Five Hokies place at the U.S. Open

Walz, Borst reach the finals in their respective weight classes

April 29, 2018

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech wrestling program had five wrestlers place at the 2018 U.S. Open this past weekend in Las Vegas.

In the junior division, freshman Mekhi Lewis finished fifth and freshman John Borst placed second. Both wrestlers punched their ticket to the Junior World Team Trials. Freshman Stanley Smeltzer went 3-2 wrestling at 86kg.

In the senior division, Tyler Graff finished fourth, Frank Molinaro placed sixth and Ty Walz finished second. Graff and Molinaro both qualified for World Team Trials with their performances. The duo joins Walz, who qualified for the Trials after taking first at the Bill Farrell International Open.

Borst went 3-1 on his run to the 92kg finals where he lost to Iowa’s Jacob Warner. Competing in his first freestyle event, Lewis went 4-2 and defeated Tyler Dow in the fifth place match, 15-8.

After a bye and an 11-6 victory in the quarterfinals, Walz avenged a loss to Nathan Burak at last year’s Open with a 4-3 win in the semifinals. Walz’s run ended with a 14-7 loss in the finals to Austin Schafer. Graff went 6-2 with four tech falls.

Complete results can be found in FloArena on FloWrestling.com.

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