Freshman Brock LiVorio upends George Mason's Brian Wright during the Hokies' home victory on Nov. 9. Tech, 7-9 overall last season, will next participate in the Hokie Open on Sunday in Salem.
The Virginia Tech wrestling team has seen its share of ups and downs in the past few years.
When head coach Tom Brands resigned in 2006 to transfer to the University of Iowa and the two seniors he coached to All-America status graduated, the team was in bad shape.
Tech hired Kevin Dresser to fill the head coaching vacancy roughly a week after Brands' resignation. Dresser is a familiar name in the New River Valley, having previously coached Christiansburg High School, guiding the Blue Demons to five Group AA state titles.
Under Dresser, the program has risen from the ashes.
"We've spent a lot of time recruiting in the past two, two and a half years. We really did have to start from scratch," Dresser said. "We've always worked hard in the wrestling room, but the quality of the athlete and the commitment of the athlete is going to make the difference."
After a rough 2006-07 season, Dresser and his staff signed a highly talented 2007 recruiting class, which ranked fourth in the country by Intermat, a Web site that rates wrestling recruits. This will be his second season with that class and based on its start to this season, things are already looking up.
"For the past two years we've been building the program back up," said last year's ACC champ Matt Epperly. "This could be the first year where we can come back and compete as a team."
In their win over George Mason this past Sunday at Cassell Coliseum, sophomore heavyweight David Marone shone in his 18-5 major decision over Hunter Manspile, bringing the final score to 22-18 for the Tech victory.
Two other Tech wrestlers from that 2007 recruit class helped put Tech on the board. At 141 pounds, Chris Diaz had a 16-0 technical fall against Ryan Watson in his match that was stopped at 4:22 into the second period. Tommy Spellman finished with an 8-1 decision over Bill Widener at the 184-pound mark.
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