NC State's Hayden Hidlay is seeded No. 1 at 157 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced pre-seeds and brackets for the 2021 ACC Wrestling Championship, which will be held this Sunday (Feb. 28) at NC State's Reynolds Coliseum.
Link: Brackets
The host and two-time defending champions Wolfpack leads with four wrestlers seeded No. 1 in their respective weight class brackets. Pitt follows with three No. 1 seeds, while regular-season dual champion Virginia Tech earned two and North Carolina one. Seeds were determined by a vote of the league's six head coaches.
Each weight class champion and runner-up at the 2021 ACC Championship will earn All-ACC recognition. In addition to ACC honors, student-athletes will be vying for berths and seeding in the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which will be held March 18-20 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The ACC has been awarded 33 automatic berths and is hopeful of earning several more at-large selections.
The ACC placed five teams among the top 20 of last week's NWCA national rankings, including Virginia Tech at No. 3 and NC State at No. 7.
Thirty-two Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes are listed among the top 20 of their individual weight classes in the most recent InterMat national rankings, including 17 among the top 10 and seven among the top five. North Carolina junior Austin O'Connor still holds the nation's No. 1 ranking at 149 pound, and Virginia Tech junior Hunter Bolen took over the top spot this week at 184. NC State senior Hayden Hidlay (157 pounds) continues to hold steady at No. 2 in his weight class.
Hidlay, unbeaten for his career against ACC opposition, is again the ACC Championship's No. 1 seed at 157 pounds. In addition to Hidlay, O'Connor and Bolen, returning ACC champions from 2021 expected to compete on Sunday include 125-pound Jakob Camacho of NC State (2020 ACC Championship Most Outstanding Wrestler), two-time champion 133-pound Micky Phillippi of Pitt (2019 ACC Championship Most Outstanding Wrestler), UNC's Zach Sherman (141), Pitt's Jake Wentzel (165), UNC's Clay Lautt (174) and Virginia's Jay Aiello (197).
Due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no public sale of tickets for this year's event. However, ACC Network and ACC Network Extra plan nearly 10 hours of live coverage from 11 a.m. through 9 p.m. ACC Network Extra will stream the early and consolations rounds from both Mat 1 and Mat 2, with the 7 p.m. finals set for live linear broadcast on ACC Network. Watch links for all rounds will be posted at theACC.com when they become available.
First-round action kicks off the event at 11 a.m. Semifinals are set for 1 p.m., followed by the consolation semifinals at 3:30 p.m. and the consolation finals at 5 p.m. Championship matches begin at 7 p.m., followed by the awards presentation.
Pre-seeds for the 2021 ACC Wrestling Championship are listed below. Entries are subject to change until noon on Saturday.
125:
1. Sam Latona, Virginia Tech
2. Jakob Camacho, NC State
3. Colton Camacho, Pitt
4. Patrick McCormick, Virginia
5. Will Guida, North Carolina
6. Login Agin, Duke
133:
1. Micky Phillippi, Pitt
2. Korbin Myers, Virginia Tech
3. Joe Heilmann, North Carolina
4. Louie Hayes, Virginia
5. Jarrett Trombley, NC State
6. Drake Doolittle, Duke
141:
1. Tariq Wilson, NC State
2. Zach Sherman, North Carolina
3. Brian Courtney, Virginia
4. Cole Matthews, Pitt
5. Sam Hillegas, Virginia Tech
6. Patrick Rowland, Duke
149:
1. Austin O'Connor, North Carolina
2. Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech
3. Ed Scott, NC State
4. Josh Finesilver, Duke
5. Denton Spencer, Virginia
6. Mick Burnett, Pitt
157:
1. Hayden Hidlay, NC State
2. Justin McCoy, Virginia
3. Connor Brady, Virginia Tech
4. Josh McClure, North Carolina
5. Brandon LaRue, Duke
6. Tyler Badgett, Pitt
165:
1. Jake Wentzel, Pitt
2. Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech
3. Jake Keating, Virginia
4. Kennedy Monday, North Carolina
5. Thomas Bullard, NC State
6. Eric Carter, Duke
174:
1. Daniel Bullard, NC State
2. Clay Lautt, North Carolina
3. Victor Marcelli, Virginia
4. Dakota Howard, Virginia Tech
5. Jared McGill, Pitt
6. Conor Becker, Duke
184:
1. Hunter Bolen, Virginia Tech
2. Trent Hidlay, NC State
3. Devin Kane, North Carolina
4. Michael Battista, Virginia
5. Gregg Harvey, Pitt
6. Vincent Baker, Duke
197:
1. Nino Bonaccorsi, Pitt
2. Jay Aiello, Virginia
3. Max Shaw, North Carolina
4. Nick Reenan, NC State
5. Stan Smeltzer, Virginia Tech
6. Kaden Russell, Duke
285:
1. Deonte Wilson, NC State
2. Quinn Miller, Virginia
3. John Borst, Virginia Tech
4. Andrew Gunning, North Carolina
5. Austin Cooley, Pitt
6. Jonah Niesenbaum, Duke
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