Hayes Advances To Quarterfinals To Lead Virginia On Day One At NCAA Championships
ST. LOUIS – Redshirt senior Louie Hayes (Orland Park, Ill.) picked up a pair of wins on Thursday (March 18) to earn a spot in the quarterfinals and lead a trio of Virginia wrestlers into the second day of action at the NCAA Championships.
Hayes will be joined by redshirt senior Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va.) and redshirt junior Brian Courtney (Athens, Pa.) in day two of competition on Friday (March 19) at the Enterprise Center. Hayes will be competing in the quarterfinals at 133 pounds, while Aiello and Courtney will compete in the consolation brackets at 197 pounds and 141 pounds, respectively. Competition will begin at 11 a.m. ET and be broadcast on ESPNU.
Hayes advanced with a pair of wins on Thursday, taking a 5-2 decision over Boo Dryden of Minnesota in the opening round before rallying to take a 6-4 sudden victory decision over seventh-seeded Lucas Byrd of Illinois in the second round. He will face second-seeded Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State in Friday’s morning session.
Aiello and Courtney both picked up wins in the morning session, with Aiello taking a 10-2 major decision over Campbell’s Chris Kober and Courtney taking a 9-5 decision over Fresno State’s DJ Lloren. Both wrestlers dropped their second match of the day in the evening session with Courtney dropping a 7-3 decision to fourth-seeded Tariq Wilson of NC State, while Aiello dropped a 13-3 major decision to sixth-seeded Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt in a rematch of the finals of this year’s ACC Championship.
In all, eight wrestlers represented the Cavaliers on the first day of action to tie the mark for the second highest number of competitors in the NCAA Championships for Virginia.
Jake Keating (Naperville, Ill.), Patrick McCormick (Poquoson, Va.), Justin McCoy (New Paris, Pa.), Vic Marcelli (Massillon, Ohio) and Quinn Miller (Lilburn, Ga.) all saw their season end in the evening session on Thursday. It marked the first NCAA berths for Keating, McCormick and Marcelli. McCoy and Miller also saw their first live action at the event despite earning bids to the NCAA Championships in 2020 before the event was canceled prior to competition.
NOTES ON DAY ONE ACTION
• Hayes advances to the quarterfinals for the second time in his career. He also started 2-0 in the 2018 NCAA Championships to advance to the quarterfinal round as a redshirt freshman.
• Hayes can lock up All-America honors with a win in his first match of the day on Friday. Aiello and Courtney are also still in the hunt for All-America honors as part of the consolation bracket.
• All three wrestlers are still in the hunt for a spot on the podium as Hayes is still in the hunt for an NCAA Championship with his two wins, while Aiello and Courtney can still place as high as third going through the consolation bracket.
• Patrick McCormick won his first match, claiming a 5-2 decision over Iowa State’s Kysen Terukina in the 125-pound pigtail match before facing top-seeded and defending NCAA Champion Spencer Lee of Iowa.
FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“We are really proud of Louie Hayes and excited that he is in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. His quest for an NCAA title is intact. We had a lot of ups and downs in a very, very long day today. We had some guys wrestle their hearts out, but we had some other guys who had a rough day. The bottom line is that some guys weren’t wrestling to dominate and that will cost you out here. This tournament is as brutal as it gets and you can’t afford mistakes out here.”
VIRGINIA’S DAY ONE RESULTS
125
No. 32 seed Patrick McCormick
Pigtail Match: McCormick dec. No. 33 seed Kysen Terukina (Iowa State), 5-2
R1: No. 1 seed Spencer Lee (Iowa) tech fall McCormick, 16-1 (1:33)
Conso. R1: No. 16 seed Codi Russell (App. State) dec. McCormick, 8-6
133
No. 10 seed Louie Hayes
R1: Hayes dec. No. 23 seed Boo Dryden (Minnesota), 5-2
R2: Hayes dec. No. 7 seed Lucas Byrd (Illinois), 6-4 (sv-1)
QF: Hayes vs. No. 2 seed Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) – Friday morning
141
No. 20 seed Brian Courtney
R1: Courtney dec. No. 13 seed DJ Lloren (Fresno State), 9-5
R2: No. 4 seed Tariq Wilson (NC State) dec. Courtney, 7-3
Conso. R2: Courtney vs. No. 30 seed Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) – Friday morning
157
No. 16 seed Justin McCoy
R1: No. 17 seed Requir van der Merwe (Stanford) dec. McCoy, 3-2
Conso. R1: No. 33 seed Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) dec. McCoy, 6-2
165
No. 12 seed Jake Keating
R1: No. 21 seed Peyton Hall (West Virginia) major dec. Keating, 14-4
Conso. R1: No. 28 seed Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb) dec. Keating, 9-7
174:
No. 30 seed Vic Marcelli
R1: No. 3 seed Carter Starocci (Penn State) major dec. Marcelli, 10-2
Conso Pigtail: No. 33 seed Jacob Nolan (Binghamton) dec. Marcelli, 4-2
197
No. 11 seed Jay Aiello
R1: Aiello major dec. No. 22 seed Chris Kober (Campbell), 10-2
R2: No. 6 seed Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) major dec. Aiello, 13-3
Conso. R2: Aiello vs. No. 21 seed Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) – Friday morning
HWT
No. 20 seed Quinn Miller
R1: No. 13 seed Brian Andrews (Wyoming) dec. Miller, 6-4
Conso. R1: No. 29 seed Austin Harris (Oklahoma State) dec. Miller, 8-2