Virginia Tech’s season cumulated in the crowning of its first National Champion in 165-pounder Mekhi Lewis. Lewis knocked off the #1 and #4 seeds before beating two-time National Champion Vincenzo Joseph 7-1 in the finals. The Hokies finished just outside the top 10, in 11th place, adding two additional AA’s in 174-pounder David McFadden fifth place and 184-pounder Zack Zavatsky 8th place.  Head coach Tony Robie’s Hokies qualified nine wrestlers to the NCAA tournament this past season with four of the nine graduating.  We will see some new faces in the lineup next season and some familiar faces returning.

2019-20 Virginia Tech Projected Lineup

125: Joey Prata or Sam Latona

133: Korbin Myers or Collin Gerardi

141: Mitch Moore

149: Brent Moore

157: BC LaPrade

165: Mekhi Lewis

174: David McFadden

184: Hunter Bolen

197: Cody Howard or Stanley Smeltzer

285: John Borst

125 Pounds

This is the lone weight the Hokies didn’t qualify for the NCAA’s this past season. Joey Prata took the majority of the starts and got to represent the team at the ACC tournament. Prata could get pushed from true freshman Sam Latona, a top 100 recruit, if he doesn’t take a redshirt. Latona just capped off his high school career winning an NHSCA title at 120 pounds.

133 Pounds

Korbin Myers will attempt to get on the podium in his last collegiate season. He has qualified for the NCAA tournament the previous three season with his best finish this past season when his season ended in the round of 16. Pushing him for the spot will be Collin Gerardi, who had a nice season in redshirt. Gerardi dropped an overtime match to eventual AA Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State at the Southern Scuffle this past season.

141 Pounds

Mitch Moore stepped right into the lineup as a true freshman due to the injury to his brother Brent. Mitch made the most of it qualifying for the NCAA tournament and collecting 18 wins on the season. I would expect to see Mitch going at 141 pounds with Brent bumping up to 149 pounds next season.  

149 Pounds

As mentioned above, Brent Moore missed all of last season with an injury but should be back next season up a weight. Brent was a 2017-18 ACC champion and NCAA qualifier at 141 pounds.

157 Pounds

BC LaPrade has started here for the Hokies the past two seasons and should be the man for them next season as well. LaPrade qualified and won a match at the NCAA this past season.

165 Pounds

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Mekhi Lewis became the first NCAA wrestling champion in Virginia Tech history this past season. Not only did Lewis have a great collegiate season but he won a World Championship at the 2019 Junior Freestyle Championships at 74kg. Hokie fans get to enjoy three more seasons of having Lewis in the lineup.

174 Pounds

David McFadden will enter his final season as a Hokie and will look to become a 4X AA when his career concludes in Minnesota. McFadden has had a fantastic career so far and will look to climb even higher on the podium next season.

184 Pounds

Hunter Bolen took a redshirt this past season after qualifying for the NCAA’s at 174 pounds in his true freshman season in the 2017-18 season. Bolen didn’t wrestle a lot of matches but made the most of them when he did.  He collected wins over a couple AA’s, beating Chip Ness at the Hokie Open and Jacobe Smith at the Southern Scuffle. Replacing a guy like Zack Zavatsky is never easy but Hokie fans should feel good headed in to next season at 184 pounds.

197 Pounds

We should probably see Cody Howard or Stanley Smeltzer taking over at this weight. They have wrestled a combined zero dual meets for Virginia Tech so it is safe to say we are not sure what to expect just yet from the weight.  

285 Pounds

John Borst should take over at 285 pounds for the Hokies. Borst wrestled a fair amount of matches the past two seasons but like Howard and Smeltzer doesn’t have a lot of dual meets under his belt. Borst did get to wrestle in two duals last season dropping both of them. Borst had a solid true freshman season in 2017-18 while in redshirt but those matches were all at 197 pounds.