlling center. He wrestled really smart
Myers advances 1-0
Andonian on 5
Damn. Just saw a kid blow his knee out. Rich from CSUB
Correction, just seemed to have pulled it a bit.
IM NOT CRYING YOUR CRYING๐ญ
what's going on? my stream dropped.
Myers story. It took 6 years and a bad neck injury but he finally did it
Reeeeeee
C'mon Bryce, kick some ass
They really gotta be more strict on the stalling. Mizzou guy was better, no doubt, but shouldn't be allowed to stall for a whole period without at least one warning.
Yeah the strategy of grab your opponents wrists and then back up when he clears it was certainly worthy of a stall.
where can I get Up to date results
Trackwrestling
Hope Marinelli gets an asterisk on his natty. The two best wrestlers at 165 suffered major injuries and he didn't wrestle at all until his conference tourney.
Spoke too soon. He just lost to Griffith of Stanford.
Currently tied for 9th in team standings
1 Iowa 58.5
2 Penn State 43.5
3 NC State 39.0
3 Oklahoma State 39.0
5 Missouri 34.5
6 Arizona State 31.5
7 Ohio State 28.5
8 Northwestern 22.0
9 Minnesota 21.5
9 Virginia Tech 21.5
11 Pittsburgh 19.5
Iowa/PSU will definitely be 1-2 but here are the number of wrestlers left in Championship and Consolation for the others:
NCSU (5): 3 / 2
Ok St (4): 2 / 2
Mizzou (6): 1 / 5
Ohio St (4): 2 / 2
NW (4): 1 / 3
Minn (3): 0 / 3
VT (4): 1 / 3
Pitt (3): 2 / 1
I am thinking the best we can finish is 6, but likely will be 8 or 9.
Bolen takes a 4-2 loss in SV2. Poor showing from the Hokies, going 1-3 in the quarterfinals.
Catka looked totally out of his element. Gave up takedowns at will, only had one good shot the entire match. Loses 14-6.
Session 3. Our old damn nemesis๐ก
Session 4 starts at 8. We have 4 wrestlers left, 1 in the semifinals and 3 in the consolations.
Korbin has wrestled great all year, I am really looking forward to his match.
I think Andonian can win both of his matches tonight. I do worry about Latona beating Camacho for a third time. I don't know what to expect from Bolen at this point but hopefully he can get to AA.
I am assuming top 4 is likely out of reach unless we can go 7-0 tonight.
Sam Latona forces SV and gets a take down!!!
Other than maybe Iowa and Penn State is there another school that shoots as much as our team does too to bottom. I just feel like every time I watch it's only the VT wrestler that takes any shots.
Gritty win for Latona. Got down a bit early and fought all the way back to win.
Korbin Myers mat 6 now against PSU bravo-young
Myers loses 5-3. Tough match but he will have a chance to wrestle back for third.
BA got owned. Looked awful.
He was totally gassed. Very disappointing, I was thinking he had a fairly easy consolation path.
Bolen with a solid win. Caught his opponent in a Winn Dixie to get neutral danger in to 4 near fall. Struggled on bottom a bit but found a way to finish it off.
Latona wins 4-3. He advances to the consolation semifinals tomorrow.
Bolen just looked exhausted in the third period. This tournament definitely did not go as well as it probably should have. It seemed like a lot of our guys were dead by the end of the tourney.
Bolen was done at the end of the first. Overall it was a pretty disappointing tourney. Only person with potential to wrestle to seed is Myers.
In an event where they have to make weight and wrestle 2 to 3 matches a day it's not the least bit surprising some guys get tired.
Why aren't tea,m standings easier to find?
I ask this question every year. Trackwrestling is the resource I use but it's not particularly easy to navigate for some things.
The value of experience has really shown this tourney. Korbin is the guy who performed the best and is the only senior. I think a lot of the young guys were taken aback by the big show and the strain of a 3 day tourney.
Good point. This was the first NCAAs for everyone but Myers, Lewis, and Bolen.
Exact same match for Sam. UVU dude allowed to stall all match. Obviously a huge mismatch for Sam and he no doubt lost that match regardless of the stalling. It's just frustrating to watch that the dude creating action isn't rewarded.
Latona finishes 6th in his first NCAAs.
Thank you to 07Hokie, APrimusHokie and Hokiemacho for providing all the updates.
Myers finishes 4th. Tough match. Gave up a cheap takedown, looked like he thought a stalemate had been called. What a comeback for Myers, from two neck surgeries to sitting out all last year to getting his first All American and finishing 4th.
Bolen vs Deprez for 7th on deck. That'll be the last match of the tournament for the Hokies.
Bolen gets a neutral danger and 2 near fall off a sprawl in the first, finishes off a 6-3 win to finish 7th.
Hunter Bolen holds on after getting near fall points to win our last match.
Top 10 finish?
I think no.
Damn
15th.
A Wentzel loss feels like a win for the Hokies. He got beat 7-2 by Griffith from Stanford.
Stallpack gets no National champions. I love it๐
Overall a disappointing finish.
Can someone explain the tweet from Wresting saying 4th place finish ? Track Wrestling has us 15th
Myers finished 4th
Is the wrestling championship going to be even tougher next year with wrestlers allowed another year of eligibility? There could be 24 and maybe 25 year olds wrestling next year.
Everyone gets the option for a free year so I would say no. I suspect many 5th year seniors will not take the free year unless they have a specific unachieved goal in mind.
2 Hawkeye wrestlers have already announced they are coming back
Yeah I could see a lot coming back if the school allows them to. It's not like this sport has much of a league after college to go make money in. For the next 3-4 years there may not be as many younger wrestlers winning it all with these guys that are older and stronger facing them.
File that under "didn't achieve a specific goal" because they did not do well in the finals.
Imo not a good long term decision for the hawkeyes