Justin McCoy, Virginia Cavaliers wrestling — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia Places Six at ACC Wrestling Championships

Six Cavaliers earned top-three placements at the ACC Wrestling Championships at John Paul Jones Arena

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Mar 7, 2022 3:06 AM EST

Virginia hosted the 2022 ACC Wrestling Championships on Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers had six wrestlers earn top-three finishes, led by Justin McCoy who was the runner-up in the 165-pound weight class.

Virginia finished fifth in the team standings with 39.5 total points.

2022 ACC Wrestling Championships Final Standings

1. NC State (98.5 points)

2. Virginia Tech (76.0 points)

3. Pittsburgh (51.0 points)

4. North Carolina (48 points)

5. Virginia (39.5 points)

6. Duke (11.0 points)

Patrick McCormick placed third at 125 pounds. He defeated No. 5 seed Spencer Moore (North Carolina) 4-3 in the first round before falling to No. 1 seed Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) 16-5 in the semifinals. McCormick took down Duke's Logan Agin in the consolation semis and defeated Spencer Moore for a second time in the third-place match.

Dylan Cedeno, the No. 5 seed in the 141-pound weight class, lost to No. 4 seed Collin Gerardi (Virginia Tech) in the first round, but defeated No. 2 seed Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) 5-0 in the consolation semis and got revenge on Gerardi in the third-place match, 7-5.

No. 2 seed Jake Keating (157) was pinned by NC State's Ed Scott in the semis, but rebounded nicely in consolations by picking up decisions over Pittsburgh's Elijah Cleary and Virginia Tech's Connor Brady to place third.

Justin McCoy, wrestling as the No. 3 seed in the 165-pound weight class, took down Duke's Gabe Dinette 10-2 in the first round before winning a hard-fought battle against No. 2 seed Thomas Bullard (NC State) to pick up a 1-0 decision in order to advance to the final.

No. 1 seed Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) brought McCoy's run to an end in the primetime final with a 7-0 win as McCoy took second-place for the Cavaliers.

Jay Aiello, the No. 3 seed in the 197-pound weight class, defeated Duke's Kaden Russell 16-0 by technical fall in the first round, but fell to No. 2 seed Nino Bonaccorsi 5-2 in the semis. Aiello then defeated Virginia Tech's Dakota Howard 8-2 and North Carolina's Max Shaw 8-0 in the third-place match.

At 285 pounds, No. 4 seed Quinn Miller fell to No. 1 seed Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech) in the semifinals, but defeated Pitt's Jake Slinger and UNC's Brandon Whitman to clinch another third-place finish for UVA.

Patrick McCormick (125), Brian Courtney (133), Dylan Cedeno (141), Jake Keating (157), Justin McCoy (165), Michael Battista (184), Jay Aiello (197), and Quinn Miller (285) all secured automatic bids to the NCAA Championships held March 17-19 in Detroit, Michigan. The eight automatic bids are tied for the second-most in Virginia program history. At-large selections for the NCAA Championships will be announced this coming Wednesday.

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