Dear Friends,
We had a great start to our season this weekend. Copied below is the full release from our team website. For all those who want a little more detail..here is my breakdown of the tri-meet:
125: Matt Snyder did not compete in the dual meets b/c he had a minor skin issue and had to be held out for medical reasons. He was fully planning on wrestling but the issue popped up the day before the competition and we had to do the right thing in compliance w/ NCAA rules/protocol. I want to assure you all that he is not injured and he will be competing w/ us at the NC State Open this coming weekend.
133: The biggest story of the day in my opinion was the debut of Matt Nelson!! For those who don't know, Matt is Nick Nelson's twin brother and was just a big a recruit coming out of high school as his bro. He suffered a serious concussion in his senior year and was told by doctors that he would never wrestle again. Matt however, never gave up hope and battled for more than four years to get back on the mats. He not only made it back in the wrestling room, but was cleared to compete, dropped 30 pounds over a period of 6 months and won the starting spot in our line-up. He then went out in his first competition in over 4 years and gets two pins!!! Wow....I was so happy for him I didn't really know what to say. After the match I just hugged him and smiled. He truly is an inspiration to our entire program.
141: Nick Nelson did was he always does and went hard the whole match. Using some tough hand-fighting and several shots he wore out his Campbell opponent and earned a major decision victory. The bigger story at this weight class (I say that b/c frankly, Nick going out and wrestling hard is no surprise and we expect him to wrestle at that level b/c he is that good) was Sam MacGregor making getting his first ever varsity win against Anderson in the second dual of the day. Sam is a "walk on" from Chancelor HS (Virginia) who walked into my office 4 years ago and asked me if he could be on the team. Ever since that day, he has always worked his tail off in our room and has gained the love and respect of his teammates. We have all grown to like him very much and therefore decided that he should get the bout in the second dual. He went out there and made everyone very proud, as he put up a bunch of points before eventually pinning his opponent in the second period. Way to go Sam!
149: The "hurricane" Shawn Harris is back and better than ever. Shawn wrestled 157lbs for us last year and though he wrestled well, we realized that 149lbs was a better weight class for him. He made the drop through tremendous discipline and a meticulous diet plan and looked great on Saturday. He did a great job of transitioning from different scoring positions on his feet and put up points in bunches..which helped him earn a major decision victories in each match.
157: Much like Shawn, Jedd Moore dropped a weight class as well from 165lbs and is now our starting 157lber. Jedd, a returning NCAA Qualifer and former 30 match winner, has a great gas tank and wrestles very hard. He was able to wear out his opponent and then eventually rack up big points in the second and third periods. Jedd is another wrestler who has battled back from serious injuries but is finally healthy and will one of the most entertaining guys to watch this year. Nicky Gordon wrestled the second match against Anderson and did a nice job as well. He scored on a variety of high crotch and double leg takedowns and cruised to a win.
165: Redshirt Freshman Nick Sulzer made his official debut for us and didn't disappoint. Nick went 25-5 last year and won four Open tournament championships. He was a high school national champion coming out and is one of the most talented kids I have ever worked with. That talent was on display this weekend. He ranked up 19 points against Campbell's best wrestler and was never in danger of giving up an offensive point. Keep an eye on this kid this season.
174: Billy Coggins wrestled both duals and came home with a one and one record. Billy is a great kid all around. He is a great student, has strong character and is always working hard. I have said this before, but he has arguably the best technique in the room. He has all the tools but needs to keep working on opening up and letting it all go out there in competition. His match with the Campbell wrestler was tied 3-3 late in the third period when he stepped into a shot and was taken down right at the end of the match. The good news was that Billy was pushing hard and trying to pick up the pace and just made a mistake. This can be corrected. He then went out in the next dual and put some great things together and won handily.
184: Jon Fausey is one of the best 184lbers in the country. We brought him in b/c we believed he would be a champion in all areas and he is living that out right now. He's a 3.8 student that absolutely loves training and loves wrestling. He went out this weekend, got the first takedown in both matches and then earned quick technical falls based mostly on tilts and turns.
197: Transfer Ryan Malo wrestled both duals this weekend and split the matches to start the season 1-1. Ryan got down early against John Weakly from Campbell but stormed back to close the gap to a 10-7 match. Ryan is very tough from the top position but needs to do a better job of not giving up points early. We joke that he is a bigger version of Matt Snyder in our office. He is extremely flexible, hard to finish on and a beast on top (sounds very similar to Matty Snyder if you have ever seen him compete). He showed this in the second match where he earned a third period fall.
Hwt: Redshirt Freshman Derek Papagianopolous got the crowd on their feet this weekend with an explosive first period fall against Campbell. Derek, much like Nick Sulzer, had a great redshirt campaign a year ago and has been so excited for his debut. He wasted no time in showing why he was such a big recruit out of high school, scoring on three high amplitude double legs...the final one ending in a fall. I had so many people come up to me after the match and say things like "I have never seen a heavyweight wrestle like that....it was so exciting". It was great to hear that and I couldn't agree more. In the Anderson match, first year Ethan Hayes made his debut for our program. Ethan, a 2x State Champion from Ohio, is just as explosive in some positions as his teammate Derek but just not as experienced yet. He scored on a some nice counter attacks by the edge of the mat and earned a solid 6-2 win. Ethan is another special kid who wants to win badly. We are blessed to have him on the team and look forward to watching him develop.
***Also of note, we had another group of young men compete at the Hokie Open tournament the following day. All our kids won matches but some special mentions are Joe Martinez (133), Blaise Butler (157) and Pat Gillen (Hwt). Martinez won 3 matches against some very tough competition and was eventually knocked out of the tournament in the placing round to UNC-Chapel Hill starter and former ACC place-winner Pat Owens 3-2. He defeated the Old Dominion starter and put up some big points along the way. I think it was a great start to his career overall. Blaise Butler, also a first year, made the semi-finals of his first ever college tournament. Not too shabby for a kid from Illinois that never won a state championship. We saw something special in Blaise and brought him in here expecting him to develop quickly. Well...he certainly has done that. He went 4-2 on the day and placed 5th. He got some invaluable experience out of this tourney and we look forward to seeing what he can do this coming weekend again. Lastly, first year Pat Gillen (who had a war of a wrestle off w/ Derek Papagianopolous just a week ago) made the semis as well and eventually placed 4th. He went 4-2 on the day as well and has made one heck of an adjustment moving up to HWT (he was a 4x HS All American at 189 and 215lbs). He is another very smart kid that everyone in our program is fond of. He is just a fun guy to be around. Our HWT group is the most fun for me to watch in our wrestling room. Can't wait to see what these guys do next.
Stay tuned for the weekend highlights and "match of the week" that will be put on our facebook page asap.
Best,
Coach Garland
Steve Garland
Head Wrestling Coach
The University of Virginia
PO Box 400844
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4844
Work: 434-982-5738
Cell: 434-962-0171
Fax: 434-243-7339
Thanks Coach for the info. Where is Salopek? I graduated from the same high school as Mike back in 1990. And that is an incredible mission statement. May your hard work help you obtain your goals this year. Chris Feltes Asst coach Northampton,VA
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