Virginia Tech wrestling’s Hunter Bolen won at 184 pounds Sunday night at the ACC Championships and became one of eight Tech wrestlers to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
Ranked No. 1 in the country by InterMat, Bolen came through with a 2-1 win in the 184-pound finals over third-ranked Hayden Hidlay of NC State to claim his first ACC Championship. The redshirt sophomore defeated Virginia’s Michael Battista by technical fall in the semifinals to reach his second ACC final. Bolen finished second at the 2018 ACC Championships.
Eight of the ten Hokie starters punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis on March 21-23 by automatically qualifying at the ACC Championships. At-large bids will be announced Tuesday prior to the NCAA Selection Show on Wednesday.
With 52.0 points, Tech finished fifth at the championships in Pittsburgh. NC State (81.0) came in first, while Pitt (77.0), North Carolina (67.5) and Virginia (60.5) round out the top-four. Duke finished sixth with 2.0 points.
Tech’s Bryce Andonian and David McFadden both qualified for the NCAAs by reaching the finals of their respective brackets. Andonian saw a rematch with North Carolina’s Austin O’Connor, which O’Connor took via an 11-7 decision. The true freshman defeated AJ Leitten of NC State in the semifinals 10-3.
McFadden defeated Cam Coy of Virginia in the quarterfinals and then avenged his loss to Thomas Bullard from the NC State dual with a 4-1 decision in the semifinals. The two-time ACC champion came just short of a third, losing a 3-1 decision to Pitt’s Jake Wentzel. McFadden will look to become Virginia Tech’s first four-time All-American at the NCAA Championships.
Joey Prata and John Borst each qualified for NCAAs by finishing in third place of the 125-pound and heavyweight brackets, respectively. Cody Hughes snagged the fourth and final automatic qualifier at 174 pounds with a gritty, 7-4 decision victory over Duke’s Mason Eaglin in the consolation semifinals. Collin Gerardi and B.C. LaPrade won their fifth-place matches to qualify for Minneapolis at 133 and 157 pounds.
–VT Athletics