Nine of Virginia Tech’s 10 starters qualified for the NCAA Championships and three won individual conference titles at the 2019 ACC Wrestling Championship in front of 3,742 for the finals held in Cassell Coliseum on Saturday.
The Hokies will send nine wrestlers to nationals for the second consecutive season, a first for the program. Redshirt senior Zack Zavatsaky won his third ACC title and redshirt junior David McFadden won his second. Redshirt freshman Mekhi Lewis won his first conference championship in his initial season.
Tech finished in second place in the team standings with 86.0 points. NC State placed first with 93.5 points. North Carolina (47.5), Pitt (41.0), Duke (39.0) and Virginia (27.5) rounded out the team standings.
This is the fourth-straight season that Virginia Tech has finished in the top two at the ACC tournament.
Zavatsky is the sixth Hokie to win three or more ACC titles, joining Joey Dance, Jesse Dong, Nick Brascetta, Jarrod Garnett and Devin Carter.
Zavatsky’s 4-1 decision was his second win over Pitt’s Nino Bonaccorsi this season. He won a 184-pound weight class that will send five wrestlers to NCAAs, the most in the conference.
With his 7-3 decision over Matt Finesilver of Duke, McFadden is the 11th multi-time ACC champion in program history.
Of Tech’s six wrestlers on the back side, five of them wrestled back to claim third place.
After avenging a loss earlier in the season to A.C. Headlee of North Carolina, Mitch Moore fell in the finals to Jamel Morris of NC State by a 6-3 decision.
125 Joey Prata (3-1, Third Place)
QF – Joey Prata dec. Harrison Campbell (Duke), 10-6
SF – Sean Fausz (NC State) MD Joey Prata (Virginia Tech), 10-1
Cons. SF – Joey Prata (Virginia Tech) dec. Brendon Fenton (Pittsburgh), 5-2
3rd Place Match – Joey Prata (Virginia Tech) dec. Joseph Heilmann (North Carolina), 3-1 (SV OT)
133 Korbin Myers (3-1, Third Place)
QF – Korbin Myers MD Louie Hayes (Virginia), 10-1
SF – Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh) dec. Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) 2-1 (TB-1)
Cons. SF – Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) TF Arien Leigh (Duke), 19-3 (6:47)
3rd Place Match – Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) dec. Gary Wayne Harding (North Carolina), 5-2
141 Mitch Moore (1-1, Second Place)
SF – Mitch Moore (Virginia Tech) dec. AC Headlee (North Carolina), 6-3
1st Place Match – Jamel Morris (NC State) dec. Mitch Moore (Virginia Tech), 6-3
149 Ryan Blees (2-2, Fourth Place)
QF – Ryan Blees (Virginia Tech) dec. Michael Murphy (Virginia), 2-0
SF – Mitch Finesilver (Duke) dec. Ryan Blees (Virginia Tech), 4-0
Cons. SF – Ryan Blees (Virginia Tech) TF Dallas Bulsak (Pittsburgh), 17-0 (5:31)
3rd Place Match – Justin Oliver (NC State) dec. Ryan Blees (Virginia Tech), 6-1
157 B.C. LaPrade (3-1, Third Place)
QF – BC LaPrade (Virginia Tech) MD Ben Anderson (Duke), 11-2
SF – Taleb Rahmani (Pittsburgh) dec. BC LaPrade (Virginia Tech), 4-3 (TB-4)
Cons. SF – BC LaPrade (Virginia Tech) medical for. Josh McClure (North Carolina)
3rd Place Match – BC LaPrade (Virginia Tech) dec. Ben Anderson (Duke), 10-7
165 Mekhi Lewis (2-0, First Place)
SF – Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) dec. Zach Finesilver (Duke), 14-7
1st Place Match – Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) dec. Thomas Bullard (NC State), 7-4
174 David McFadden (2-0, First Place)
SF – David McFadden (Virginia Tech) MD Devin Kane (North Carolina), 9-1
1st Place Match – David McFadden (Virginia Tech) dec. Matt Finesilver (Duke), 7-3
184 Zack Zavatsky (2-0, First Place)
SF – Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) dec. Chip Ness (North Carolina), 8-1
Finals – 1st Place Match – Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) dec. Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh), 4-1
197 Tom Sleigh (2-1, Third Place)
SF – Malik McDonald (NC State) dec. Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech), 3-2
Cons. SF – Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) dec. Kellan Stout (Pitt), 4-3
3rd Place Match – Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) WBF Brandon Whitman (North Carolina), 4:24
285 Billy Miller (3-1, Third Place)
QF – Billy Miller (Virginia Tech) WBF Araad Fisher (Duke), 4:14
SF – Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh) dec. Billy Miller (Virginia Tech), 10-9
Cons. Semi – Billy Miller (Virginia Tech) MD Tyler Love (Virginia), 10-2
3rd Place Match – Billy Miller (Virginia Tech) dec. Deonte Wilson (NC State), 6-2
–VT Athletics
