Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 4 | March 2020

inside.hokiesports.com 43 300 Technology Drive Christiansburg, Virginia 24073 www.inorganicventures.com Makers of the world’s most accurate Certified Reference Materials Because the Hokies are such a big part of ours. Two of our PhDs as well as eleven key members of our service, production, and business teams hold degrees from Virginia Tech. When you’ve got the right talent in place, there’s no limit to how far you can go. Proud to support the Hokies’ teams. N o one couldhave enduredmore contrasting wrestling matches at an event than Hunter Bolen at the ACC Wrestling Championships held in Pittsburgh on March 8. The top seed and the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the country at 184 pounds, the redshirt sophomore from nearby Floyd, Virginia won easily by technical fall in his semifinal match and then fought through a seven-minute grind session in the championship match—a match befitting of the Steel City. Bolen showed his mettle, though, outlasting NC State’s Trent Hidlay in a 2-1 battle and claiminghis first ACCchampionship. Two years ago, Bolen entered the ACC Championships as the top seed at 174 pounds—he took a redshirt season last year—and he finished second. This time, he watched as tournament organizers placed a gold medal around his neck at the conclusion of the Championships. Behind Bolen, the Hokies’ lone champion, Virginia Tech finished fifth in the team competition with 52 points. Eight of the 10 Hokies who competed secured qualifying spots at the NCAA Wrestling Championships  and a ninth received an at- large bid just two days afterward. But the NCAA cancelled the Championships because of concerns related to the coronavirus, and that ended the Hokies’ season. As the top seed, Bolen received a first- round bye at the league’s annual event and then took care of Virginia’s Michael Battista in the semifinal, winning 17-0 for a technical fall to advance to the final against Hidlay. The win over Battista marked Bolen’s second over Battista this season, as he won by major decision in the Hokies’ victory over Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia on Jan. 31. In the championship match, Hidlay jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second period with an escape, but Hidlay was hit with a second stall call in the match moments later, enabling Bolen to tie the match at 1. In the third period, Bolen escaped and then defended, preventing Hidlay from getting a shot in on him for a takedown and picking up the 2-1 win. Bolen, who became the 26th different Tech wrestler to win an ACC title, moved to 24-2 on the season. Thanks to Bolen, the Hokies have won at least one ACC individual championship for 11 consecutive years. Tech has won 44 individual ACC championships in that span. Here is how the remaining Hokies fared at the 2020 ACC Wrestling Championships: 125 pounds —Joey Prata went into the tournament as the No. 4 seed in this weight class, and he won his first-round match, beating Pittsburgh’s Louis Newell by a score of 6-4. Unfortunately, Prata ran into the top seed, Virginia’s Jack Mueller, in the semifinal and lost 11-1. In a consolation round, Prata won by forfeit, and then he ran into Newell again in the third-place match. Prata picked up an early takedown and never trailed, beating Newell for the second time—this time by a score of 5-2. Prata thus claimed third place and had received the ACC’s last NCAA automatic qualifying spot in this weight class. 133 pounds —Collin Gerardi got off to a rough start in this weight class, as the fifth seed fell to Virginia’s Louie Hayes by a score of 7-2 in the first round. He then lost a tough 2-1 decision to NC State’s Jarrett Trombley in the consolation semifinal—a match decided after Trombley secured a riding time point. Gerardi’s lone win came in the fifth-place match. He pinned Duke’s Harrison Campbell in the second period, and in doing so, he had received the ACC’s last NCAA automatic qualifying spot in this weight class. 141 pounds —Mitch Moore entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and picked up a first-round victory by forfeit. However, Moore ended up not wrestling in this tournament after an undisclosed medical condition forced him to take medical forfeits in the semifinal and in the consolation semifinal matches. Moore still managed to get a bid to the NCAA Championships after the selection committee chose him with an at-large choice on March 10. 149 pounds —Wrestling at his first ACC Championships, Bryce Andonian, the No. 2 seed, advanced all the way to the championship match. In his semifinal match, Andonian and NC State’s AJ Leitten were scoreless after a period, but the freshman got on the board with an escape. Then, he scored on a takedown and picked up four points on a near fall, and that was all he needed. Andonian won 10-3, advancing to the championship match against North Carolina’s Austin O’Connor. Andonian finished third in the weight class after losing to O’Connor by a score of 11-7. The two exchanged scoring moves throughout, but O’Connor had a little too much firepower. Still, Andonian qualified for the NCAA Championships in his first season at Tech. 157 pounds —The No. 4 seed in this weight class, B.C. LaPrade went 1-2, dropping his first two matches and then beating Duke’s Eric Carter in the fifth-place match. Continued on page 44