PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (theACC.com) – For the seventh consecutive year—excluding the 2020 championship, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the ACC will have at least two wrestlers competing for an NCAA National Championship. NC State's Vince Robinson and Virginia Tech's Caleb Henson have advanced to the championship finals of the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Robinson will be looking to win his first NCAA National Championship title, while Henson will look to repeat after winning the 149-pound title last year.
No. 4 Robinson (26-3) reached the finals at 125 pounds with a pair of 4-2 wins over No. 12 Dean Peterson of Rutgers in the quarterfinals and No. 8 Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh in the semifinals, who had upset the No. 1 seed Luke Lilledahl of Penn State in the quarterfinals. NC State’s Robinson will face off with No. 7 Troy Spratley (28-4) of Oklahoma State in the finals.
Now a three-time All-American, No. 4 Henson (26-0) will defend his 149-pound title on Saturday versus No. 2 Ridge Lovett (28-2) of Nebraska. Henson reached the finals for the second straight year with an 8-5 sudden victory win over No. 8 Jordan Williams of Little Rock in the quarterfinals and a 6-2 decision over No. 13 Dylan D’Emilio of Ohio State in the semifinals.
ACC wrestlers have won NCAA individual titles on 23 previous occasions, with Virginia Tech’s Henson winning the 149-pound title last year in Kansas City, Missouri.
Saturday night’s finals begin at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally by ESPN.
One other ACC student-athlete – Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech - reached the semifinals at 125 pounds. No. 3 Ventresca defeated No. 6 Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia with a 4-1 sudden victory win in the quarterfinals but fell short in the semifinals with a 6-1 loss in the first tiebreaker to No. 7 Spratley.
A total of 10 ACC wrestlers from five of the league’s seven programs will finish in the top eight of their respective weight classes at the NCAA Championships, earning 2025 All-America honors. In addition to finalist Robinson and Henson, and counting Ventresca, seven other ACC grapplers are still alive in the consolation brackets and will look to place third through eighth in their respective weight classes.
The ACC went 7-5 in the blood rounds on Friday night and will see seven wrestlers – Virginia Tech’s Connor McGonagle and Stanford’s Tyler Knox of Stanford at 133 pounds, Lachlan McNeil of North Carolina at 149 pounds, Hunter Garvin of Stanford at 165 pounds, Matty Singleton of NC State at 174 pounds, Mac Stout of Pitt at 197 pounds and Isaac Trumble of NC State at 285 – compete in the placement matches on Saturday.
The consolation rounds are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. ET on ESPNU to determine the placements from third to eighth.
Three-time defending champion Penn State leads the team scoreboard with 135.5 points, 34 points ahead of fellow Big Ten member Nebraska who is in second with 101.5 points. Oklahoma State is in third with 91.0 points, Iowa is in fourth with 73.5 points and Minnesota is fifth with 47.0 points.
Virginia Tech and NC State lead the way for the ACC teams, as the Hokies are 10th with 40.0 points and the Wolfpack are 11th with 38.0 points after two days.
Complete ACC second-day team scoring and placement were as follows:
ACC in the Team Rankings:
10. Virginia Tech – 40.0
11. NC State – 38.0
T18. Stanford – 21.0
T26. Pitt – 16.0
T26. North Carolina – 16.0
42. Virginia – 6.0
T60. Duke – 0.0
ACC 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling All-Americans
125 pounds
No. 3 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech ^
No. 4 Vince Robinson, NC State (Finalist)
133 pounds
No. 6 Connor McGonagle, Virginia Tech
No. 13 Tyler Knox, Stanford
149 pounds
No. 1 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech @ (Finalist)
No. 6 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina @
165 pounds
No. 7 Hunter Garvin, Stanford @
174 pounds
No. 14 Matty Singleton, NC State
197 pounds
No. 6 Mac Stout, Pitt
285 pounds
No. 7 Isaac Trumble, NC State
^ - two-time All-American
@ - three-time All-American
Action resumes on Saturday, March 22, with Session 5 with placement matches and Session 6 in the nightcap for the championship finals. Broadcast Coverage for the remainder of the Championship is as follows:
Saturday, March 22
11 a.m. ET – Session 5 (Consolation Finals) | ESPNU/ESPN+
7 p.m. ET – Session 6 (Championship Finals) | ESPN/ESPN+