All season long, Virginia wrestling coach Steve Garland believed his squad could repeat as ACC champions if his top-seeded wrestlers finished near the top of their weight classes, while the lower-seeded wrestlers held their own within their divisions. During last weekend's conference championship event, however, the reigning-champion Cavaliers failed to replicate Garland's winning formula and placed third behind Maryland and Virginia Tech.
Virginia, which entered the tournament as the No. 3 team in the conference and the host of the event, began the day with three wrestlers boasting No. 1 seeds in their weight classes - redshirt freshman Joe Fausey, redshirt sophomore Mike Salopek and senior Chris Henrich. Each of these typically dependable Cavaliers faltered in their quest for ACC glory.
Fausey finished third overall in the 184-pound class, while Salopek earned a fourth place finish in the 197-pound division. These two losses ultimately shifted the momentum away from the Cavaliers, who controlled the team score midway through the semifinal round of the tournament.
With a 3-2 lead and the third period winding down, Fausey frantically attempted to hold off Duke redshirt sopohomore Diego Bencomo's relentless desperation strikes. But with two seconds left, Bencomo finally got through and scored the two-point takedown to earn the last second victory against Fausey. Salopek, meanwhile, lost 12-4 against Virginia Tech sophomore Chris Penny, who he had defeated 5-1 earlier in the season.
"We were on a run, everything was going great ... and [those losses] really took the wind out of our sails," Garland said. "This tournament's one of those deals where momentum is everything, and you could just feel it. It just really sunk our ship."
Later on during the event, Henrich - a two-time defending ACC champion in the 174-pound weight class - lost a close 4-2 match against Maryland redshirt senior Mike Letts in the division final. Letts, who earned a medical redshirt last season, scored a surprise early takedown and then was able to hold off Henrich's repeated attacks for the remainder of the match en route to his third ACC title.
"When Chris Henrich gets taken down in the first 10 seconds of the match, you know it's a long day," Garland said. "Letts is phenomenally good. I think Letts really showed me something today with how he kept his poise, because Chris kept coming and coming and coming, and [Letts] didn't let Chris score."
Overall, Virginia finished with four runner-ups, two third-place finishers and four fourth-place finishers for a total of 69 points. Runner-up Virginia Tech notched 82.5 points on the day, while Maryland claimed the crown with a 94.5 point performance.
Although Garland admitted he was disappointed with the tournament's outcome, he also saw some bright spots from some of his lower-seeded wrestlers throughout the day. Redshirt junior Nick Nelson, who missed most of the regular season with an elbow injury, upset Virginia Tech senior Chris Diaz in a 6-5 overtime match. Nelson lost his next match against Diaz, but came back to beat the standout Hokie again 3-2 in the third place match to earn the bronze medal.
Junior Derek Valenti also notched an early takedown against N.C. State redshirt senior Darrion Caldwell, the nation's No. 1 wrestler, in the 149-pound final. Valenti put up a valiant effort nearly to steal the title from Caldwell, but ultimately fell 6-3.
"They filled their end of their bargain," Henrich said of the lower seeds. "Very few times have it been that the guys up top didn't look that good and weren't able to put it together, but for whatever reason it just didn't work out that way this week"
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