In its seventh road trip of the semester and fourth to the state of Pennsylvania, Virginia (8-3, 0-0 ACC) recorded a pair of blowout victories, a narrow one-point victory and a disappointing loss to round out a winter break wrestling rollercoaster.
Virginia’s first victory came Sunday over Hofstra (2-7, 2-1 CAA) by a score of 29-9, suffering just two lost matches en route to head coach Steve Garland's 200th career dual victory. Garland, a Cavalier wrestling alumnus, is in his 20th season as head coach. He holds the school record for career wins and led a pair of ACC Championship-winning teams in 2010 and 2015.
“People probably aren’t going to believe this, but I honestly didn’t know that was my 200th win,” Garland said. “I’m grateful more than anything. I’m just thankful I’ve had a job this long and been able to do what I believe God has called me to do for as long as I have.”
The second dual of the day against Bucknell (2-5, 2-0 Patriot League) was a nail-biting 19-18 Virginia victory. Down to the final match, redshirt freshman heavyweight Brenan Morgan would score a 17-12 decision over No. 32 Lucas Lawler to push the Cavaliers into the lead. Morgan went 4-0 on the weekend, posting three extra point wins and raising his pin total to three on the season.
To round out Sunday night, Virginia levied a 55-0 beating on a winless Morgan State (0-10, 0-4 MEAC). The Cavaliers scored extra point wins in every match, including four wins by forfeit. Freshman Ethan Timar, sophomore Steven Burrell Jr. and fifth-year Kyren Butler all recorded tech falls over their Bears opponents. It marked the second time Virginia has hit 55 points in a dual this season.
Sunday was a long day, featuring three back-to-back meets, and the undefeated Pennsylvania Quakers (3-0, 0-0 Ivy League) were slated for the final dual of the meet Monday night. Garland sang the praises of his squad but recognized that the Cavaliers had one more task ahead of them.
“I’m really proud of the way the guys pushed through right after finals and came away with three victories,” Garland said. “The guys are pretty happy right now, but the job is to get them focused because we have another highly-regarded team tomorrow night. We just keep battling.”
Monday’s dual with Penn resulted in a hard-fought 24-16 loss for the Cavaliers. Injuries, illness and fatigue caught up with Virginia, resulting in its third dual loss of the season.
“Our guys wrestled their absolute hearts out tonight,” Garland said. “I’m more proud of them after this loss than I was after yesterday’s wins. That may sound crazy, but our guys showed up and stepped up when we got hit with about as much adversity as you can in the last 24 hours. We lost two starters yesterday in competition and then our 125-pounder got the stomach flu.”
Still, the loss was not without its highlights. No. 24 graduate student Colton Washleski defeated No. 10 Jude Swisher in overtime during the opening 157-pound match. Morgan would record a 16-0 tech fall over John Pardo.
“We had some huge wins tonight,” Garland said. “We wrestled really hard when it counted most in the third period and that we can absolutely build on.”
Virginia continues its long road trip in Tennessee at the Southern Scuffle hosted by Chattanooga Jan. 3. The long-awaited first Cavalier home meet is slated for Jan. 16 versus North Carolina.
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