Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling

Tony Robie returns for Episode 94 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling. We'll recap the events since the loss at home to North Carolina, which includes the wins at Virginia and ODU before beating Duke comfortably at the Moss Arts Center. Coach Robie will break down the NC State dual weight-by-weight as there are as many as eight possible toss-up matches and six weights where athletes are meeting for the first time in college. SHOW SEGMENTS 0:38 - Introduction 1:00 - Recovering from Carolina. 2:00 - The experience at the Moss Arts Center 3:35 - Good crowd at U.Va. 5:40 - Impressions of NC State vs. North Carolina on the ACC Network 7:40 - How closely do coaches watch those duals? 8:48 - Valentine's Day - Dinner and a Show in Raleigh 10:43 - The required Dual Meet Champion chatter 12:12 - Getting every school to track attendance 13:10 - 125 pounds - Prata vs. Camacho 14:24 - 133 pounds - Gerardi vs. Trombley 15:29 - 141 pounds - Moore vs. Wilson 16:55 - 149 pounds - Andonia vs. Leitten 19:54 - 157 pounds - LaPrade vs. Hayden Hidlay 21:26 - 165 pounds - McFadden vs. Thomas Bullard 23:23 - 174 pounds - Howard vs. Daniel Bullard 25:34 - 184 pounds - Bolen vs. Trent Hidlay 28:41 - 197 pounds - Smeltzer vs. Reenan 30:36 - 285 pounds - Borst vs. Wilson 32:05 - How nerve-wracking is a dual like this? 32:56 - Perspective on four ACC teams in the Top 10 34:00 - Wrapping it up on the ACC Network THE PREVIEW GUIDE SALE IS ON! Hey #HokieNation, get yourself all set for the 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships by pre-ordering the Mat Talk Online NCAA Division I Digital Fan Guide. Listeners of Inside Virginia Tech wrestling can get a special $5 discount by going to WrestlingPreviewGuide.com/hokie or by entering hokie during your order process at WrestlingPreviewGuide.com. The Guide will be digitally delivered March 17. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOWApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Play Music | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Since the last time we met, Virginia Tech's wrestling program has improved to 8-0 and risen to No. 3 in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll. On Episode 93 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling, head coach Tony Robie returns to talk about the lineup changes as a result of Brent Moore's injury and the trip up to New York and the subsequent wins over Binghamton and Cornell. The heavy focus on this episode is with Friday's home dual at Cassell Coliseum against No. 12 North Carolina. We go weight-by-weight and get Coach Robie's perspective of how this dual will go. It's the first wrestling match ever on the ACC Network, so there's a lot of excitement expected coming to Blacksburg this weekend. THE PREVIEW GUIDE SALE IS ON! Hey #HokieNation, get yourself all set for the 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships by pre-ordering the Mat Talk Online NCAA Division I Digital Fan Guide. Listeners of Inside Virginia Tech wrestling can get a special $5 discount by going to WrestlingPreviewGuide.com/hokie or by entering hokie during your order process at WrestlingPreviewGuide.com. The Guide will be digitally delivered March 17. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Jared Frayer will bring Mekhi Lewis and Ty Walz to the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals this coming weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. The pair will try to qualify for April's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in State College, Pennsylvania in April. A top five finish will be needed to assure them a shot at the Trials. On Episode 92 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling, Frayer will briefly review the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and touch on his relationship with UTC head coach Kyle Ruschell heading into the Hokies' home dual with the Mocs on Saturday before we turn the focus on freestyle. Frayer also recounts the uniqueness of his Olympic quest, which he fulfilled by making the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in men's freestyle after a series of second-place finishes at the U.S. World Team Trials. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Tony Robie and 2019 NCAA champion Mekhi Lewis will go to Washington. On Episode 91 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling talks with Robie about the upcoming trip to the White House as part of NCAA Champion Day, where numerous NCAA team and individual champions will have the opportunity to meet the President along with representatives from Penn State, Northern Iowa and Cornell, who also accepted the invitation to come to the White House. Robie will then breakdown the win over Ohio State, a win that's vaulted the Hokies up to No. 4 in the latest NWCA Division I Coaches Poll. Then we take a quick look at who is expected to compete at the Navy Classic this weekend in Annapolis. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Episode 90 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling is an exciting one as head wrestling coach Tony Robie finally gets to talk about his incoming recruiting class. With #SigningDay here, five Hokie commits have put pen to paper and have joined the family. Coach Robie will talk about the first five signees and then talk about the performance at the recent Mat on the Mount held at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park, the home of Hokie baseball. John Borst's victory at heavyweight gave the Hokies the 21-18 win over the No. 21 Northwestern Wildcats. Now the Hokies will prepare for No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

It’s wrestling season time! That’s right, we have Hokie wrestling coming to Cassell Coliseum this weekend and more wrestling up in Roanoke at the Southeast Open. Welcome back #HokieNation to another episode of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling, as you heard in the intro, I’m Jason Bryant and on Episode 89, we’ll talk with head coach Tony Robie about this weekend’s competition, but first, we’ll get to a guest spot with Missouri head wrestling coach Brian Smith – This is Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling. We then get to coach Tony Robie and before we talk about this weekend’s competition, let’s just go through a few things from the intrasquad before putting some thought into Missouri and the Southeast Open in Roanoke. Information on the Southeast Open: SoutheastOpenWrestling.com Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

It’s Episode 88 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling, welcome back again #HokieNation, I’m Jason Bryant and today we are talking about the 2019-20 wrestling schedule with head coach Tony Robie. Before we get to that, a few updates to make you aware of. Mekhi Lewis finished fifth at the Continental Cup in Russia, his first senior-level freestyle tournament at 74kg, while Ty Walz finished with a bronze medal at 97kg at the same event. Thoughts on both Mekhi and Ty’s performance in Russia while representing Team USA and the Southeast Regional Training Center? Last episode, we brought in new volunteer assistant coach Jared Haught, a three-time All-American for the Hokies during his career. What’s it been like to work with Haught now in a coaching role vs. the relationship with him as an athlete? Now to the schedule, first, we see that Virginia Tech comes in ranked across the board by Trackwrestling, Flowrestling, W.I.N. and The Open Mat. We still haven’t seen the Coaches Poll, AWN or InterMat as yet. No. 16 by The Open Mat No. 17 by W.I.N. Magazine No. 17 by Flowrestling No. 19 on Trackwrestling, Thoughts on the rankings, which at this point, is almost universally a tournament-scoring rubric. Now to the schedule. The first time Hokie fans will get a chance to see the team compete is on October 25 at 7 p.m. at Cassell with the intrasquad. Again, the intrasquad, 10-15 years ago, wasn’t as big of a thing as it is now. Back then, it was Lehigh, Oklahoma State, those types of programs doing the intrasquad thing. Now, the majority of Division I programs are doing something like it. What’s good about it? You waste no time getting into the teeth of college wrestling, facing off with Missouri in Blacksburg at Cassell on November 2, the kickoff weekend of college wrestling. You’ve wrestled the Tigers in the early part of the season the last few years, but why the opening weekend? The Southeast Open is again a spot where Hokie fans can get a glimpse of a good portion of the team. This one’s in Roanoke and let’s talk location, differences, similarities on this event which takes place a day after the Missouri dual. It was recently released that on November 10 against Northwestern, the first Mat on the Mound will take place at Virginia Tech’s baseball facility, English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park. It was either last year or the year before, we saw Missouri and Illinois do an outdoor dual at a softball stadium. Weather permitting, what was the thought process behind doing this with the baseball field? Ohio State will host the Hokies at their new wrestling facility, the Covelli Center, on November 17. Again, this is an opponent who has been consistently on the schedule. There’s a pipeline of Ohio kids who come to Blacksburg and how much of this is to make sure Hokie wrestling continues to grow roots in Ohio and how much of it is getting that national-caliber look for the starters? The Navy Classic, a small, but dynamic tournament in Annapolis is on the schedule during the Thanksgiving holiday. About a five-hour drive up 81 and over to the D.C. metro area. This is the first time I can recall the Navy Classic being on the schedule. What do you like about the tournament and what about it from a scheduling standpoint is beneficial? Las Vegas and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Closing out the calendar year with a home dual before Christmas with Chattanooga. Last year, it was the dual with West Virginia around this time on the calendar. This time it’s the Mocs. The new year will open with a trip to Mount Pleasant and a dual with Central Michigan on January 3 before a home dual on January 11 with West Virginia. The Virginia Duals has been working on trying to bring itself back and right now, the tournament doesn’t seem like a good fit competitively for Virginia Tech despite the large group of Hokie fans who live in Hampton Roads. On January 18-19, it’s a trip to the Empire State and a pair of EIWA teams. On Saturday, it’s a dual with Binghamton, your former coaching place of residence, and on Sunday, it’s a dual with Cornell, who seems to be looking ahead as several of the Big Red’s best wrestlers will be opting to take the year off in preparation to train to make the 2020 Olympic Team. Five of the next six duals are with conference opponents as you close out the season with six straight single dual weekends. From January 25-February 22, you go home against North Carolina, on the road at Virginia, on the road in a non-conference dual at Old Dominion, the Moss Arts Dual is February 8 against Duke, you go to Raleigh on February 15 to take on NC State before closing out the season on the road at Pitt before turning around two weeks later and competing at the ACC Championships at Pittsburgh. The ACC sets the conference schedule for the most part, so thoughts on how you guys close out the season with single weigh-in events. Now, thoughts on the NCAA Championships in a giant football stadium. U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings. We’re looking at the potential of nearly 45,000 wrestling fans in there. How’s the ask been for tickets this year after the pandemonium that was 2019 in Pittsburgh? Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Jared Haught, a three-time All-American and past NCAA finalist returns to the show and more importantly, he returns to the Hokie program as the new volunteer assistant coach. On Episode 87 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling, Haught talks about his year away from wrestling and "adulting" in the real world and what drew him back to the wrestling room. We also give you a quick hit on Giving Day's Drive for 25 Blitz, which you can contribute to by clicking here. We close out by grilling Haught on famous West Virginians. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Episode 86 fires up as Coach Tony Robie returns to fill Hokie Nation in on the summer happenings around the wrestling program. Among the topics discussed are Mekhi Lewis' redshirt and the impact of the lineup as well as numerous questions answered regarding the Southeast Regional Training Center and the differences between contributions and funding. Coach Robie will also touch on some scheduling nuances as well as fill us in on some early dates and tailgating events around Hokie home football games at Lane Stadium. Got a question? Email the show at [email protected] to ask your question for Coach Robie and the staff. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Episode 85 of Inside Virginia Tech Wrestling visits with new assistant coach and 2019 U.S. Open champion Cody Brewer. The four-time All-American from Oklahoma and 2015 NCAA Division I champion talks about growing up in Kansas City, his choice to go to Oklahoma and what competition was like in college. Brewer will also share about his time at Northwestern before coming to Blacksburg and what he knew about the program prior. We'll also get some insight into Brewer's future plans on the mat. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Google Play Music | iOS App | Android App | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member and supporting the show. You'll get some cool stuff too.