Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 13 No. 4 | March 2021

26 Inside Hokie Sports PREFERRED EYECARE OF Visit Us at 1440 South Main Street, Blacksburg, Va. 540-953-2020 • WWW.BLACKSBURGEYE.COM Wrestling completes undefeated regular season, sets sights on St. Louis For the fourth time in school history, Virginia Tech wrestling is the ACC Dual Meet Champion after going 9-0 during the dual meet season. The Hokies’ 9-0 mark included a 5-0 slate in ACC action. Behind its seventh undefeated regular season in school history, Tech ascended to as high as No. 3 in the national rankings—tying its program record. At the 2021 ACC Championships, Sam Latona and Korbin Myers claimed individual titles at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively, to lead the Hokies to a runner-up finish in the team standings. Both head to St. Louis unbeaten on the season. Following the conclusion of the ACC Championships, Myers was named Most OutstandingWrestler by the league’s head coaches. The Pennsylvania native is the seventh Hokie to take home the honor and first since 2018. In all, seven Hokies have automatically qualified for the 2021 NCAA Championships, which are scheduled for March 18-20. In addition to Latona and Myers, Bryce Andonian, Hunter Bolen, Hunter Catka, Connor Brady and Dakota Howard punched their ticket to St. Louis. Defending national champion Mekhi Lewis is awaiting an at-large bid, which would give Tech eight wrestlers at the championships. Hokies excel at 2021 ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships Tech ran away with the ACC Men’s Indoor Track and Field team title, posting the largest margin of victory in the modern era. The Hokies added to an already extensive trophy cabinet, securing their sixth men’s indoor conference championship. Tech racked up 136 points, well ahead of North Carolina’s 81. Individually, seven Hokies took home gold—led by Jacory Patterson’s 200m and 400m titles. One of the most thrilling athletes to compete for Virginia Tech, Patterson earned 2021 ACC Indoor Championships Men’s Track MVP. Also securing individual titles for the Hokies were: Bashir Mosavel- Lo (800m), Antonio Lopez Segura (5000m), and the DMR team of Tyler Leeser, Patrick Forrest, Dave Whitfield and Ben Nibbelink. On the women’s side, Rachel Baxter became the first to win three consecutive women’s pole vault titles in ACC history. The Tech record holder’s mark of 14’ 4” (4.37m) saw her continue her untouchable status as the best vaulter in the ACC. Caitlan Tate repeated as ACC champion in the women’s 400m with a time of 53.32, while Lindsey Butler prevailed in the 800m. With her time of 2:01.96, Butler qualified for the upcoming Olympic trials, in addition to claiming a new school record, a meet record, the No. 2 time in the nation, and the No. 22 time in the world. Tech makes splash at 2021 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships The Hokie men finished third, while the women placed fourth at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships. It was the men’s best finish in six seasons, while the women hadn’t placed that high since 2015 when they took third. For the men, freshman Youssef Ramadan swam the fastest time in the NCAA en route to a gold medal in the 100 butterfly. Ramadan swam a time of 44.32, which broke the ACC record, meet record, school record and was the fastest time a freshman has swam in the 100 fly in NCAA history. In all, eleven school records were broken and 11 medals were earned at the meet. On the women’s side, Tech’s freshman class amassed 201 of its 832 points scored at the championships—a promising sign of what’s to come in Blacksburg. Since 2019, the Hokies have nearly doubled their point total at ACCs. Among those freshmen providing a promising future for the team are Chase Travis, Emma Atkinson. The three of them were in the top 5 of their team in terms of points scored at the meet. Five school records were set, while four top-3 individual finishes were claimed during the week.