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Wrestling

Lewis moves on to the finals at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships

Session IV Brackets

PITTSBURGH – Two more Virginia Tech wrestlers earned All-American honors and redshirt freshman Mekhi Lewis won his semifinals match to advance to the national finals at 165 pounds on Saturday night at the NCAA Championships in PPG Paints Arena.
 
Lewis, who knocked off another higher-seeded grappler from the Big Ten to become only the third national finalist in program history, defeated fourth-seeded Evan Wick of Wisconsin by a 5-2 decision.
 
Redshirt junior David McFadden defeated eighth-seeded Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa by a 16-2 major decision to become only the fifth three-time All-American in program history. Following McFadden, redshirt senior Zack Zavatsky clinched All-American honors for the second time in his career by defeating Nebraska's Taylor Venz, 5-4.
 
McFadden went on to win again by a 2-0 decision, this time avenging a loss earlier this season against Lehigh's Jordan Kutler that kept himself in contention for third place. Zavatsky lost his next match to Illinois' Emery Parker by a 7-4 decision and will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow.
 
The Hokies are in 10th place in the team standings entering Saturday with 45.0 points. The medal round will begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow and the finals will start at 7 p.m. The morning session will be broadcast live on ESPNU and the championships will be shown on ESPN.
 


 
SESSION IV NOTES

  • Virginia Tech has three All-Americans for the seventh-consecutive season, a streak that's shared with Cornell, Iowa, Oklahoma State and Penn State
  • Lewis is Virginia Tech's third-ever NCAA finalist, joining Devin Carter (2014) and Jared Haught (2018). It's the first time the Hokies have had finalists in back-to-back seasons.
  • Lewis' win over top-seeded Alex Marinelli of Iowa during the morning session was Virginia Tech's first win over a number one seed at the NCAA Championships.
  • McFadden joins Jared Haught, Ty Walz, Devin Carter and Nick Brascetta as the only three-time All-Americans in program history.
  • Since dropping his second-round match, McFadden has won four-straight matches in the consolation bracket.
  • Zavatsky is the 10th wrestler in Tech history to earn a spot on the podium twice.
  • Tom Sleigh fell just short of the podium after battling with Ohio State's Kollin Moore in the quarterfinals and Iowa's Jacob Warner in the blood round. He wraps up a career that saw him win 113 career matches.

 

 


 
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 dec. No. 4 Evan Wick (Wisconsin), 5-2
Finals: Lewis vs. No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)
 
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 MD No. 8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa), 20-9
Consi QF: McFadden dec. No. 5 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh), 2-0
Consi Semis: McFadden vs. No. 2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri)
 
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 dec. No. 9 Taylor Venz (Nebraska), 5-4
Consi Rd. 5: No. 4 Parker (Illinois) dec. Zavatsky, 7-4
Seventh Place: Zavatsky vs. No. 26 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
 
No. 10 Tom Sleigh (2-2)
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: No. 5 Jacob Warner (Iowa) dec. Sleigh, 6-2