Virginia Wrestling Puts Four in National Rankings

VIRGINIASPORTSDOTCOM
VIRGINIASPORTSDOTCOM

VIRGINIASPORTSDOTCOM
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia wrestling team is ranked No. 23 this week by InterMat and also boasts a season-high four wrestlers who are ranked in InterMat’s individual rankings.

Rocco Caponi (Sr., Uniontown, Ohio) is ranked No. 8 at 184 pounds, Chris Henrich (So., Lansdale, Pa.) is a career-best No. 12 at 174, Brent Jones (Jr., Burke, Va.) is ranked No. 16 at 197 and Jedd Moore (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio) is No. 20 at 157. Moore is ranked for the first time this week in InterMat’s individual class rankings.

Henrich won the Cleveland State Open Dec. 14 to run his record to 16-0 this year. He has dominated in the majority of his matches, with 10 of the 16 wins coming by fall, (2), technical fall (3) or major decision (5).

Caponi, despite battling a nagging injury, has gone 5-1 this year. His next victory will be his 100th career win. He needs two wins to move into fifth place on the Virginia career list and three to move into a third-place tie with Jim Harshaw (1996-99) and Matt Roth (1995-99).

Jones is 10-2 this year, with a team-high six wins coming by fall. He owns one of Virginia’s top wins of the year, a 9-3 decision over then-No. 8 Patrick Bond of Illinois on Nov. 15 at the ACC/Big Ten Clash. With 28 career falls, Jones has moved into a second-place tie with Roth on the all-time UVa falls ledger.

Moore moved into the rankings this week after going 13-5 during the first month of his college career. In his first collegiate competition on Nov. 1, Moore won the 157-pound class at the Eastern Michigan Open. On Nov. 23, he posted the biggest win of his young career, downing then-No. 2 Dan Vallimont of Penn State, 9-4.

Virginia returns to the mat Dec. 29-30 at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C.