BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech wrestling squad will make the short trip to Charlottesville for Saturday’s ACC Wrestling Championships in search of the program’s first ACC title. The Hokies, who are ranked sixth in the country as a dual meet squad, will now rely on individual performances in hopes of wearing the crown. The action starts at 11 a.m., inside UVa’s John Paul Jones Arena.
Several Tech wrestlers are expected to be the top seed at their respective weight class while others will be trying to pull enough upsets to qualify for the NCAA Championships. All of the wrestlers will be competing for a berth in the Big Dance, held March 17-19 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Arena.
Hokie fans are encouraged to wear the maroon Tech shirts to the ACC Championships. If you do not have one, they will be on sale prior to the start of the tournament on site.
Tech will be searching for its first conference title in wrestling since the 1997-98 squad won the Colonial Athletic Association title. The Hokies won two CAA titles and seven Southern Conference titles in the 1950s and 60s.
Doors open for the event at 10 a.m. All seating for the ACC Championship is general admission. Adult tickets are $10, while tickets for youth, senior citizens and students of the participating schools (with valid ID) are $5. Tickets will be good for the entire day of competition. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall, by calling the Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 or logging on to VirginiaSports.com. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
For directions and more information, click here.
Brackets will be updated as soon as possible by the UVA Media Relations staff nad fans can follow those here. Fans are also encouraged to follow the Tech wrestling Twitter site, @VT_Wrestling, for all of the latest updates.
The semifinals begin at 1 o’clock, followed by the semifinal consolations at 3:30 p.m. The consolation finals, or third-place matches, will begin at 5 o’clock with the finals starting at approximately 7 p.m. The last two sessions will be broadcast free online here.
Below are the probable wrestlers for the Hokies at each weight class, along with probable seeds. In parenthesis are the number of automatic qualifying spots the ACC has at that weight class.
125: #1 seed Jarrod Garnett (2) - defending champion
133: #1 seed Devin Carter (1)
141: #2 seed Chris Diaz (3) - runner-up in 2010
149: #3 seed Brian Stephens (2) - defending champion
157: #1 seed Jesse Dong (3) - defending champion
165: #2 seed Pete Yates (2)
174: #4 seed Matt Epperly (2) - two-time 165-pound champion
184: John Dickson (3)
197: #4 seed Chris Penny (1)
285: #1 seed David Marone (1)
For updates on Virginia Tech wrestling, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Wrestling).