Virginia's Nick Hamilton Named Most Outstanding Wrestler at ACC Championships
Virginia sophomore Nick Hamilton brought home the ACC Championship at 165 pounds and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the ACC Wrestling Championships this weekend, becoming the first Cavalier to win that award since Brent Jones did so in 2009 and is just the 10th UVA wrestler to ever be named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the ACC Championships.
Hamilton, a native of La Vista, Nebraska, dominated his first match, picking up a major decision over UNC's Isaias Estrada by a score of 14-2. He then defeated the top seed in the class, NC State's Derek Fields, in an overtime thriller, outlasting Fields for a 2-1 victory. In the finals, Hamilton had a strong third period and took down Virginia Tech's Connor Brady 7-3 to claim the title.
“This guy has been through so much; so much in his life and so much this year. Injuries, illness, concussion…you name it, and he faced it this year. And yet, he overcame it all," said UVA head coach Steve Garland of Nick Hamilton. "What an amazing day. I’m so grateful that I got to be a small part of it and I’m so happy for him.”
Virginia won back-to-back ACC Championships at 165 pounds, as Justin McCoy took down Connor Brady in the finals at that weight class last season. In his fifth and final appearance at the ACC Championships, McCoy posted his third-career runner-up finish at 174 pounds. McCoy delivered a come-from-behind victory in the semifinals to defeat North Carolina's Tyler Eischens 9-6 with an overtime takedown. That advanced McCoy to the finals, where he fell to Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis, who notched a takedown with just a few seconds left in the third period to earn a 4-1 decision and win his fourth-career ACC Championship.
McCoy finishes his ACC career with three runner-up finishes plus the ACC title at 165 pounds in 2023 and he will round out his career with a fifth-consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships. Nick Hamilton and Justin McCoy will be joined at NCAAs by Marlon Yarbrough, who placed third at 133 pounds after making a remarkable run through the consolation bracket following a loss in his first match of the day, and Krystian Kinsey, who defeated Virginia Tech's Andy Smith in the consolation semifinals at 197 before conceding by medical forfeit in the third-place match.
Hamilton, McCoy, Yarbrough, and Kinsey have all locked up automatic bids to the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which will be held March 21-23 in Kansas City. At-large qualifiers for NCAAs will be announced on March 12th and the full brackets and seeding will be revealed on March 13th.
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