BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech volunteer assistant coach Ty Walz placed second at the 2019 World Team Trials in Raleigh, N.C., over the weekend to retain his spot at 97 kg on the United States' national team.
Walz is the only wrestler to ever represent the Hokies on the senior men's freestyle national team. Joining him at 97 kilos is NCAA champion Kyven Gadson and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder.
The Cleveland native went 2-0 in the challenge tournament where he defeated California RTC's Daniel Chaid, 12-8, and New York Athletic Club's Kevin Beazley, 11-4, to advance to the best of three finals against Gadson. Gadson would narrowly claim two bouts by the scores of 3-2 and 3-0 to move on to Final X in Lincoln, Neb., next month for a spot on the World Team.
New assistant coach Cody Brewer nearly earned a spot on the national team as well as he placed third at 61 kg. Brewer, who won the US Open at his weight, lost two matches in the finals and dropped the true second place match.
In junior freestyle, redshirt freshman John Borst lost his first match in the main bracket but wrestled back to place third at 125 kg. He beat Duke's Zach Knighton-Ward 10-1 in the third-place match. Freshman Cody Howard also advanced to the third-place match and placed fourth at 92 kg.