Virginia Tech’s runaway victory at the ACC Championships — its first since 2018 — came down to what every team strives for at this time of the year: Good individual performances.

A good attitude coupled with good health and the ability to win a majority of close bouts resulted in a 91.5-point performance, some 28 points better than Pitt and 29 ahead of nemesis North Carolina State.

Four champions, two runners-up, a pair of third-placers and one who finished fourth gave the Hokies a nine-man traveling contingent to Philadelphia for the sport’s pinnacle event — the NCAA Wrestling Championships — March 20-22 in Wells Fargo Center. 

In 13 ACC bouts decided by three points or fewer, the Hokies won nine. That’s 69 percent, which might not be good on a term paper but in this situation, it’s highly satisfactory — and satisfying.

“We’re just kind of focused on ourselves and making sure our guys are doing their best wrestling this time of year and trying to put them in a position where they can be successful,” Virginia Tech coach Tony Robie said. “And I think we're doing that. We've got one more huge event, obviously; we've moved past the ACC and now we're focused on the NCAAs.”

Robie stressed that winning those close bouts doesn’t just happen. 

“Learning how to do that is a process, and it takes some time and experience, and we've got some veteran guys in the lineup that did a good job with that and have done a good job with that for the majority of the season,” he said. “That trend needs to continue if we're going to do what we're capable of in Philadelphia.”

Four Hokies carted home ACC titles — Eddie Ventresca at 125, Connor McGonagle at 133, Caleb Henson at 149 and Rafael Hipolito at 157. The first three each won with a takedown in sudden victory. 

Sam Latona (141) and Jimmy Mullen (285) lost in the finals, Mac Church (165) and Andy Smith (197) placed third and Lennox Wolak (174) finished fourth.

“Eddie is wrestling really well right now and his level of focus is at a high level,” Robie said about Ventresca, who topped N.C. State’s Vince Robinson 4-1. “He’s done a nice job controlling ties and staying in the positions that he wants to be in, and kind of dictating the action.”

Robie said building momentum and confidence and getting wins over good guys have been “critically important” for McGonagle, who tripped N.C. State’s Kai Orine 5-2. 

“I think he believes in himself and at this point in the game, that’s really important,” he said.

Henson, the defending NCAA champ and two-time All-America who downed UNC’s Lachlan McNeil 4-1, continues to get the job done, Robie said. 

“You’re gonna be in a war with him and you’re gonna have to wrestle every second of the match, and there’s not a lot of guys who can do that,” he said about Henson.

“We like where he's at. He's healthy, he feels good, his weight’s in a really good spot. He has the experience of going through this tournament twice and winning it last year. From a mindset standpoint, he's as good as it gets there.”

Hipolito, who beat N.C. State’s Ed Scott 7-3, has made ample progress, Robie noted. 

“He was hurt a little bit this year and he kind of came back slow,” he said. “But I think Rafael wrestles his best when the spotlight’s the biggest and on the biggest stage. I think we saw that at the ACCs, and I think we'll see that again in Philadelphia.”

Henson’s Influence Prevalent

Henson, who placed fifth in 2023 and won it all last year, sets the overall example for the Hokies.

“It’s just the way he goes about his business and then lives his life and works, and his approach to everything that he does,” Robie said. “He's a very detail-oriented kid — with his recovery, with his nutrition, with his sleep, his training, and obviously his weight management; he's just a pro.

“And I think when you're around somebody like Caleb, who understands how to get things done and how to be a professional, it can't help but rub off on you. His leadership is really important to our team right now.”

The Experience Factor

Robie said a lot of crazy things happen at the NCAAs and having had exposure in those situations is helpful. Six of his nine guys have been there, done that.

“I think it helps just in terms of managing your emotions and not letting the event get to you,” Robie explained. “Fortunately, our young guys, our three freshmen who haven't been there, have had a ton of success competing in high school, and for Raf, in jiu-jitsu. So, they've been in big events, and they've been in big moments before. 

“I don't anticipate that being a huge issue, but the NCAA Tournament is definitely a little bit different. There are more people there than pretty much any event that you go to in our sport, and the energy and the noise and all that stuff is different. How we manage that is important. As coaches, we've got to do a good job of kind of maintaining our composure. I think that kind of trickles down to our athletes,” he said.

Hokies In the First Round

The Hokies were accorded six top-12 seeds and four in the top six. Here are the pairings for VT’s nine qualifiers:

125: #3-seed Eddie Ventresca (18-3) vs. #30 Gylon Sims (25-7), The Citadel.

133: #6 Connor McGonagle (15-1) vs. #27 Ethan Berginc (25-6), Army.

141: #12 Sam Latona (23-7) vs. #21 Dylan Chappell (19-10), Bucknell.

149: #1 Caleb Henson (18-0) vs. winner of Teague Travis (4-3), Oklahoma State and Wynton Denkins (32-11), Campbell.

157: #4 Rafael Hipolito (17-3) vs. #29 James Harrington (14-12), Harvard.

165: #28 Mac Church (14-12) vs. #5 Julian Ramirez (20-1), Cornell.

174: #24 Lennox Wolak (13-10) vs. #9 Carson Kharchla (14-3), Ohio State.

197: #19 Andy Smith (13-7) vs. #14 Zach Glazier (16-6), South Dakota State.

285: #11 Jimmy Mullen (20-5) vs. #22 Brady Colbert (36-7), Army.