Three wrestlers win ACC titles
Led by a big upset at 165 pounds, three Virginia Tech wrestlers took home individual titles from the ACC Wrestling Championships held March 3 at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Pete Yates, a redshirt junior from Conyers, Ga., led the Tech effort, winning his first ACC crown by upsetting second-ranked John Asper of Maryland in the finals at 165 pounds by a count of 6-4 in sudden victory. For his effort, Yates was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.
Devin Carter and Nick Braschetta also won championships at their respective weight classes for Tech. Carter, a sophomore from Christiansburg, Va., won both of his matches in repeating as the ACC champ at 133 pounds, beating Duke’s Brandon Gambucci 14-10 in the finals. Brascetta, a freshman from St. Paris, Ohio, beat N.C. State’s Matt Nereim in the finals by a score of 8-4 to claim the 149-pound title
Chris Moon (174 pounds) and heavyweight Chris Penny both advanced to the finals of their weight classes, but lost in the finals, while Zach Neibert placed third at 141 pounds.
Maryland won its second straight team crown with 83 points, while UVa finished second and the Hokies came in third.
Tech’s three champions, along with Moon and Neibert, qualified for the NCAA Championships to be held March 15-17 in St. Louis.
Three Tech student-athletes named 2012 Weaver-James-Corrigan Award winners
Three Virginia Tech student-athletes were among 36 student-athletes in the ACC selected for the Weaver-James-Corrigan Award that goes to three student-athletes from each ACC institution who plan on pursuing a graduate degree following completion of their undergraduate requirements. Each recipient receives $5,000 to contribute toward his or her graduate education.
Martha Blakely, Corrado Degl’Incerti Tocci and Blake Trabuchi-Downey were the three Tech student-athletes to receive the award. Blakely, a senior women’s tennis player from Reading, Pa., is a double major in chemistry and biochemistry and reached the final stage of the Rhodes Scholarship process last November. Degl’Incerti Tocci, a senior men’s tennis player from Reggio Emilia, Italy, majors in aerospace engineering, while Trabuchi-Downey, a senior swimmer from Vineland, N.J., majors in biological sciences.
Those honored have performed with distinction in both the classroom and his or her respective sports, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community.
The Weaver-James-Corrigan Award is named in honor of the late Jim Weaver and Bob James, as well as Gene Corrigan, all of whom were former ACC commissioners.
ACC names fall All-Academic teams
In February, the ACC announced its All-Academic teams for the various fall sports, and Virginia Tech placed six cross country performers, four women’s soccer players, three men’s soccer players, two volleyball performers, two football players and a men’s basketball player on the team.
To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade-point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during the academic career.
Here is a list of Tech student-athletes who made the All-Academic squad for his/her respective sport (major in parentheses):
Men’s basketball
Jarell Eddie (psychology)
Men’s cross country
Jared Berman (civil and environmental engineering)
Jason Cusack (industrial design)
Michael Hammond (economics)
Will Mulherin (mechanical engineering)
Women’s cross country
Courtney Dobbs (accounting)
Sammy Dow (biology, human nutrition, foods and exercise)
Football
Danny Coale (finance)
Joey Phillips (human development)
Women’s soccer
Dayle Colpitts (biology)
Brittany Michels (apparel, housing and resource management)
Brittany Popko (biochemistry)
Jazmine Reeves (university studies)
Men’s soccer
David Fiorello (psychology)
Drew Ranahan (economics)
Kyle Renfro (management)
Volleyball
Cara Baarendse (human development)
Jennifer Wiker (finance)
