Seven Hokie wrestlers earn seeds to the NCAA Championship

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The seeds and brackets have been set for the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championship in St. Louis. All seven of the Hokies who qualified at the ACC Wrestling Championship have been seeded in their individual brackets.

The Hokies are coming off winning its third ACC Tournament Championship and its third-consecutive ACC Dual Meet Championship. Last season, the Hokies finished fourth at NCAAs, the highest finish in program history and the best finish by an ACC team in the history of the league.

Senior Joey Dance is seeded the highest among the Hokies, coming in at second and placed on the opposite side of the bracket of Iowa’s Thomas Gilman to create what could be the most highly anticipated finals matchup at 125. Redshirt senior and two-time All-American Ty Walz is seeded third in the heavyweight bracket, which puts him on the opposite side of NCAA Champion and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder of Ohio State, giving the two a chance to meet in the finals.

Redshirt senior Sal Mastriani was placed 15th in the 157-pound bracket for his second trip to NCAAs. Redshirt sophomore and returning All-American Solomon Chishko is seeded sixth at 149. Redshirt sophomore and returning national qualifier Zack Zavatsky will enter the week as the No. 5 seed at 184 pounds. The two-time ACC Champion could potentially meet Cornell’s Gabe Dean in the semifinals for the second time this season.

Redshirt juniors Zach Epperly (174) and Jared Haught (197) both weighed in as the fourth seeds in each weight class. Epperly is a two-time All-American, placing seventh in 2015 and third in 2016. Epperly is considered dangerous in one of the toughest weight classes in the tournament. Haught, an All-American in 2016, has the chance to face Olympic bronze medalist and returning national champ J’Den Cox of Missouri in a regular season rematch in the semifinals.

The action begins in St. Louis on Thursday, March 16th at 12 p.m. All morning sessions will be broadcasted on ESPNU and the WatchESPN app while all evening sessions will be broadcasted in primetime on ESPN.