NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2023: Eddie Ventresca continues Cinderella run for Virginia Tech
No. 27 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) continued his Cinderella run Thursday with a win over No. 11 Patrick McKee (Minnesota). The Hokie won 3-2 to get his second upset of the tournament.
This time, he won 3-2 over the Gopher with a late takedown and key rideout in the end. McKee had riding time in the match, which gave him another point at the end of the match.
An escape for McKee would’ve tied the match and sent it to overtime, at a minimum. Alas, Ventresca advanced to the quarterfinals Friday morning and is one win away from becoming an All-American.
McKee could not find his offense and did not land a takedown against the Hokie. Ventresca’s defense was on point to score the upset.
Ventresca will take on Nebraska’s Liam Cronin (No. 3) to kick off his day Friday. Previously, Ventresca beat No. 6 Stevo Pouilin of Northern Colorado in one the bigger upsets Thursday morning to guarantee himself a spot in Friday’s rounds at the tournament.
If he keeps it going, Ventresca will knock off two single digit seeds, become an All-American and wrestle in Friday night’s semifinals.
More on the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships
The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships were held March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa (Okla). The tournament consists of 330 wrestlers in total across 10 weight classes. Each weight class features wrestlers seeded No. 1 through No. 33.
Over the course of the three-day tournament, wrestlers can achieve national champion status by going 5-0 in their bracket, through Saturday night’s finals. The top eight placewinners in each bracket are considered All-Americans.
Losing one match does not eliminate a wrestler from competition. The consolation bracket is designed to determine the remaining spots on the podium (third through eighth place).
Since there are 33 wrestlers in each weight, the competitors seeded No. 32 and 33 compete in a “pigtail bout” prior to the first round to determine who matches up against the No. 1 seed in Round 1.
Losing the pigtail drops the wrestler to the consolation bracket where there is still opportunity to finish as high as third place in the weight class.
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Tournament is set to take place in Kansas City (Mo.)