He outscored his opponents by a combined score of 23-5. He didn’t give up a single takedown the entire tournament, and when it was all said and done, he went home as the first NCAA champion in Virginia Tech history and the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 2019 NCAA Championships.

Mekhi Lewis was absolutely impressive in his title run, which included wins over No. 1 seed Alex Marinelli, No. 4 seed Evan Wick, and No. 2 seed Vincenzo Joseph, the two-time reigning and defending champ in the weight class, respectively. The redshirt freshman didn’t light up scoreboards with big points, he just got the job done with seemingly impeccable defense and an even-better opportunistic offense.

As a matter of fact, the most points he scored over the three-day span was seven, which came in the finals against Joseph. 

Since finishing his redshirt season, he won a title in his first ever trip to the Junior World Championships, and now adds an NCAA title and OW award in his first appearance as well. Lewis is a winner and that showed last weekend in Pittsburgh.

Of note, he started with a fall in his first match versus Cam Coy, then followed it up with a 4-1 win over Cael McCormick in the second round.

Now let’s relive the biggest part of his title run and watch his huge wins in the quarters, semis, and final, along with some behind-the-scenes footage of the VT crew after Lewis' big win in the finals.

Tony Robie and Jared Frayer react after Lewis shocks the wrestling world:

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Lewis’ clutch finish powers him past Marinelli in the quarters:

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Lewis controls Wick to punch his ticket to the finals:

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Lewis knocks off returning champ Vincenzo Joseph in impressive fashion:

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