Wrestling finishes 8th nationally

The Virginia Tech wrestling team continued to shine at the 2014 NCAA Wrestling Championship in Oklahoma City, where the team placed a program best 8th place with 49.0 points. The team finished in the top ten for the second year in a row after finishing in tenth place last year. Virginia Tech finished with three All-Americans this year: Joey Dance, Devin Carter, and Chris Penny. On top of the best team finish in program history, Devin Carter became the first NCAA finalist for the Hokies.

After a disappointing ACC tournament in which 125 lb. freshman Joey Dance finished third, he rebounded in a huge way. Dance shocked the world finishing fourth and earning All-American honors. En route to a fourth place finish, #16 seed Dance knocked off three highly seeded wrestlers: #5 Dylan Peters (Northern Iowa), #6 Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma), and #7 Bradley Taylor (Wisconsin). His only losses in the tournament were to the eventual 125 lb. champion, Jesse Delgado (Illinois), and third place finisher Nico Megaludis (Penn State) – both matches ended in an unfavorable 6-1 score. The 2014 NCAA Wrestling Championship capped off an excellent freshman season for Joey Dance, who looks to have a promising career at Virginia Tech.

Devin Carter completed one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of wrestling. In the quarterfinals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Carter sustained a complete avulsion of his hamstring from his pelvis while leading UVA’s #16 Joe Spisak 10-4. Carter went on to win the match 14-11 and advancing into the semifinals, before dropping out of the tournament and finishing in sixth place. Carter had surgery to repair the hamstring on December 16th expecting a six-month rehabilitation.

Carter completed the rehabilitation well before the time frame and was cleared in time for the ACC Championships by surgeon Dr. Tony McPerron. No one was exactly sure what type of condition Carter was in or if he had full explosion ability or range of motion back in his leg. After tearing through the competition for his third ACC title, Devin Carter earned the #4 seed at the NCAA Wrestling Championship. There were still questions swirling about Carter’s conditioning and sharpness going into the tournament.

After knocking off the rust in his first two matches, Carter got his first real test against #12 Richard Durson (Franklin & Marshall) in the quarterfinals. Durson, who is a tough opponent, knocked off #5 Chris McCate (ODU) in the previous round. Durson took an early lead 3-0 before Carter used a takedown in both the second and third periods to win 4-3. Carter then got a little help when fellow ACC wrestler Evan Henderson (UNC) took out #1 seed Michael Port (Edinboro). Carter then rolled through Henderson, who he had never lost to, 12-3 become Virginia Tech’s first ever NCAA finalist for wrestling. Devin Carter fell in the finals to three time national champion, Logan Stieber (OSU). But he pulled off an unimaginable comeback to win his third ACC title, make the NCAA Finals, and become a two time All-American.

If there was an award for most improved wrestler, it would be awarded to senior Chris Penny, who made a Cinderella run of his own rounding out Virginia Tech’s All-American’s. Penny, who finished his freshman season with a 3-14 record, surprised everyone by winning his first ACC title at 197 lbs. two weeks ago in Blacksburg. Then, after defeating Nick Bonaccorsi (Pitt) for the second consecutive time, #16 seed Chris Penny he pulled off an upset over #3 Morgan McIntosh (Penn State). He wasn’t done there. Penny went on to beat favored #11 Nathan Burak (Iowa) 6-3 in his next match earning All-American honors and a trip to the semifinals. Penny lost to eventual 197 lb. National Champion #2 J’den Cox (Missouri) and finished in sixth place after a medical default. It was nice to see a selfless wrestler like Chris Penny finish his career on the medal podium Saturday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

At 149 lbs., #10 seed Zach Neibert also made the quarterfinals after upsetting rival #7 Gus Sako (UVA). With a chance for the senior to join Devin Carter and make the NCAA Finals, Neibert lost 4-2 to #15 Mitchell Minotti (Lehigh). Neibert then went on to fall in overtime to James English (Penn State) failing to earn All-American honors. Neibert finished his career at Virginia Tech 88-39 overall as the 2014 ACC Champion and an All-American in 2013. Neibert’s 88 career wins are 13th most in program history.

133 lb. Dennis Gustafson and 174 lb. Austin Gabel both went 1-2. Teammates 165 lb. Chris Moon and 285 lb. Ty Walz finished 2-2. All four wrestlers scored points for the team, helping to boost Virginia Tech into eighth place in the tournament. Eight out of the nine NCAA qualifiers for the team scored team points, with the only wrestler who failed to score points for the Hokies being #16 seed Nick Vetterlein.

Just seven years ago, the school was considering canning the wrestling program at Virginia Tech when the Brands brothers left as head and assistant coaches. Head coach Kevin Dresser turned the ship around with the Hokies showing progress every year under him. “It’s a step for the program and it continues to be steps. I know we have a lot of hungry guys next year who sure want to be better than eighth. Right now, I take my hat off to these guys. They are the best team in Virginia Tech wrestling history and I told them that in the motel room before we came over,” said coach Dresser in response to the team’s high finish. This year was the best overall NCAA Wrestling Championship performance in program history as a team. Next year’s team looks to be just as promising, if not better, as the Hokies look to build off of their recent success.

23 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Tech’s linemen should workout with the wresting team for part of the off-season. They would learn a lot about balance, leverage, using one’s body effectively, and using the opponent’s body against him.

        1. He was originally going to wrestle at VT as well as play football. His first season he injured his shoulder in the wrestling room and I’m pretty sure Beamer said “no mas”.

          1. at one point we had Drew McGraw (state runner up to miller) Andrew Miller, Chris Penny, and David Marrone all in the room at the same time. That was some serious upper weight competition.

  2. Also note that VT finished well ahead of any other ACC team in the tournament as well. A very good season overall.

  3. What an amazing turn…probably the best athletic story in VT’s history. The magnitude of this could arguably be bigger than football’s run. I wrestled when the program was an also ran with the soccer coach (Chenet) acting as the wrestling coach too. For the most part, he was coach by abstentia in the early parts of the season. Wrestlers are a tough breed of human and these guys do not disappoint.

  4. I never followed Hokie wrestling until I attended the VT/OSU meet in Columbus recently. They lost that match, but I came away a fan. I agree with the posters that if people would go to see them, they would feel like I do. It says alot for the program in general when they can excell in the minor sports. I am sure the current AD will promote them as he has done elsewhere.

    1. I took my son (6 at the time) to see them wrestle Maryland at College Park a couple years ago and he still remembers several of our guys by name. I agree it hooks you when you see it live.

  5. Wouldn’t it be great to challenge Hokie fans and students to fill Cassell for one of the matches next year? Free admission, though with voluntary contributions @ $2 per head could raise a quick $20,000 for the program. Coaches and the wrestlers deserve top-shelf recognition.

  6. Coach Dresser and staff have done an amazing job. He has had a plan and has stuck to it and it is really cool to see how his program has progressed. Coach Dresser is such a great PR guy as well as coach. Very Engaging and approachable. This team is gonna be REALLY tough next year.

    I also urge everyone to get out and watch this team when they can. Wrestling is a great sport to watch live once you get familiar with it. Toughest athletes on campus by far. all home matches are free too!

  7. As amazing as his comeback was, I find it even more amazing that AFTER tearing his hamstring he was still able to not only finish the bout he was wrestling in, but he even scored more points. That is hard core.

  8. Nice write-up Aaron, conveys the excitement and the accomplishment of this years team. I didn’t realize someone was considering dropping wrestling after the Brands escapade, kinda under the impression that wrestling was one of the sports that Weaver liked and WAS supporting (sorry, not trying to go there…) so never new that could have happened.

    Oh yeah, “Penny went on to beat favored #11 Nathan Burak (Iowa) 6-3” Suck it Brands!

  9. Cool reading about Chris Penny. I knew him to be about 215 playing HS football. Big time hitter, too.

  10. I thought VT was looking at canning wrestling before Brands became head coach. Maybe I’m wrong.

  11. Awesome.
    I watched the NCAA finals, and that looks like a fun event to watch live.

    1. It’s a great live event. Been going to the tournament for several years now and am never disappointed. Nice article but one correction I think in the re-cap. Pretty sure Neibert fell in the quarter finals as all semi-finalist achieve All-American status. Great to see wrestling getting some coverage. If at all possible anyone interested in wrestling should join the Hokie Mat Club and help keep the momentum going. hokiematclub.com (hope that’s okay Will)

      1. Neibert fell in the quarter finals attempting to make the semi finals. He then lost his next match to the Oregon St. 149 Sakaguchi who he beat in overtime at the national duals in the blood rounds.

        1. This is wrong. Neibert was an All American the year before, however he lost in the quarters to Lehigh and then lost to English from PSU not Sakaguchi.

Comments are closed.