Collegiate Times

125: #13 Jarrod Garnett (VT) tech falls Trey Hicks(Clarion), 17-1 (4:34)

After several years of highly-rated recruiting classes, the Virginia Tech wrestling team finally burst on to the national stage with a second-place finish in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duels on Jan. 8-9.

Coming into the tournament, the Hokies were ranked No. 12 and given the No. 7 seed in the bracket. However, the Hokies shocked the wrestling world with upsets over No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Wisconsin on consecutive days to reach the finals.

“It lets everyone know that Virginia Tech is a force now in Division 1 wrestling,” said Kevin Dresser, the team’s head coach.

Tech did lose in the finals against Cornell — the top team in the country — but the second place finish was good enough jump Tech eight spots in the rankings to the No. 4 spot.

The weekend started with the Hokies rolling over a No. 17 Central Michigan squad. Tech won eight of the 11 matches, including three by major decision.

Following the one match they were actually favored in, the Hokies were put up against Oklahoma State.

“Looking at it, we thought we matched up really well against Oklahoma State. 

Looking at the matchups, we knew that if we got a couple of upsets, we could win that match,” said team member Jarrod Garnett. “We knew we could beat them if everyone fell into their place.”

In a much closer battle, the Hokies scrapped by with an 18-16 victory over the Cowboys, thanks to upsets by Garnett and Brian Stephens.

“By far, this is the biggest win for the Virginia Tech program,” Dresser said. “All 10 guys went out and fought their tails off for us today.”

It might have been the biggest win in the program’s history, but that didn’t mean the Hokies were done. In fact, it didn’t get any easier.

Tech took to the mat the very next day against Wisconsin and pulled yet another upset over a Top-5 team. Despite losing six of the 10 matchups, the Hokies took the meet 20-19 thanks to a major decision by Garnett and technical fall victories by Chris Diaz and Matt Epperly.

Diaz’s technical fall was also his 100th victory — making him the fifth wrestler in the program’s history to hit that landmark.

Tech wasn’t able to finish off the Cinderella story and fell to the Big Red, 25-10, in the finals later that day, but the loss didn’t keep the Tech program from being the buzz of the weekend.

The Hokies have won two meets since their big statement weekend — one at North Carolina to begin conference play, and another against Clarion in the team’s home opener.

Tech’s next meet will be at No. 18 Rutgers on Jan. 21, but the schedule also has the Hokies matched up against ACC foes Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Duke among others.

Coming off of an emotional weekend at the National Duels, Tech will look to use that newfound confidence to improve its play, rather than get complacent and rest on its laurels.

“At the beginning of the season, everything was a stepping-stone to the National Duels,” said Jessie Dong. “Now, the National Duels become another stepping-stone and we have to keep improving and we can’t lose our edge.”

A version of this article appeared in the Jan 19 issue of the Collegiate Times.