Antrassian, McCoy Advance To Day Two At NCAA Championships

TULSA, Okla. – Neil Antrassian and Justin McCoy of the Virginia wrestling team advanced to the second day of competition at the NCAA Championships after splitting matches their first day matches on Thursday (March 16) at the BOK Center.

Wrestling for the second day of the NCAA Championships begins at 12 p.m. ET on Friday (March 17) and will be broadcast on ESPNU and streamed on the ESPN app and at ESPN.com.

HOW IT HAPPENED
McCoy started off the day with a 7-2 decision over Maxx Mayfield as the two met for the second time this season. McCoy and Mayfield first faced off in the Midlands Championships back in December. The 165-pound Cavalier then faced reigning NCAA champion and second-seeded Keegan O’Toole in the second round. O’Toole took the 5-2 decision over McCoy who will continue in the consolation rounds on Friday.

Antrassian opened his day with an upset in the first round as he took an 11-6 decision over Nebraska’s Lenny Pinto who was seeded 13th at 184 pounds. After falling behind early, Antrassian tied things up in the third period before grabbing the victory. The graduate transfer then faced fourth-seeded Trey Munoz of Oregon State in the second round and dropped a 6-2 decision to the Beaver wrestler.

Michael Battista (197) and Jarod Verkleeren (149) also wrestled for the Cavaliers on the opening day of competition, but saw their tournament runs come to an end after the two wrestlers dropped a pair of hard-fought matches.

NOTES ON THE DAY

• Justin McCoy’s second-round opponent, Keegan O’Toole, was the 2022 NCAA Champion.
• McCoy’s match Friday morning is a rematch of 2022 NCAA first-round match that McCoy won 6-1.
• Antrassian will face Binghamton’s Jacob Nolan on Friday.
• Michael Battista’s consolation match against Levi Hopkins was a rematch from the regular-season meeting in the dual against Campbell in December of 2022.
• Verkleeren’s consolation match was a rematch of a regular-season meeting with Doug Zapf from the Midlands Championships.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“We had some big wins today, but also some heartbreaking losses. Justin McCoy looked great today and it was the best he has wrestled all year. Neil Antrassian had a huge win against a stud from Nebraska to start his tournament. We also saw the tournament end for two of our veterans in Michael Battista and Jarod Verkleeren. Those guys absolutely wrestled their hearts out for Virginia today. I’m devastated for those guys, but I’m also excited to see Neil and Juddy (McCoy) continue to compete on Friday. The dream is still alive for those guys. We need to rally behind them and get them on the podium.”

149
No. 27 seed Jarod Verkleeren
R1: No. 6 seed Brock Mauller (Missouri) dec. Verkleeren, 11-5
Conso. R1: No. 11 seed Doug Zapf (Penn) dec. Verkleeren, 5-1

165
No. 15 seed Justin McCoy
R1: McCoy dec. No. 18 seed Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern), 7-2
R2: No. 2 seed Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) dec. McCoy, 5-2
Conso. R2: McCoy vs. No. 16 seed Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia) on Friday

184
No. 20 seed Neil Antrassian
R1: Antrassian dec. No. 13 seed Lenny Pinto (Nebraska), 11-6
R2: No. 4 seed Trey Muñoz (Oregon State) dec. Antrassian, 6-2
Conso. R2: Antrassian vs. No. 19 seed Jacob Nolan (Binghamton) on Friday

197
No. 25 seed Michael Battista
R1: No. 8 seed Silas Allred (Nebraska) dec. Battista, 13-7
Conso. R1: No. 24 seed Levi Hopkins (Campbell) dec. Battista, 6-4