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Wrestling

Hokies sweep ACC wrestling season awards

ACC Official Release

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The accolades for Virginia Tech Wrestling keep rolling in after a memorable 2023-2024 season with a clean sweep of Atlantic Coast Conference season awards as national champion Caleb Henson earned Wrestler of the Year, Thomas Stewart, Jr. snagged Freshman of the Year, and head coach Tony Robie was voted Coach of the Year to close out the season as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
 
The annual awards are determined by a vote of the league's head coaches.
 
Henson took the 149-pound weight class by storm last year with an ACC title and All-American honors in his collegiate debut – the only true freshman in program history to earn both – to be named ACC Freshman of the Year. The Cartersville, GA native further etched his name into Hokie lore this season as the second national champion in program history with a 15-7 performance over Michigan's multiple-time All-American and 2024 Olympian, Austin Gomez at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO on March 23. Henson is just the fifth Virginia Tech wrestler to be voted ACC Wrestler of the Year.
 


 
Ranked No. 5 for majority of the season, Henson rose to as high as No. 2 before capping a sensational sophomore campaign that saw him finish with a 30-2 record with 50% of his wins by bonus and a weight-class leading RPI.
 
Tech went back-to-back on Freshman of the Year honors as Stewart added his name to the party to become the eleventh Hokie to take home the award – giving Tech the honor in five of the last seven seasons. Stewart finished his remarkable debut season with a seventh-place All-American finish, an ACC title, and a 14-4 season record. Since the award was created in 2005, Tech leads the ACC in winning it the most with the next-best team being NC State with five.
 


 
The Hokies picked up ACC Coach of the Year award for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons. The honor is a three-peat and the fifth for Robie in his career at the helm for the Hokies with previously also being the lead vote getter by league coaches in 2023, 2022, 2019, and 2017.
 


 
Under Robie's guidance this season, Virginia Tech earned both league-leading finishes with a seventh-place NCAA Championship placement and produced four All-Americans – Henson, Mekhi Lewis (174, 4th), Bryce Andonian (157, 6th), and Stewart. The Hokies also stretched their streak of three or more All-Americans for the eleventh consecutive season, a streak shard only with Penn State and Iowa.
 


 
The Hokies claimed two individual gold medalists at the ACC Championships while placing second in the regular season and at the conference championships. The Hokies also sent ten qualifiers for the second consecutive season – just the third time in program history – and was one of seven programs to send a full lineup. The Robie-led Hokies were just one of three programs to send all ten competitors for two years in a row.
 
 
ACC Wrestler of the Year Award Winners
Caleb Henson, 2024
Mekhi Lewis, 2022
Mekhi Lewis, 2019
Pete Yates, 2013
Devin Carter, 2012
Mike Faust, 2006
 
ACC Freshman of the Year Award Winners
Thomas Stewart, Jr., 2024
Caleb Henson, 2023
Sam Latona, 2021
Mitch Moore, 2019
Hunter Bolen, 2018
David McFadden, 2016
Joey Dance, 2014
Nick Brascetta, 2012
Devin Carter, 2011
Brian Stephans, 2010
Jarrod Garnett, 2009
 
ACC Coach of the Year Award Winners
Tony Robie, 2024
Tony Robie, 2023
Tony Robie, 2022
Tony Robie, 2019
Tony Robie/Kevin Dresser, 2017
Kevin Dresser, 2016
Kevin Dresser, 2015
Kevin Dresser, 2014
Kevin Dresser, 2013