Freshman phenom Aaron Seidel secures All-American honor, will wrestle in NCAA semifinalsFreshman phenom Aaron Seidel secures All-American honor, will wrestle in NCAA semifinals
Wrestling

Freshman phenom Aaron Seidel secures All-American honor, will wrestle in NCAA semifinals

Opens in a new window VT Championship Central Opens in a new window Full Brackets and Results Opens in a new window Day 2 Gallery

CLEVELAND, OH – Virginia Tech wrestling’s true freshman No. 4 Aaron Seidel continues his phenomenal run in his debut season – claiming All-American honors and a berth to the national semifinals in his first visit to the championship. Seidel will meet fellow highly-touted freshman, No. 1 Jax Forrest in one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The Hokies have No. 2 Eddie Ventresca and No. 4 Collin Gaj battling for All-American honors in the consolation bracket in the next session. Ventresca will look to secure the third All-American honor in his career against more than familiar foe No. 12 Vincent Robinson of NC State. Gaj turns his attention to Cornell’s No. 2 Jaxon Joy in both their first trip to the NCAA Championship. Winners in this consolation round secures a podium finish, the other ends his tournament run.

The Rematch

In their first meeting that has been dubbed nationally as the Match of the Year, Seidel and Forrest will up the ante with a rematch in Friday night’s semifinal round in Rocket Arena. Both wrestlers have bonused their way through their matches thus far in Cleveland setting the stage for yet another clash between two of the sport’s biggest stars on the biggest stage. Seidel has outscored opponents 55-7 without surrendering an offensive point to the tune of three tech falls while Forrest has outscored his side of the bracket 46-6 with two techs and a pin. Winner will advance to Saturday night’s final to meet the winner between Big Ten champion No. 2 Ben Davino (OHST) and No. 3 Marcus Blaze (PSU).

 

Ventresca and Gaj Battling

Ventresca dropped a razor thin quarterfinal to No. 10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (PRIN) via 2-2 tiebreakers to drop down to the consolations. Ventresca takes to the mat this evening and looks to become Tech’s ninth three-time All-American in program history and the first three-timer at 125-pounds. To get there he’ll face foe No. 12 Vincent Robinson (NCSU) for the fifth time in their careers, Ventresca holds their all-time record at 4-0 entering Friday night.

Freshman Collin Gaj is testing his metal navigating the consolation bracket – picking up two wins to advance to the blood round in his first trip to the NCAA tournament. Gaj picked up his first win in the consolation bracket against Little Rock’s Brock Herman via 13-1 major decision to give the Hokies crucial team points. The freshman would then follow up with a win over rival Koy Buesgens via 6-1 decision to move through the bracket and set up an All-American implication match against No. 2 Jaxon Joy out of Cornell.

Day 2 Session 3 Results

Quarterfinals
125 | No. 2 Eddie Ventresca (VT) loss via dec No. 10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (PRIN), 2-2 TB
133 | No. 4 Aaron Seidel (VT) TECH FALL No. 5 Kyler Larkin (ASU), 16-1 4:56

Consolation Round 3
149 | No. 4 Collin Gaj (VT) DEC No. 5 Koy Buesgens (NCSU), 6-1
157 | No. 14 Ethen Miller (VT) loss via dec No. Jude Swisher (PENN), 3-8
174 | No. 25 Sergio Desiante (VT) loss via maj dec No. 2 Simon Ruiz (COR), 1-12
184 | No. 14 Jaden Bullock (VT) loss via dec No. 22 Zack Ryder (OKST), 1-4 SV

Consolations Round 2
149 | No. 4 Collin Gaj (VT) MAJ DEC No. 19 Brock Herman (UALR), 13-1
157 | No. 14 Ethen Miller (VT) FALL No. 29 Bryce Lowery (IND), 2:38
174 | No. 25 Sergio Desiante (VT) DEC No. 20 Myles Takats (BUCK), 4-3
184 | No. 14 Jaden Bullock (VT) DEC No. 29 Nick Fox (UNI), 4-3
197 | No. 4 Sonny Sasso (VT) loss via dec No. 19 Zayne Lehman (OHIO), 2-3
285 | No. 16 Jimmy Mullen (VT) loss via maj dec No. 18 Christian Carroll (WYO), 8-17