Mountaineer Wrestling
2020-21 IN
REVIEW
Fourth-year coach Tim Flynn guided the Mountaineers to their first winning season since 2013-14. WVU finished with a 7-3 record after winning four of its last five dual matches, which included a huge 14-point victory (25-11) over No. 17 Northern Colorado on Jan. 31 inside the WVU Coliseum for the Mountaineers first win against a ranked opponent since 201819. That final stretch launched the Mountaineers to No. 22 in the final Dual Meet Rankings by InterMat and FloWrestling, while they received seven votes in the NWCA Coaches Poll. The Mountaineers went on to place nineth at the Big 12 Championship and 31st at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, moving up 12 spots from placing 43rd in 2019-20. Four members of the squad qualified for the NCAA Tournament, including Redshirt juniors Killian Cardinale (125) and Noah Adams (197) and freshman Peyton Hall (165) all earning automatic bids. Redshirt freshman Ryan Sullivan (133) rounded out the group by punching his ticket to St. Louis with an at-large berth into the tournament. In his first year representing the Mountaineers, Cardinale highlighted the tournament by becoming the first wrestler to earn All-America status during Flynn’s tenure and first AllAmerican since former standout Zeke Moisey completed the requirements in the same weight class in 2018. The Bristow, Virginia, native placed seventh after defeating No. 19-seeded Eric Barnett of Wisconsin, 12-7, on the final day. Off the mat, West Virginia checked in at No. 24 out of 30 teams honored as Scholar All-American Teams for the first time since 2009, while Cardinale, Hall and Sullivan were all individually honored as NWCA Scholar All-Americans. WVU also gained 12 Academic All-Big 12 selections, doubling the most recent season-best of six set in 2020 and 2013. Of the NCAA qualifiers, Adams was named to the second team and Hall was named to the rookie team.
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