The Virginia wrestling squad made its home debut Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium and continued on its home turf Sunday.
Virginia improved its record to 7-7 (0-0 ACC) on the season, splitting its matches Saturday with a victory against UNC-Greensboro 27-13 and a loss to Rutgers 15-28. Virginia fell behind 10-0 in both matches, in part because Virginia had to forfeit in the 133-pound bouts as a result of an injury sustained by redshirt freshman Matt Bonson earlier in the week.
“I think we wrestled phenomenally against UNC-Greensboro,” coach Steve Garland said. “I was so proud of the way our kids fought back from adversity. [In] the Rutgers match we did not necessarily wrestle bad, we just got beat in some weight classes.”
The Cavaliers were without the services of redshirt junior Ross Gitomer as well, who is out for the year. Freshman Wyatt Anderson has rejoined the team because the Cavaliers have lost all of their 125-pounder wrestlers for the season to injuries. The Cavaliers were able to overcome this handicap against UNC-Greensboro, but were unable to against Rutgers.
“With Ross [Gitomer] and [Matt] Bonson in the lineup, that is a different match,” Garland said. “We just have to work around the injuries as best we can.”
The highlight of the weekend was senior Rocco Caponi winning his 100th career match as a Cavalier with a 5-4 victory against UNC-Greensboro’s Mikal McGee.
“It has been a goal since I was real young,” Caponi said. “It is not something everyone gets to experience. It makes you think of all the hard work it takes to get there.”
Caponi becomes just the sixth wrestler in Virginia history to reach the century mark. He currently has 102 career wins, having also recorded wins during the weekend against Rutgers and Appalachian State. He is currently tied with Jim Harshaw and Matt Roth for third on Virginia’s all-time wins list and needs just 10 wins to move into a tie for second place.
“I’m really proud of him,” Garland said. “It’s a big milestone in his career. He has been trying to get that 100th win for two weeks. It was nice for him to get it over with.”
Junior Brent Jones and sophomore Chris Henrich also helped carry the Cavaliers this weekend, with two wins apiece Saturday, in the 197-pound and 174-pound weight classes, respectively. They were both able to record wins Sunday against Appalachian State as well, as Virginia trounced the Mountaineers 35-9.
The Cavaliers won the final eight weight classes against the Mountaineers and were able to coast to an easy victory. No. 10 Henrich improved his record to 26-1 on the season as he recorded a technical fall just 25 seconds into the second period. No. 19 Jones pinned his opponent in the first period as he recorded his team-leading 10th fall of the season, giving him 32 for his career, which leaves him just two short of the Virginia record held by Scott Moore.
These Cavaliers will look to continue their recent success when they open ACC play Friday at North Carolina.
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