Hokie ClubNEW YORK CITY - The Hokies opened competition at the 2016 NCAA National Championship on Thursday and currently sit in a tie for 5th place with Mizzouri and Iowa with 17.5 points after the first full day.
Joey Dance opened the day with an 8-2 decision over Alfredo Rodriguez of SIUE and advances to take on David Terao of American (26-5) in the second round. At 141 pounds, Solomon Chishko made his debut on the NCAA stage with a 9-3 victory, facing Logan Everett of Army (19-13) next. Nick Brascetta held on for a 9-4 victory over Russell Parsons of Army in his fourth trip to Nationals.
Freshman David McFadden made a big splash inhis first trip to the NCAA championship, pinning his opponent in 4:44 to move on to the next round. He will face Bo Jordan of Ohio State (17-2) next. Zack Zavatsky won a 9-3 decision to become the fifth Hokie to advance to the second round and was immediately followed by a 6-2 win from Jared Haught. Ty Walz rounded out the first session with a 5-2 victory over Tanner Hall of Arizona State.
Seven Hokies will advanced to the second round of competition on Thursday. Chishko, Brascetta, Zavatsky and Walz all advanced to the quarterfinals with victories.
Dance opened the evening session for Tech, falling in a tough battle to 15 seed David Terao of American. At 141 pounds, Chishko continued his dominant day with a 16-1 tech fall victory over Logan Everett of Army and will advance to face second seeded Joey McKenna of Stanford in the quarterfinals.
Redshirt senior Brascetta downed the ninth seeded Richie Lewis of Rutgers 7-6 in a back-and-forth match that featured six lead changes. Fourteenth seeded McFadden gave three seed Bo Jordan of Ohio State everything he had but couldn’t get the win, dropping an 8-3 decision.
Zavatsky won a 3-1 decision in a rematch with Hayden Zillmer of North Dakota State, who beat the redshirt freshman 7-5 in November. Zavatsky and Chishko will both advance to the quarterfinals in their first trip to Nationals, an impressive feat for the young wrestlers.
Haught took unseeded Patrick Downey of Iowa State to overtime before being pinned. Walz, facing Joseph Goodhart of Drexel in his first match of the day, won the third bonus victory on the day for the Hokies with a 16-5 major decision.
Brascetta is making his second appearance in the quarterfinals and Walz joins the freshmen in making first appearances.
The Hokies will be back in action at 11 AM EST on Friday and all the action is available on ESPN3.
In the first round of consolation matches, Epperly bounced back to win a 17-2 tech fall over Rustin Barrick of Bucknell to advance in the consolation rounds.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS AND FRIDAY’S OPPONENTS AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
125: #2 seed Joey Dance
First Round: def. Alfredo Rodriguez (SIUE), 8-2
Second Round: lost to #15 seed David Terao (American), 5-3
Consolations: vs. Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion) - FRIDAY
141: #7 seed Solomon Chishko
First Round: def. Mike Pongracz (UTC),9-3
Second Round: def. Logan Everett (Army), TF 16-1
Quarterfinals: vs. #2 seed Joey McKenna (Stanford) - FRIDAY
157: #8 seed Nick Brascetta
First Round: def. Russell Parsons (Army), 9-4
Second Round: def. #9 seed Richie Lewis (Rutgers), 7-6
Quarterfinals: vs. #1 seed Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) - FRIDAY
165: #14 seed David McFadden
First Round: def. Cooper Moore (UNI), fall 4:44
Second Round: lost to #3 Bo Jordan (Ohio State), 8-3
Consolations: vs. Casey Fuller (Edinboro) - FRIDAY
174: #8 seed Zach Epperly
First Round: lost to Casey Kent (Penn), 3-2
Consolations: def. Rustin Barrick (Bucknell), TF 17-2
Consolations: vs. #10 seed Michael Ottinger (Central Michigan) - FRIDAY
184: #5 seed Zack Zavatsky
First Round: def. Andrew Romanchik (Ohio), 9-3
Second Round: def. Hayden Zillmer (NDSU), 3-1
Quarterfinals: vs. #13 Pete Renda (NC State) - FRIDAY
197: #6 seed Jared Haught
First Round: def. Sam Wheeler (CSU), 6-2
Second Round: lost to Patrick Downey (ISU), fall
Consolations: vs. Chip Ness (UNC) - FRIDAY
285: #3 seed Ty Walz
First Round: def. Tanner Hall (ASU), 5-2
Second Round: def. Joseph Goodhart (Drexel), MD 16-5
Quarterfinals: vs. Brooks Black (Illinois) - FRIDAY