After medicially withdrawing from the 2021 ACC Championships, Leiws earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships where he went 2-0 before medically withdrawing from the tournament.Īs a redshirt junior, Lewis made the move up to 174 pounds where he went 24-2 on the season. Before that, Lewis was ranked No.1 in the country by Intermat, FloWrestling, and TrackWrestling. Both of Lewis' losses came by injury default due to an injury sustained in the final dual of the season against Pitt. Virginia Tech Wrestling March 24, 2019Īfter taking an Olympic redshirt for the 2019-2020 season, Lewis returned to the mat for the Hokies at 165 pounds where he went 10-2 on the season. Lewis was also named the 2019 ACC Wrestler of the Year and finished the season with a 28-2 record, racking up 13 bonus point victories along the way. In addition, Lewis was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler by the NWCA, joining Cael Sanderson (Iowa State, 1999) as the only freshmen to win the award and the fourth ACC wrestler to earn the honor. In the finals, Lewis shocked the wrestling world by defeating two-time defending national champion, Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State by a score of 7-1 to claim the 2019 NCAA title thus becoming the first NCAA Champion in Virginia Tech wrestling history. 4 seed Evan Wick of Wisconsin in the semis to become Virginia Tech's third national finalist. He continued his tear with a 5-2 victory over No. In the quarterfinals, PPG Arena erupted as Lewis claimed a a 3-1 upset over top-seeded Alex Marinelli of Iowa in the closing seconds. 8 seed and claimed a pin over Virginia's Cam Coy and a decision over Army's Cael McCormick to open his first national tournament appearance. Lewis entered the NCAA Championships as the No. Lewis earned the top seed at the ACC Championships with a perfect 5-0 ACC dual record and went on to win his first ACC title which automatically qualified him for the 2019 NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lewis started the season by winning the Hokie Open, then went on to finish runner-up at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, falling to eventual All-American Isaiah White of Nebraska in the finals. Virginia Tech Wrestling September 23, 2018Īs a redshirt freshman, Lewis etched his legend with one of the most historic individual seasons in Virginia Tech wrestling's history. Your Junior World Champion at 74 KG.from the UNITED STATES and VIRGINIA TECH.MEKHI. In just his third-ever freestyle competiton, Lewis went on to claim the 74-kilogram Junior World Championships, doing so with two tech falls, a fall and a 5-1 decision over Azerbaijan's Abubakar Abakarov in the finals. He defeated Wyoming's Hayden Hastings, Iowa's Alex Marinelli, Oklahoma State's Travis Wittlake, and Iowa's Jeremiah Moody to claim the title. In the summer of 2018, Lewis won the Junior World Team Trials. Over the course of the season, Lewis claimed six wins over NCAA qualifiers, won the Hokie Open, the Wolfpack Open, the Storm Open, the Appalachian State Open, and the Edinboro Open. Both of his losses came to eventual two-time All-American, Chance Marsteller of Lockhaven, at the Southern Scuffle where he placed fourth. In his redshirt campaign, Lewis accrued an impressive 28-2 record at 165 pounds. Coming out of Somerset, New Jersey, Lewis won four district titles, four region titles, and two state titles for Bound Brook High School. Taking a look at the first Hokie at 174 pounds is Tech great, redshirt senior Mekhi Lewis. BLACKSBURG - With the 2022-2023 season right around the corner, let's take a look at the 174 and 184 pound wrestlers suiting up for the Hokies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |