CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia wrestling team earned its first-ever national team ranking this week, debuting at No. 25 in the Wrestling International Newsmagazine (W.I.N.) poll.

“We were very excited to see that we have broken into the Top 25,” second-year head coach Steve Garland said. “Our kids have done lot of great things this year. We have gone from not having a qualifier at the NCAA Championships the year before I got here (2006) to being ranked, and that is a testament to what we are doing here. I am very proud of our staff and kids for getting to this point in such a short time. At the end of the day it’s just a ranking, but these are the kind of things people use as a marker for what your program has accomplished.”

Virginia owns a 7-1 dual-meet record this year and also boasts an impressive sixth-place finish at the Southern Scuffle, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country.

Virginia has four wrestlers ranked this week in the national polls. With a 21-1 record, Rocco Caponi (Jr., Uniontown, Ohio) is ranked as high as eighth nationally in the InterMat rankings at 184 pounds. Freshman Michael Chaires (Scotia, N.Y.) is 13th at 165 pounds, according to W.I.N. Magazine, while Eric Albright (Jr., York, Va.) stands 15th nationally at 133 pounds in the InterMat rankings. Brent Jones (So., Burke, Va.) holds the No. 19 national ranking at 197 pounds according to InterMat.

The Cavaliers are back on the mat at 9 a.m. Friday, battling Ohio in the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va. UVa will wrestle either No. 4-seed Pennsylvania or North Dakota State in the second round at 1 p.m. Friday. Virginia earned the No. 5 seed in the event behind fifth-ranked Oklahoma State, No. 13 Illinois, No. 19 Old Dominion and Penn, who are seeds 1-4, respectively.

W.I.N. Magazine Rankings (last week’s rankings in parentheses)
1. Minnesota (2nd)
2. Iowa (1st)
3. Iowa State (3rd)
4. Penn State (4th)
5. Oklahoma State (9th)
6. Nebraska (5th)
7. Central Michigan (6th)
8. Missouri (7th)
9. Michigan (10th)
10. Ohio State (11th)
11. Northwestern (12th)
12. Cornell (8th)
13. Illinois (13th)
14. Indiana (14th)
15. Wisconsin (15th)
16. Hofstra (17th)
17. Edinboro (18th)
18. UT-Chattanooga (16th)
19. Old Dominion (19th)
20. Maryland (20th)
21. Boise State (21st)
22. Pittsburgh (22nd)
23. Kent State (23rd)
24. Oklahoma (24th)
25. Virginia (NR)