Four Hoos Opens NCAA Championships On Thursday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Four members of the Virginia wrestling team will take the mat in the quest for a championship on Thursday when the NCAA Wrestling Championships begin at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday (March 16).
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
First Round – 12 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Second Round – 7 p.m. ET – ESPN
Friday
Quarterfinals – 12 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Semifinals – 8 p.m. ET – ESPN
Saturday
Medal Rounds – 11 a.m. ET – ESPNU
Finals – 7 p.m. ET – ESPN
QUICK SHOTS
- The Hoos four wrestlers in the 2023 field with three earning a return bid to the NCAA Championships while Neil Antrassian is making his first trip to the NCAA Championships
- Justin McCoy earned his fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships and is the 14th four-time NCAA qualifier in Virginia program history
- McCoy claimed the ACC Championship at 165 pounds to earn his third All-ACC honor earlier this month
- McCoy also took fifth at the Midlands Championships with his only two losses coming to No. 10 Izzak Olejnik (N. Illinois) and No. 15 Dan Braunagel (Illinois)
- Michael Battista earned a bid for the second consecutive season after earning his first bid last year at 184 pounds
- Grad transfer Jarod Verkleeren – who is in his second year with the Hoos – earned a bid to the 2020 NCAA Championships that was canceled due to COVID
- Verkleeren locked up his bid with a third-place finish at the ACC Championships at the start of the month
- Grad transfer Neil Antrassian was named as an alternate to the 2022 NCAA Championships for Penn and earned his first outright bid to the tournament this season
- Antrassian took third at the Midlands Championships with wins over No. 30 Anthony Carman (West Virginia) and No. 12 Brian Soldano (Rutgers) in his final two matches
- All four wrestlers appear in the most recent Coaches Ranking and RPI: Jarod Verkleeren (28/28), Justin McCoy (15/18), Neil Antrassian (18/23) and Michael Battista (26/17)
VIRGINIA IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- UVA had wrestlers receive bids to the NCAA Championships for the 39th consecutive season in 2023
- The Cavaliers’ best finish under head coach Steve Garland is 15th in the 2010 and 2017 championships
- The best finish all-time for Virginia came in the program’s first appearance – 10th place in 1957
- Virginia has had four finalists at the NCAA Championships – Henry Jordan (1957 – HWT), Steve Garland (2000 – 125), George DiCamillo (2017 – 141) and Jack Mueller ( 2019 – 125)
- In addition to his finals appearance in 2019, Mueller also advanced to the semifinals in the 2017 NCAA Championships and took a sixth-place finish after having to medically withdraw
- All-time, Virginia has had 17 wrestlers garner All-America honors. Three earned the honor multiple times with Chris Henrich, Nick Sulzer and Jack Mueller being three-time All-Americans
- Brian Courtney advanced to the quarterfinals last season to mark five consecutive UVA quarterfinalists
HOOS AGAINST THE FIELD
- Jarod Verkleeren wrestled nine matches against wrestlers in his bracket with wins over Alec Hagan of Ohio and Nate Higley of George Mason
- Justin McCoy wrestled nine matches against the bracket with wins over Connor Brady (Virginia Tech), Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern), Will Formato (App. State) and Josh Kim (Harvard)
- Neil Antrassian had 10 matches against the field with wins over Carman, Reece Heller (Pitt), Caleb Hopkins (Campbell), Brian Soldano (Rutgers) and Zayne Lehman (Ohio)
- Battista has 12 matches against the field with wins over Jaxon Smith (Maryland), Jacob Koser (Navy), Max Shaw (UNC) and Cole Urbas (Penn).