Virginia wrestling typically competes at Memorial Gymnasium, a cozy gym with seating for a few hundred fans. This season, with Memorial Gym under construction, the schedule includes meets in makeshift setups at the Aquatic & Fitness Center and North Grounds Recreation Center, on the courts where students head after class to play pick-up basketball games.
The environs, though sometimes rowdy, are hardly grand. But that will change for a day Friday, when Virginia confronts Duke at 7 p.m. inside John Paul Jones Arena. It is a sequel to last season’s JPJ spectacle, in which 2,112 fans showed up to watch Virginia wrestle Virginia Tech, the first wrestling match in the arena since 2019.
It is also a big moment for the program, a chance to attract fans and drum up larger-scale excitement. Coach Steve Garland is excited to return to the arena, and he loves how it makes dual matches more of an experience.
“They do a good job of making it a really fun and cool experience with all the sounds and the lights and the action,” Garland said. “Then the wrestlers, it’s going to be an entertaining thing, you see a gladiator sport like that … You’re going to watch and say wow.”
Virginia plans to go all out during its time at the premier venue, connecting with the community and alumni beyond just collegiate wrestling. Shortly before the dual starts, the team will host a clinic for children that is free with the purchase of an adult ticket. The clinic will be run by Jake Keating, an alumnus of the program and an All-ACC wrestler in 2021.
The program also plans on honoring two of the more notable Cavalier squads from Garland’s tenure. Both the 2010 and 2015 teams will be back in town as they are honored for their ACC titles. Garland feels it is important to have important honors at an event like this to build the program and show people what Virginia wrestling is all about.
“I want to build Virginia wrestling,” Garland said. “I want to build the fanbase, but I also want to build the brand. I want people to go and say, ‘Wow, I really like watching that team, I want to go support those guys.’”
There will be a lot on the line between the Cavaliers (4-4, 0-3 ACC) and the Blue Devils (4-12, 0-4 ACC). Neither team has won a conference match, and Virginia has lost to three ranked opponents in a row by double digits. Out of the seven programs that wrestle in the ACC, only Virginia and Duke are not ranked in the top 20. The Blue Devils are the Cavaliers’ best chance to secure a conference win before the conference tournament starts.
“The ACC is legit,” Coach Steve Garland said. “It’s one of the top conferences in the country year in and year out.”
While the wins and losses do not favor the team, the Cavaliers have gone through a ton of adversity this season with injuries and illness. Whether it be losing senior Marlon Yarbrough II for the season or missing junior Nick Hamilton for an extended period, injuries have taken a toll on the team’s leaders and sent them into a bit of an identity crisis with all the losing. Securing a win would be huge, and it could help Virginia regain its identity.
“We’ve had a ton of guys out, so we have not had our full lineup since potentially the first weekend,” Garland said. “We’re trying to get back to where we can get guys healthy, get them all in, shoulder to shoulder, and get back to that.”
The stars of this year’s team are Hamilton, fifth-year Dylan Cedeno and junior Keyveon Roller. Hamilton is Virginia’s most recent ACC champion, as he is the reigning winner at 165 lbs, and won Most Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s ACC Tournament. But Cedeno has been the ace this season, losing just one match, and he has a real chance to be the next Cavalier wrestler to win an ACC title.
“At 141, with four nationally ranked wins, why can’t he win one?” Garland said. “There’s really good kids in front of him. But why not us?”
The program is also incredibly young, which should help with experience and growth moving forward. Garland is looking forward to the youth movement developing soon. The Cavaliers have had multiple freshmen and sophomores step up in big ways already, so they will be in safe hands for the coming years.
For Garland, building for the future is inherent to his mission as a coach. He was an All-American wrestler at Virginia from 1997-2000 and is in his 19th season as head coach. The program has won two ACC titles under Garland, in 2010 and 2015, and has had 12 All-Americans. Garland has grown the program vastly during his tenure, and he only intends to keep doing so.
“When I started, the team was struggling a bit,” Garland said. “We hadn’t had a guy score a point in the NCAA Tournament the two years prior to me getting here … To go from that to having guys compete for national championships a short time later was a cool turnaround for us.”
The program has been building fan momentum over the course of the season. Garland noted that the team sold out several matches in smaller venues, like when they played NC State and North Dakota State at the Aquatic and Fitness Center and held matches inside Memorial Gymnasium. Coming into this pivotal match against Duke, Garland has one message for the Virginia fanbase.
“Trust me, you’ll be entertained,” Garland said. “If you come, even if you know absolutely nothing ... you’re going to love it.”
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