Eight Cavaliers Take The Mat At NCAA Championships Thursday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Eight members of the Virginia wrestling team open competition in the NCAA Championships at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit on Thursday (March 17). Wrestling begins with the opening rounds at noon.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Every round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks with the morning sessions all on ESPNU and the evening sessions on ESPN. The main broadcast stream and individual mats will also be streamed on the ESPN app and ESPN.com. Links to the primary broadcast stream are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates through the team’s official Twitter account (@UVAWrestling).
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday
12 p.m. – First Round – ESPNU
7 p.m. – Second Round – ESPN
Friday
11 a.m. – Quarterfinals – ESPNU
8 p.m. – Semifinals – ESPN
Saturday
11 a.m. – Medal Rounds – ESPNU
7 p.m. – Finals – ESPN
VIRGINIA QUALIFIERS/FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS
125: No. 32 seed Patrick McCormick vs. No. 33 seed Logan Ashton (Stanford)
133: No. 25 seed Brian Courtney vs. No. 8 seed RayVon Foley (Michigan State)
141: No. 33 seed Dylan Cedeno vs. No. 32 seed Josh Mason (Bloomsburg)
157: No. 14 seed Jake Keating vs. No. 19 seed Kendall Coleman (Purdue)
165: No. 19 seed Justin McCoy vs. No. 14 seed Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia)
184: No. 25 seed Michael Battista vs. No. 8 seed Marcus Coleman (Iowa State)
197: No. 17 seed Jay Aiello vs. No. 16 seed Kendall Norfleet (Arizona State)
285: No. 23 seed Quinn Miller vs. No. 10 seed Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)
NOTING THE HOOS IN THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
• Virginia has eight wrestlers headed to Detroit for the NCAA Championships one earning his fourth bid, two with their third, three earning their second consecutive bid and two making their first entry
• Jay Aiello (197) earned his fourth consecutive bid to become the 13th four-time qualifier in UVA history. He’s looking to add a second All-America honor to his accolades after earning the distinction in 2020.
• Justin McCoy (165) and Quinn Miller (285) earned third straight bids. It’s McCoy’s first at 165 after he earned bids at 157 pounds the previous two seasons.
• Brian Courtney (133), Jake Keating (157), Patrick McCormick (125) all earned a second-straight bid. Keating qualified at 165 pounds a year ago, while Courtney qualified at 141 pounds in 2021.
• Michael Battista (184) and Dylan Cedeno (141) both earned their first NCAA Championship berths.
EIGHT COMPETING CAVALIERS MATCHES LAST YEAR’S TOTAL
The eight qualifiers for the Cavaliers matches the total of qualifiers from a year ago and ties for the second-most in program history. Virginia sent eight wrestlers in 2021, 2014 and the 2010 seasons. The highest number of qualifiers ever for the Cavaliers was nine in the 2013 NCAA Championships.
FAMILIAR FOE AWAITS MILLER AT HEAVYWEIGHT
Quinn Miller has a familiar foe awaiting him in the opening round of competition as he will face off against Virginia Tech’s Nathan Traxler. The two wrestlers will meet each other for the third consecutive competition this season after facing each other in the regular-season finale and then the ACC Championships prior to this weekend.