Louie Hayes locks up All-America honors at NCAA Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Louie Hayes (Orland Park, Ill.), a redshirt senior on the Virginia wrestling team, locked up All-America honors on Friday night at the NCAA Championships to become the 17th wrestler in program history to earn the honor.

The 10 seed at 133 pounds, Hayes will close out his time at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning (March 20) when he faces eighth-seeded Chris Cannon of Northwestern in the seventh-place match. Competition on Saturday begins at the Enterprise Center on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. ET.

Hayes went 1-2 on the Friday, locking up All-America honors with his win on Friday night in the first of two matches in the evening session, pinning Chance Rich of Cal State Bakersfield in the first period. He then closed the evening with a matchup against ninth-seeded Michael McGee of Arizona State, dropping an 8-4 decision to the Sun Devil wrestler to move to Saturday’s seventh-place match in the medal rounds.

Hayes opened the day with a quarterfinal matchup against second-seeded Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State, dropping a hard-fought decision to the Nittany Lion by a score of 4-1.

Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va.) and Brian Courtney (Athens, Pa.) also saw action on Friday for the Hoos with both wrestlers falling in the morning session to end their seasons. Courtney dropped a 10-9 decision in overtime to Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio, while Aiello was pinned by Iowa State’s Marcus Coleman.

Notes

• Hayes becomes the 17th Virginia wrestler to earn All-America honors.
• Virginia has now had at least one All-American three straight years and seven of the last 10 seasons.
• Jay Aiello and Jack Mueller were named All-Americans in 2020, while Mueller also earned the honor in 2019.
• Hayes is the eighth wrestler to earn All-America honors under head coach Steve Garland. Those eight wrestlers have combined for 14 All-America honors in Garland’s tenure.
• Virginia wrestlers have combined for 23 All-America honors in program history.
• Hayes will wrestle for seventh place on Saturday when he faces eighth-seeded Chris Cannon of Northwestern.

Friday results for UVA

125: No. 10 seed Louie Hayes

• QF: No. 2 seed Roman Bravo-Young dec. Hayes, 4-1
• Conso. R3: Hayes pinned No. 19 seed Chance Rich (Cal State Bakersfield), 2:10
• Conso. R4: No. 9 seed Michael McGee (Arizona State) dec. Hayes, 8-4
• 7th Place Match: Hayes vs. No. 8 seed Chris Cannon (Northwestern) –Saturday morning

141: No. 20 seed Brian Courtney

• Conso. R2: No. 30 seed Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) dec. Courtney 10-9 (TB-1)

197: No. 11 seed Jay Aiello

• Conso. R2:. No. 21 seed Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) pinned Aiello, 5:38