Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

26 Inside Hokie Sports The 2019 grand prize for Zack Zavatsky always was going to be competing at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh, a 45-minute drive from his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. But there certainly wasn’t any reason for the Virginia Tech wrestler not to mine a little gold on the way there. Participating in his last ACC Championship, Zavatsky managed to do what he knows well, taking home another gold medal after winning the 184-pound weight class at the ACC Wrestling Championship held March 9 at Carilion Clinic Court on Tech’s campus. The top seed in the weight class, Zavatsky received a first-round bye. He then took care of North Carolina’s Chip Ness 8-1 in the semifinals and toppled Pittsburgh’s Nino Bonaccorsi 4-1 in a grind-it-out affair that marked his final match at Cassell Coliseum. The championship marked his third ACC title—all at 184 pounds—and enabled him to become the sixth Tech wrestler in program history to win three ACC titles (Jesse Dong, Jarrod Garnett, Nick Brascetta, Devin Carter and Joey Dance). “I didn’t think of it as I was going to be a three-time ACC champion,” Zavatsky said. “I was just trying to do my best at the end of the year, trying to peak at the end of the year. Just taking it one match at a time and letting the past go and whatever happened previously. “One of our coaches said, which I’ve been thinking about, ‘Records disappear as confidence and heart take over.’ That’s what I’ve been thinking about before my matches and taking it one match at a time. It feels good to be back on top my senior year.” Zavatsky’s championship served as one of three for the Hokies, who also saw Mekhi Lewis and David McFadden win gold medals in their respective weight classes. Another Tech wrestler finished in second place, and five others finished in third place, though despite their efforts, the Hokies came up just a few points short in the race for the team crown. NC State won the title with 93.5 points, while the Hokies finished second with 86. If a match or two goes a different way, or a call or two goes in favor of the Hokies, then Tech repeats as the champion. But head coach Tony Robie wasn’t disappointed in his team’s efforts. In fact, he was pleased and for good reason—nine of 10 Tech wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships. “I felt like we wrestled pretty well,” Robie said. “I don’t think this [the team result] is indicative of how we wrestled. We’ve been through this, and sometimes we’ve come out on the other side of it. But it was one or two matches, one or two things that don’t go your way or one or two things that you don’t make happen—and that’s how it’s decided. I think, overall, when I look at our individuals, I think we wrestled good.” Four Tech wrestlers qualified for the finals, including the three eventual champions and freshman Mitch Moore, who avenged a regular-season loss to North Carolina’s A.C. Headlee. Moore beat Headlee 6-3 in the semifinals at 141 pounds before falling to NC State’s Jamel Morris 6-3 in the championship match. Lewis, a redshirt freshman from Bound Brook, New Jersey, started a string of three Tech championships. The No. 1 seed at 165 pounds, Lewis beat Duke’s Zach Finesilver 14-7 in the semifinals and used two first-period takedowns to knock off NC State’s Thomas Bullard 7-4 to win the title. McFadden then joined the fun. The redshirt junior from West Milford, New Jersey registered a 9-1 major decision of North Carolina’s Devin Kane in the semifinals at 174 pounds and then beat Duke’s Matt Finesilver 7-3 for the championship. The title marked the first for Lewis and the second for McFadden, who also beat Finesilver in last year’s championship match. “I think there are some things that David and Mekhi could have done better, for sure,” Robie said. “I think you can always say that, but I like the way they compete. They compete well in big events.” Zavatsky capped the run with his title at 184. The redshirt senior got a first-period takedown and made it stand, adding one-point escapes in the second and third periods. The win brought a small level of satisfaction to Zavatsky, who lost 4-0 to NC State’s Pete Renda in the final last year. Zack Zavatsky became a three-time ACC champion, and both Mekhi Lewis and David McFadden won titles to lead the Hokies, who finished second in the team race by Jimmy Robertson