While not all college wrestling teams opted to compete on opening weekend, Virginia Tech coach Tony Robie grasped the opportunity to learn about his squad as the seventh-ranked Hokies subdued Chattanooga 37-6 on Friday and dominated the Southeast Open on Saturday, both in Salem, Virginia.

And while driving due north on an hours-long recruiting trip on Monday, Robie offered a positive evaluation.

“I think there were a lot of good things in a lot of places, and we saw some really good things from some of our young guys,” Robie said. “We're excited about our redshirt freshman class, the way those guys competed, and just the progress they've made from the redshirt year to this year. 

“We've been putting an emphasis on scoring bonus points and getting pins, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that overall this weekend. You learn a lot more about your team when you see them compete, and we'll continue to learn more about them … where they're good, where they need to improve, and try to attack those areas.”

Those second-year guys that caught Robie’s eye over the weekend are Hunter Mason at 141, Rafael Hipolito at 157, Mac Church at 165, Sonny Sasso at 197 and Jimmy Mullen at heavyweight. That group combined for 11 falls — four by Sasso — three technical falls, two major decisions and three regular decisions.

Tech will compete in the Mountaineer Open this weekend at Appalachian State and plans to enter 15 wrestlers, setting up possible Hokie vs. Hokie bouts that will go a long way in determining a lineup to face Missouri on Nov. 9, a team that shares VT’s seventh-place Flo team tournament rating.

“We’ll have (Hunter) Catka and Mullen both going at heavyweight, potentially Andy Smith and Sasso at 97, and potentially Connor Brady and Church at 65, so we’ll be able to figure that out the further we get into the season and see where things shake out,” Robie explained.

A Handful of VT Newbies

Lehigh transfer Connor McGonagle won his match at 133 against UTC and Columbia transfer and NCAA qualifier Lennox Wolak did the same at 174. And former Columbia coach Zach Tanelli is now an associate head coach under Robie, replacing Cody Brewer, who went to Princeton to become assistant head coach.

“We knew we were gonna have a need at 174 with (All-America) Mekhi (Lewis) leaving; we didn't have a whole lot of experience behind him,” Robie said. “So we were targeting that weight class in the portal, Lennox had another year and Coach (Jared) Frayer has a really good relationship with Tanelli and reached out about him. Zach had really good things to say about him, and this was obviously long before Zach coming to Virginia Tech was any kind of consideration. 

“We thought he fit culture-wise and liked the kind of kid he was,” Robie continued. “He’s tough, he wrestles hard, and we were fortunate that he decided to come to Virginia Tech. Then, with Zach coming toward the end of the year, that kind of put a bow on it and made it a perfect situation for Lennox.”

Robie and many others noticed McGonagle in the portal as well. He qualified for the 2023 NCAAs but was injured in the EIWA tournament and could not compete. Then eventual NCAA third-placer Ryan Crookham kept him out of the Lehigh lineup last season and McGonagle opted to spend his final season in Blacksburg.

Robie said 133 became an area of need as well when All-America Sam Latona, at the staff’s urging, bumped up to 141 this season. 

“When those situations arise, you have to look into the portal and try to find somebody. And the same with Connor, he came for a visit and worked out really well,” Robie said. “We're excited to have those guys.”

Where’s Caleb?

Defending 149-pound NCAA champion Caleb Henson, a junior who joined Mekhi Lewis (2019) as Tech’s only national champs, did not compete over the weekend. Robie plans on managing Henson’s match count this season.

“We just want to make sure he's good to go when it matters the most,” he explained. “(Caleb) trains incredibly hard, and sometimes that's a detriment to his body. So we're just trying to be smart with how we approach it.”

Robie, who labeled Henson’s 2024 title as a “huge deal,” said Henson had some injury adversity toward the end of last season. 

“For him to overcome those things and be able to kind of will his way to a national championship, was pretty special to be a part of,” he said. “It was fantastic. We're grateful to have him on our team and glad he's a Hokie and excited for what he's going to do this year.”

Bring On The Challengers

Perennially, it’s difficult to find a team with a tougher schedule than Virginia Tech, which went 9-4 last season, was the highest-placing ACC team at the NCAAs (seventh overall) and placed four All-Americans.

This year, it’s Missouri and Oklahoma State from the Big 12, Rutgers from the Big Ten, the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga and the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with Stanford as the new kid on the ACC block.

“Our out-of-conference schedule is very good,” Robie said. “We’re going to Las Vegas and we’ll see Minnesota this weekend down in Boone (Appalachian State). We have plenty of opportunities to get some experience and get matches where we need to get matches, and then also see some really high-level competition.”

Robie said the Dec. 19 match in Stillwater against Oklahoma State was on the books with the former Cowboys coaching staff prior to John Smith’s resignation and David Taylor’s hiring. It will be just the second time the two schools have met, and Tech is 1-0.

“We're excited to go down to Stillwater and wrestle one of the traditionally great programs that we have in our sport,” Robie said. “It's good, and then they'll come back to Blacksburg next year, which we're excited about as well.”