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It has been a whirlwind season for Virginia’s wrestling team. The team has been beset by injuries all season, but despite this, the Cavaliers went 11-11 in dual meets including a schedule that featured seven ranked teams. Through all the injuries, there have been even more bright spots as the young Cavalier team continues to develop. This weekend, Virginia competes in its biggest tournament of the season, the ACC Championships, an event in which they took second place last year and missed winning the title by just two points. Today head coach Steve Garland takes a break from preparations for the championships to discuss the league championship as well as the potential for the NCAA Championships in a few weeks.
Question: Tell us about the upcoming ACC Championships and what you are looking for.
Garland: One of the main positives going in is we have Chris Henrich, who will be ranked as a No. 1 seed. He’s beaten everyone in the conference and he’s looking to get out of there with his first ACC title and perhaps even more importantly to lock up a top seven seed at nationals. He should at the very least be in the top eight if he wins ACCs. But obviously he still has to win at ACCs, and there are a few wrestlers in this field that gave him some problems this year.
It could be a phenomenal day. We really need to have a great day in order to do what we set out to do at the start of the year, which is to win an ACC Championship.
Question: Rocco Caponi has been bothered by injuries for much of the season, but he seems to be rounding into top form to defend his title at 184. What should we expect from him?
Garland: We need Rocco Caponi to step up and make this season what it should have been all along. He has been wrestling really well lately and his training has never been any better. There is no reason why he shouldn’t win the conference based on what he has done. He’s a two-time ACC champ. He’s beaten Barone from Duke twice before, but Barone is really good so it won’t be easy to beat him a third time.
Question: This is a big tournament for Brent Jones too. He has had a fantastic season, but the ACCs have not been kind to him.
Garland: He’s had a great year, but he has always struggled at ACCs. He took fourth twice, which is unacceptable. He has to improve on that. He really needs to step up.
Question: What are some interesting classes that we should be watching?
Garland: At 157 pounds, Jedd Moore hopefully will get a top-three seed, which would be fantastic. That weight class is a very level playing field. Nick Nelson will compete at 141, and every single guy in his weight class has been nationally ranked at some point this year and three were in the top 10.
We’re excited for Mike Sewell at 165 pounds. We think he will get a two or a three seed at the conference. It’s a crazy weight class, though, and there are a bunch of guys who could pull it out.
Matt Bonson at 133 has very tough class too. There are three automatic bids at that weight class going into nationals. That’s obviously a huge focus. Your goal always is to win ACCs, but you also keep in your mind that ‘I’ve got to finish in the top three or I’m not even going to nationals.’ That’s pretty important.
Question: Is there a possible sleeper in the group who could really surprise people?
Garland: Kellon Balum is fresh and won two wrestleoffs against Pete Ferrara to earn the spot. He’s a guy who took second in the conference as a freshman. He beat Krom of Maryland, who is now the No. 1 seed at 141, at ACCs, so he’s been known to upset guys at that tournament before. Kellon probably is going to be drawn in because he hasn’t had a great year. If he catches someone on the right day and is wrestling well, he is very capable of doing some big things for us.
Question: The ACC has nearly doubled its NCAA automatic qualifiers (from 14 to 27) this year. Has the qualifying system changed the mood going into ACCs this year?
Garland: It definitely has. Our guys are wicked excited. The whole concept of the new system is so that kids go into the conference meet knowing what they have to do. It’s not a bunch of guys in a back room picking it. Brent Jones knows that he has to finish in the top four to go to nationals. Matt Bonson knows he has to finish in the top three to go to nationals. It’s pretty clear-cut, and it’s exciting because going in you have a vision going in of what is going to happen. In years’ past, all the kids are sitting around and have no idea what is going on. They know if they didn’t get one of those automatic bids, there were only four wild card qualifiers. That’s a pretty tough thing to go into when you’re on the bubble. Now kids have a clear-cut directive of what they need to do.
Question: Do you think this is the toughest the ACC has ever been?
Garland: In recent years, I would definitely say so. And next year, even more so. That’s what is so cool – and people thought we were just blowing smoke and using it as a recruiting pitch. Everybody is young, and everybody is coming back. You look at the weight classes, everyone is coming back, and we’re getting a bunch of guys back off of redshirts and injuries. Our conference is going to be that much better next year.