Virginia wrestling turned in a successful Saturday at St. Edward High School — the alma mater of freshman Ethan Timar — in Lakewood Ohio, picking up a decisive 27-6 victory over Kent State. The Cavaliers (2-1, 0-0 ACC) dominated the Golden Flashes (1-1, 0-0 MAC) from the start, winning the first five bouts of the day and eight of ten overall.
The wrestling began at 125 where senior Keyveon Roller — ranked No. 21 nationally — earned a 4-1 decision over Kent State’s junior Nico Calello, giving Virginia a 3-0 lead out of the gate. Freshman Aiden Allen quickly followed up at 133, earning a major decision over junior Nick Molchak and increasing the Cavaliers lead to 7-0.
Coach Steve Garland called Allen’s match “the big match of the night”.
“[Allen] had a rough weekend last weekend but did the right things in preparation this week and totally turned it around,” Garland said.
The 141 weight class followed up with Virginia’s second ranked wrestler of the day, sophomore Gable Porter. The 33rd ranked 141 wrestler nationally decimated fellow sophomore Landen Duncan, earning a major decision and putting the Cavaliers up eleven through three bouts.
At 149 junior Wynton Denkins furthered Virginia’s overwhelming success, defeating sophomore Nate Roth 10-4 by decision and putting the Cavaliers up 14-0 on the Golden Flashes. Denkins set the stage nicely for the 157 bout, featuring graduate student Colton Washleski, Virginia’s highest ranked wrestler at No. 17. The Rider transfer earned an 11-2 major decision over freshman Silas Stits, skyrocketing the Cavalier lead to 18-0.
Virginia took their first hit of the duel at 165, but Kent State redshirt junior Carson Miller still needed overtime to take down junior Michael Murphy by decision. Miller cut the Cavalier advantage to 18-3, but it was still looking like too little too late.
174 featured the last ranked wrestler of the day, as Virginia’s 19th ranked senior Nick Hamilton faced off against junior Ethan Barr. Hamilton earned an 8-3 decision pushing the lead to 21-3, and effectively putting the nail in the coffin for the Golden Flashes.
The teams traded decisions in the 184 and 197 weight classes, with Cavalier senior Griffin Gammell defeating sophomore Trent Thomas, and Kent State senior Blake Schaffer taking down redshirt freshman Max Shulaw respectively.
With the score 24-6 and the match much in hand, heavyweight redshirt freshman Brenan Morgan secured one last victory for Virginia, taking down sophomore Brentan Simmerman and putting an exclamation point on a 27-6 Cavalier victory.
“Our guys showed up today and got the job done,” Garland said. “We won eight out of 10 bouts, and the two that we lost were battles as well”.
Five Virginia wrestlers improved to 3-0 in duels this season. Of the five, Porter, Washleski and Hamilton are already ranked in their respective weight classes, but Denkins at 149 and Morgan in the heavyweight class will push for rankings as well if they continue this success.
The Cavaliers are back in action Sunday at 2 p.m. on Big Ten Plus, when they will duel with Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines are coming off back to back losses to ranked opponents.
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