Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Three Virginia Tech staff members will take to the mats this weekend at the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open from March 30-31 in New York City at the New York Athletic Club.
Ethan Aguigui will wrestle at 61 kg, director of performance Tyler Graff will wrestle at 61 kg and volunteer assistant coach Ty Walz will compete at 97 kg. Both days of competition will be streamed live on FloWrestling.com with a subscription.
This year's Bill Farrell Open serves as a qualifying event for U.S. World Team Trials, held this year in Rochester, Minn., May 18-20. The highest placed medalist at each weight who has yet to qualify will advance to the trials.
Walz is coming off of a bronze medal performance at U23 World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland back in November. His 3-1 showing at the championships made him the first Virginia Tech wrestler to win a world medal. Walz returns to freestyle competition after training and completing his first season with the Hokies on the bench as a volunteer assistant coach.
Graff returns to international competition after wrapping his first full season as director of performance. Graff, who won the Bill Farrell in 2015, was last in action at the Henri Deglane Challenge where he won gold and went 4-0 with four tech falls. He looks to return to the World Team Trials for the fourth consecutive season.
Next week, assistant coach Frank Molinaro will be competing at 70 kg with the U.S. National Team at the Freestyle World Cup in Iowa City, Iowa.