Mueller Claims ACC Championship At 125 Pounds
BLACKSBURG, Va. –Junior Jack Mueller (Dallas, Texas) became the most recent Virginia wrestler to claim an ACC Championship, winning the title at 125 pounds to lead Virginia in competition on Saturday (March 9) at the ACC Championships.
It marks Mueller’s first ACC Championship, as he claimed the title at 125 pounds with a 10-2 major decision over second-seeded Sean Fausz of NC State. He is the first ACC Champion for Virginia since George DiCamillo won the title at 133 pounds in the 2016 season. Mueller went undefeated on the day, posting a 13-3 major decision over fourth-seeded Joe Heilmann of North Carolina in the semifinals before posting his championship-round victory.
Redshirt sophomore Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va.) finished as runner-up at 197 pounds to give the Cavaliers a pair of podium finishes for the day.
By virtue of advancing to the finals, both Aiello and Mueller also earned All-ACC honors.
Four Virginia wrestlers earned bids to the NCAA Championships with redshirt freshman Cam Coy (Jeannette, Pa.) and redshirt senior Will Schany (Blair, Neb.) earning automatic bids at 165 and 184 pounds, respectively. They joined Aiello and Mueller in securing automatic bids. It will be the first NCAA Championship appearance for both Aiello and Coy, while Schany will be making his second straight appearance. Mueller is a three-time NCAA qualifier.
“Jack (Mueller) was the story of the day for us,” said Virginia head coach Steve Garland. “He’s such a competitor. We need more of that right now. Jay (Aiello) didn’t have a great finals, but he will learn from this and I know he can do damage at the NCAA Championships in a couple of weeks. He’s such a great kid. He will listen and make adjustments. We have four through to the NCAAs, but we hope to get a couple more at large bids. Now our focus is Pittsburgh”
“Obviously, I’m going to be hard on these guys as a whole after this tournament, but what we saw was a lot of young guys get a little shell-shocked out of the gates. They’re having to cultivate the ever-important skill of learning how to win, biting down and finding ways to finish matches. That’s how you become a winner, by finding ways to win and not make the mistake that costs you. We’ve got guys who are still learning how to do that and we saw some make adjustments after that first round. But, learning that skill will be critical to us turning the corner.”
After receiving a first-round bye, Aiello split his matches on the day. He started competition with a 7-5 decision over Duke’s Alec Schenk in the semifinals before finishing as runner-up with his loss by a 13-6 decision to NC State’s Malik McDonald in the finals.
Coy earned his automatic berth to the ACC Championship by finishing in the top four at 165 pounds. After receiving a first-round bye, Coy dropped his semifinal match by decision to third-seeded Daniel Bullard of NC State, but responded with a victory over fifth-seeded Sawyer Davidson of North Carolina in the consolation semifinals. The win over Davidson put him in the third-place match and assured him of one of the ACC’s automatic bids for his weight class. He then dropped a major decision to fourth-seeded Zach Finesilver of Duke in the third-place match.
Schany became the fourth Virginia wrestler to lock up an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships when he finished fifth at 184 pounds. The deepest weight class of the league, the sixth-seeded Schany battled third-seeded, and fourth-ranked nationally, Nick Reenan of NC State in his opening round. He dropped that match to Reenan by decision before being pinned by fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Chip Ness of North Carolina. Schany was dominant in his final bout, building an early lead on the way to a 10-5 decision over Duke’s Kaden Russell to lock up his NCAA bid.
The NCAA Championships will be held at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The event runs March 21-23. Virginia will await the announcement of at-large bids on Tuesday (March 12) to see if any other Cavalier wrestlers will be named to the field. Brackets and seeding announcements will be made at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday (March 13).
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. NC State – 93.5
2. Virginia Tech – 86.0
3. North Carolina – 47.5
4. Pittsburgh – 41.0
5. Duke – 39.0
6. VIRGINIA – 27.5
125
No. 1 seed Jack Mueller – ACC Champion
1st Rd: Bye
Semifinals: Mueller major dec. No. 4 seed Joe Heilmann (UNC), 13-3
Finals: Mueller major dec. No. 2 seed Sean Fausz (NCSU), 10-2
Mueller earns automatic bid to NCAA Championships
133
No. 5 seed Louie Hayes
1st Rd: No. 4 seed Korbin Myers (VT) major dec. Hayes, 10-1
Conso. Semifinals: No. 3 seed Gary Wayne Harding (UNC) major dec. Hayes, 11-3
141
No. 6 seed Sam Krivus
1st Rd: No. 3 seed A.C. Headlee (UNC) dec. Krivus, 3-2
Conso. Semifinals: No. 4 seed Josh Finesilver (Duke) dec. Krivus, 17-11
149
No. 5 seed Michael Murphy
1st Rd: No. 4 seed Ryan Blees (VT) dec. Murphy, 2-0
Conso. Semifinals: No. 3 seed Justin Oliver (NCSU) major dec. Murphy, 11-3
157
No. 5 seed Jake Keating
1st Rd: Keating by injury default over No. 4 seed Josh McClure (UNC)
Semifinals: No. 1 seed Hayden Hidlay (NCSU) tech fall Keating, 16-0 (3:12)
Conso. Semifinals: No. 6 seed Ben Anderson (Duke) pinned Keating, 1:59
165
No. 2 seed Cam Coy
1st Rd: Bye
Semifinals: No. 3 seed Thomas Bullard (NCSU) dec. Coy, 7-1
Conso. Semifinals: Coy dec. No. 5 seed Sawyer Davidson (UNC), 11-7
Conso. Finals: No. 4 seed Zach Finesilver (Duke) major dec. Coy, 12-0
Coy earns automatic bid to NCAA Championships
174
No. 6 seed Robert Patrick
1st Rd: No. 3 seed Daniel Bullard (NCSU) major dec. Patrick, 11-1
Conso. Semifinals: No. 4 seed Devin Kane (UNC) dec. Patrick, 8-6
184
No. 6 seed Will Schany
1st Rd: No. 3 seed Nick Reenan (NCSU) dec. Schany, 11-8
Conso. Semifinals: No. 4 seed Chip Ness (UNC) pinned Schany, 6:04
Fifth-Place Match: Schany dec. No. 5 seed Kaden Russell (Duke), 10-5
Schany earns automatic bid to NCAA Championships
197
No. 1 seed Jay Aiello – Runner-Up Finish
1st Rd: Bye
Semifinals: Aiello dec. Alec Schenk (Duke), 7-5
Finals: No. 3 seed Malik McDonald (NCSU) dec. Aiello, 13-6
AIello earns automatic bid to NCAA Championships
HWT
No. 4 seed Tyler Love
1st Rd: No. 5 seed Deonte Wilson (NCSU) dec. Love, 8-3
Conso. Semifinals: No. 3 seed Billy Miller (VT) major dec. Love, 10-2