ST. LOUIS – After the first round of the 2021 NCAA Championships at the Enterprise Center, Virginia Tech wrestling has five of their eight qualifiers moving into the Thursday night's Round of 16.
No. 2 Sam Latona, No. 3 Korbin Myers, No. 4 Mekhi Lewis, No. 5 Hunter Bolen and No. 6 Bryce Andonian all took care of business in the Round of 32, with Andonian, Bolen and Myers securing bonus points for the team. Andonian pinned Duke's Josh Finesilver, while Bolen and Myers each picked up major decisions.
With the first round of action over, the Hokies are currently ninth with 9.0 team points. Session II will get underway at 6 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN2 with all eight mat streams available on the ESPN app.
SESSION I NOTES
- Myers picked up his fourth major decision of the year with the 13-4 win.
- After pinning Finesilver earlier in the season, Andonian did it again for his third pin of the year. The sophomore has now earned bonus points in six of his nine matches this season.
- Bolen got his third major decision of the season and has only surrendered one takedown in 11 matches this season.
125 – No. 2 Sam Latona
R32: Latona dec. No. 31 Jonathan Tropea (Rider), 12-7
R16: Latona vs. No. 15 Patrick McKee (Minnesota)
133 – No. 3 Korbin Myers
R32: Myers MD No. 30 Jordan Hamdan (Michigan St.), 13-4
R16: Myers vs. No. 14 Zach Price (South Dakota St.)
149 – No. 6 Bryce Andonian
R32: Andonian WBF No. 27 Josh Finesilver (Duke), 3:17
R16: Andonian vs. No. 11 Kanen Storr (Michigan)
157 – No. 27 Connor Brady
R32: No. 6 Brayton Lee (Minnesota) dec. Brady, 2-0
Consi Rd.: Brady vs. No. 22 Benjamin Barton (Campbell)
165 – No. 4 Mekhi Lewis
R32: Lewis dec. No. 29 Brian Meyer (Lehigh), 8-3
R16: Lewis vs. No. 13 Tanner Skidgel (Navy)
174 – No. 27 Dakota Howard
R32: No. 6 Andrew McNally (Kent St.) WBF Howard, 5:36
Consi Rd.: Howard vs. No. 22 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois)
184 – No. 5 Hunter Bolen
R32: Bolen MD No. 28 Dylan Ammerman (Lehigh), 15-3
R16: Bolen vs. No. 12 Nelson Brands (Iowa)
285 – No. 18 Hunter Catka
R32: No. 15 Carter Isley (Northern Iowa) dec. Catka, 3-1
Consi Rd.: Catka vs. No. 31 Andrew Gunning (North Carolina)