Collegiate Times

“There’s no question about it. We’re going to Charlottesville to win the ACC.”

Although that seems like a bold statement by head coach Kevin Dresser, it suits the confident attitude that this year’s Hokie wrestling team has exuded throughout the season, while spending most of the winter ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Dresser is the mastermind behind this Virginia Tech team that has seemingly come out of nowhere, and is all of the sudden a legitimate national title contender.

Before the NCAA Championships in two weeks, the No. 6 Hokies (20-4, 5-0) must take care of business this weekend at the ACC Championships, which will take place at the esteemed John Paul Jones Arena at UVa.

“I can’t wait,” said Devin Carter, a freshman from Christiansburg. “I’m excited, because not only do I get to prepare for nationals, I also get to sum up my season.”

While Carter, who competes in the 133-pound weight class, will make his first appearance at the ACCs, several Hokies are veterans when it comes to this weekend’s meet. Jarrod Garnett (125), Brian Stephens (149), Jesse Dong (157) and Matt Epperly (174) all took home titles last year, and will look to do much of the same on Saturday.

“Absolutely,” Dong said, in reference to defending his title. “I’ve been training hard and doing everything I can do to prepare for this.”

Dong, the backbone of this Hokie squad all season, realizes the importance of Saturday’s meet.

“Nationals is the big dance, but you’ve got to qualify through the ACC first,” Dong said. “You’ve got to take it one match at a time.”

If all Tech wrestlers finishes the way they’re seeded, six Hokies will compete at nationals in two weeks. And that meet, as Dresser says, is where this team’s ultimate goals lie.

“(This weekend’s) not the No. 1 focus of our season,” Dresser said. “Philadelphia in a couple weeks is the No. 1 focus. But at the same time, it’s important for us to finish business. We feel like we have some unfinished business in the ACC.”

Dresser was referring to the team’s unfortunate finish last year at the conference tournament. Despite placing six wrestlers in the finals, with four of them coming out as champions, Tech walked out with a third place finish. Dresser said the team needs more than just a good performance.

“Any time you win a championship you need a little luck,” he said. “We wrestled very well last year, but we got zero luck. If we (perform that well) this year and still get third, I’ll be shocked.”

Garnett, Carter, Dong and David Marone (285) will enter the tournament as No. 1 seeds, and all expect to finish as such and advance to nationals. The other two wrestlers who would qualify based on their seeds are Chris Diaz (141) and Pete Yates (165).

Two more Hokies — Stephens and Epperly — could very easily defy their seeds and place high enough to advance to the NCAAs. Although both are defending ACC champs, neither had quite the regular season they were hoping for.

Both will need to finish in the top two of their respective weight classes to advance to the NCAAs. Stephens comes into the meet as a No. 3 seed, Epperly as a No. 4.

While it would be a big accomplishment to bring home the school’s first ACC wrestling championship, and first conference wrestling championship in 13 years, it’s clear this program is focused on much more.

“I think we’ve shown this year that we can be a national contender,” Dresser said.

He said consistency will be the key for the Hokies to continue their success not only this season, but also in subsequent years.

“We have to have consistency now,” Dresser said. “We have to have consistency year in and year out, and we’ve got to earn it. Not only in the next two weeks, but, more importantly in the offseason like we have the last couple offseasons. It’s a process.”

A version of this article appeared in the Mar 3 issue of the Collegiate Times.