PITTSBURGH – Redshirt freshman Mekhi Lewis clinched All-American honors and advanced to the semifinals at 165 pounds with a 3-1 victory over top-seeded Alex Marinelli of Iowa on Friday morning at the 2019 NCAA Championships in PPG Paints Arena.
Including Lewis, four Hokies are still alive entering tonight's "blood round". Redshirt junior David McFadden (174 pounds), redshirt senior Zack Zavatsky (184) and redshirt senior Tom Sleigh (197) will all wrestle for a spot on the podium in the consolation bracket. The Hokies are in a three-way tie for 10th in the team race with Nebraska and Cornell with 26.5 team points.
Lewis will face the No. 4 seed Evan Wick of Wisconsin in the semifinals. Session IV action gets underway at 8 p.m. tonight. The session will be broadcast on ESPN and on the WatchESPN platforms.
SESSION III NOTES
- With the win, Lewis became the 22nd All-American in program history. The Hokies have now claimed 36 individual All-American medals in program history.
- This is Tech's eighth-consecutive season with at least one All-American.
- With the score tied at 1-1 in the third period, Lewis and Marinelli got into a scramble situation and Lewis came out on top in the final seconds for two.
- Marinelli, who entered Friday with a record of 25-0, was the first No. 1 seed to fall at this year's championships.
- Zavatsky and Sleigh both fell in their quarterfinals matches by decision. Zavatsky will face Nebraska's Taylor Venz in the blood round while Sleigh will take on Iowa's Jacob Warner.
- David McFadden continued his run through the backside of the bracket by defeating Iowa State's Marcus Coleman by a 6-2 decision and Rutgers' Joe Grello by a 7-3. He's matched up with Northern Iowa's Taylor Lujan this evening.
- Four Hokies saw their seasons come to close during the morning session; redshirt junior Korbin Myers (133), freshman Mitch Moore (141), redshirt senior Ryan Blees (149) and redshirt sophomore B.C. LaPrade (157).
- Three of those four contributed at least one bonus point win for the team race.
Gallery: (3/22/2019) 2019 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS THREE
No. 14 Korbin Myers (2-2)
R32: Myers MD No. 19 Josh Terao (American), 11-3
R16: No. 3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) dec. Myers, 7-2
Consi Rd. 2: Myers WBF No. 29 Gary Joint (Fresno State), 4:54
Consi Rd. 3: Tariq Wilson (NC State) MD Myers, 13-0
No. 24 Mitch Moore (1-2)
R32: No. 9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) MD Moore, 11-3
Consi Rd. 1: Moore WBF No. 25 Josh Finesilver (Duke), 1:41
Consi Rd. 2: No. 23 Sam Turner (Wyoming) dec. Moore, 5-4
No. 26 Ryan Blees (1-2)
R32: Blees dec. No. 7 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State), 5-1 (SV OT)
R16: No. 10 Pat Lugo (Iowa) dec. Blees, 4-2 (SV OT 2)
Consi Rd. 2: No. 25 Russell Rohfling (CSUB) WBF Blees, 4:16
No. 17 B.C. LaPrade (1-2)
R32: No. 16 John Van Brill (Rutgers) MD LaPrade, 10-2
Consi Rd. 1: LaPrade MD No. 33 Ben Anderson (Duke), 12-4
Consi Rd. 2: No. 15 Eric Barone (Illinois) dec. LaPrade, 6-3
No. 8 Mekhi Lewis
R32: Lewis WBF No. 25 Cam Coy (Virginia), 6:49
R16: Lewis dec. No. 24 Cael McCormick (Army), 4-1
QF: Lewis dec. No. 1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa), 3-1
SF: Lewis vs. No. 4 Evan Wick (Wisconsin)
No. 6 David McFadden
R32: McFadden dec. No. 27 Vincent Deprez (Binghamton), 4-0
R16: No. 22 Ben Harvey (Army) dec. McFadden, 5-3 (SV OT)
Consi Rd. 2: McFadden dec. No. 21 Marcus Coleman (Iowa State), 6-2
Consi Rd. 3: McFadden dec. Joe Grello (Rutgers), 7-3
Consi Rd. 4: McFadden vs. No. 8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa)
No. 3 Zack Zavatsky
R32: Zavatsky dec. No. 30 Dom Ducharme (CSU Bakersfield), 8-2
R16: Zavatsky dec. No. 19 Cameron Caffey (Michigan State), 9-7
QF: No. 6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa) dec. Zavatsky, 6-2
Consi Rd. 4: Zavatsky vs. No. 9 Taylor Venz (Nebraska)
No. 10 Tom Sleigh
R32: Sleigh dec. No. 23 Kellan Stout (Pitt), 2-1
R16: Sleigh dec. No. 7 Jay Aiello (Virginia), 9-8
QF: No. 2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) dec. Sleigh, 17-11
Consi Rd. 4: Sleigh vs. No. 5 Jacob Warner (Iowa)
No. 22 Billy Miller (0-2)
R32: No. 11 Thomas Haines (Lock Haven) MD Miller, 13-4
Consi Rd. 1: No. 27 Cary Miller (App State) dec. Miller, 3-2