Wrestling: Cedeno leads Virginia to sixth-place finish at ACC Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Fifth-year Dylan Cedeno claimed the title at 141 pounds to lead the Virginia wrestling team in action at the ACC Championships on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.

Cedeno was one of four Cavaliers to earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships and he led a trio of Cavaliers to place finishes at the annual event. Nick Hamilton finished as runner up at 165 pounds, while Keyveon Roller finished third at 125 pounds.

Virginia finished sixth at the ACC Championships with 38.5 team points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Cedeno, who missed the entire fall portion of the season as he rehabbed injury, stormed through the event to put an exclamation mark on his spring as he prepares for the NCAA Championships in two weeks. The fifth-year wrestler grabbed a tech fall in his opening round match with Duke’s Christian Coleman before taking a 4-3 decision over Pitt’s Briar Priest in the semifinals.

He controlled the finals match against top-seeded Sam Latona of Virginia Tech from the outset, getting a takedown less than 30 seconds into the match. The takedown was not initially not awarded, but was given on review after a challenge by the Virginia coaching staff. Cedeno built a 7-2 lead coming down the stretch before Latona would get an escape point with 15 seconds remaining and a takedown with three seconds remaining, but the lead was too great as Cedeno took the title.

Dylan Cedeno has been a man on a mission this spring!

There’s more ahead, but what a moment along the way as he picks up some hardware!#GoHoos | #TheVirginiaWay pic.twitter.com/8LW7eTKtpo

— Virginia Wrestling (@UVAWrestling) March 10, 2025

Jack Gioffre (149), Michael Gioffre (157) and Nick Hamilton (165) all picked up big wins in their first round of matches to give the Cavaliers four wrestlers in the semifinals. Hamilton held serve as the two seed in his weight classes to move on to the semifinal round. Jack Gioffre got a late takedown in his opening match to upset fourth-seeded Koy Buesgens of NC State with a 4-1 decision, while Michael Gioffre went feet to back with third-seeded Dylan Evans of Pitt in sudden victory for the 8-1 decision.

Hamilton picked up the win in his semifinal match, taking a 4-2 over NC State’s Derek Fields. Both Gioffre’s fell in their semifinal bouts, with Jack facing off against top-seeded and 2024 NCAA Champion Caleb Henson, while Michael fell to second-seeded All-American Ed Scott.

Hamilton battled in the finals before a penalty point for stalling with less than 20 seconds remaining in the match and a takedown at the buzzer broke a 1-1 tie with top-seeded Hunter Garvin of Stanford. Jack Gioffre advanced to the third place match before dropping a 4-1 decision in overtime to Buesgens in a rematch of his first match of the day. His finish gave him a spot in the NCAA Championships.

Roller fell in his first match of the day, but rolled through the consolation bracket on the way to his third-place finish and an NCAA Championship berth. In the consolation semifinals, Roller took an 8-5 decision over third-seeded Spencer Moore of North Carolina and won the rematch with fourth-seeded Nick Babin of Pitt in the third-place match with a 7-5 decision.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Dylan Cedeno claimed his first ACC title with his win over top-seeded Sam Latona and avenged his only loss of the season to date with the decision in the championship round.
• Cedeno is the 95th individual ACC champion for the Cavaliers and it marks the third straight season for Virginia to have an ACC Champion – Justin McCoy won at 165 in 2023 and Nick Hamilton won at 165 in 2024.
• Nick Hamilton earned his second straight NCAA berth with his runner-up finish and his second straight season to earn All-ACC honors with the second-place finish.
• Keyveon Roller and Jack Gioffre each earned their first bid to the NCAA Championships by virtue of their finishes at the ACC Championships on Sunday.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND

“We are so happy for Dylan Cedeno. His journey has been filled with trials and setbacks, injuries and adversity, and to see the way he has overcome this year – with a 12-1 record and an ACC Championship he probably just locked up a top-10 seed at the NCAA Championships. It’s one of the bigger comeback stories in my career. I’m really proud of him. He’s such an example for the rest of the team and he showed them all today that you can break through.

“We are excited for the other guys who punched through and got automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. They are going to get a chance to go after one of their main dreams in Philadelphia, so I am filled with joy thinking about that. Overall, our guys wrestled their hearts out. We avenged a lot of losses from the regular season and did some of our best wrestling at the end of the year which is what every coach wants to see.”

125
No. 5 seed Keyveon Roller – Third Place Finish – NCAA Qualifier
R1: No. 4 seed Nick Babin (Pitt) major dec. Roller, 10-2
Conso. SF: Roller dec. No. 3 seed Spencer Moore (UNC), 8-5
THIRD PLACE MATCH: Roller dec. No. 4 seed Nick Babin, 7-5

133
No. 5 seed Gable Porter
R1: No. 4 seed Kai Orine (NC State) major dec. Porter, 13-3
Conso. QF: No. 3 seed Tyler Knox (Stanford) major dec. Porter, 10-2

141
No. 2 seed Dylan Cedeno – ACC Champion – NCAA Qualifier
R1: Cedeno tech fall No. 7 seed Christian Coleman (Duke), 21-5 (4:34)
SF: Cedeno dec. No. 6 seed Briar Priest (Pitt), 4-3
FINAL: Cedeno dec. No. 1 seed Sam Latona (VT), 8-6

149
No. 5 seed Jack Gioffre – NCAA Qualifier
R1: Gioffre dec. No. 4 seed Koy Buesgens (NC State), 4-1
SF: No. 1 seed Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) tech fall Gioffre, 21-4 (6:40)
Conso. SF: Gioffre dec. No. 6 seed Finn Solomon (Pitt), 8-5
THIRD PLACE MATCH: No. 4 seed Koy Buesgens (NC State) dec. Gioffre, 4-1 (sv-1)

157
No. 6 seed Michael Gioffre
R1: Gioffre dec. No. 3 seed Dylan Evans (Pitt), 8-1 (sv-1)
SF: No. 2 seed Ed Scott (NC State) dec. Gioffre, 9-5
Conso. SF: No. 4 seed Sonny Santiago (UNC) dec. Gioffre, 8-2

165
No. 2 seed Nick Hamilton – Second Place Finish – NCAA Qualifier
R1: Hamilton dec. No. 7 seed Charlie Darracott (UNC), 5-1
SF: Hamilton dec. No. 3 seed Derek Fields (NC State), 4-2
FINAL: No. 1 seed Hunter Garvin (Stanford) dec. Hamilton, 5-1

174
No. 6 seed Rocco Contino
R1: No. 3 seed Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. Contino, 5-4
Conso. QF: Contino tech fall No. 7 seed Gaetano Console (Duke), 21-6 (4:01)
Conso. SF: No. 1 seed Josh Ogunsanya (UNC) dec. Contino, 5-2

184
No. 6 seed Justin Phillips
R1: No. 3 seed Gavin Kane (UNC) major dec. Phillips, 12-4
Conso. QF: Phillips dec. No. 7 seed David Hussey (Duke), 8-4
Conso. SF: No. 4 seed TJ Stewart (VT) dec. Phillips, 9-4

197
No. 6 seed Steven Burrell Jr.
R1: No. 3 seed Andy Smith dec. Burrell Jr., 8-2
Conso. QF: Burrell Jr. major dec. No. 7 seed Kwasi Bonsu (Duke), 14-2
Conso. SF: Burrell Jr. dec. No. 4 seed Cade Lautt (UNC), 6-5
THIRD PLACE MATCH: No. 3 seed Andy Smith dec. Burrell Jr., 4-2

HWT
No. 7 seed Gabe Christenson
R1: No. 2 seed Jimmy Mullen (VT) pinned Christenson, 1:50
Conso. QF: No. 3 seed Nolan Neves (UNC) dec. Christenson, 4-1 (sv-1)