Virginia Tech’s Joey Dance seeks redemption in his final collegiate season

The last two seasons Virginia Tech wrestler Joey Dance entered the NCAA tournament with a top-three seed and championship hopes, but he failed to place.
The 2016-17 season marks his last as a college wrestler and Dance looks to redeem himself with an NCAA individual title in March.
A native of Richmond, Va., Dance began his collegiate journey earlier than most. As a freshman in high school, Dance verbally committed to Virginia Tech, a program that was on the rise.
Even though his dream school, Oklahoma State, chased after him the remainder of his high school career, Dance stuck with his choice to stay near his family.
“I knew I always wanted to stay close to home and I saw what Virginia Tech was building with their program,” Dance said. “When I was in middle school, Virginia Tech was ranked like 86th out of 86 teams so I didn’t even really know they had a wrestling team. When I came to Christiansburg, I learned that their team had gotten a lot better. Right after I verbally committed, I think that same year or the year after, they ended up finishing in the top 20, and by my junior and senior years they got in the top 10 so they really knew how to build a program. That was what made me stick to my decision with Tech.”
When he stepped on campus in the fall of 2013, he began to make an immediate impact at 125 pounds.
He earned key wins over ranked opponents then-No. 12 David Terao of American University and then-No. 20 Nathan Kraisser, who was at North Carolina that season. He went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City after finishing third at the ACC Championships.
There, he really shined.
Dance entered the tournament as the No. 16, the lowest seeded wrestler of the tournament. He fell to top-seeded and eventual NCAA champ Jesse Delgado of Illinois in the round of 16. He was sent to the backside of the bracket, where the Hokie freshman came up with a remarkable run, taking out No. 7 Bradley Taylor of Wisconsin, No. 6 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma and No. 5 Dylan Peters of Northern Iowa to earn a spot in the third-place bout. He matched up with No. 3 Nico Megaludis of Penn State, who took to bout 6-1, leaving Dance with a fourth-place finish as a true freshman.
“All the matches I lost that year were by one or two points so I knew I was right there with the best guys. I just had to push through and do it,” Dance said. “I wanted to do well in the national tournament and wrestle to the best of my ability. That’s what I did. I outwrestled my seed. To be honest, I didn’t really think about what my seed was. I didn’t care that I was seeded 16. That was actually the first year that they seeded 16 wrestlers and I was the last seed, but I didn’t pay too much attention to that. I just looked at each guy that I had to wrestle.”
He shocked the field and the wrestling world.
The next season he wrestled to a 26-2 record prior to the national tournament with an impressive resume, including wins over Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State, Thomas Gilman of Iowa, Josh Rodriguez of North Dakota State and Peters. He also claimed his first ACC title.
He earned the No. 3 seed at NCAAs and was ready to win it all.
Then the unthinkable happened.
Dance was just three matches from taking home his first national championship. He had to get past sixth-seeded Gilman, who he had already defeated once that season.
He had a 5-1 lead over the Hawkeye heading into the final period, but a strong effort from Gilman tied the bout at the end of regulation, sending it to sudden victory. No. 6 Gilman got the deciding takedown and moved on to the semifinals, leaving Dance to battle back for another top-eight finish.
“I was up big (in the quarterfinals match), and I kind of blew it at the end,” Dance said. “My body just shut down on me in the third period and Gilman came back and stole that match from me, when really I had it won by a pretty good amount. That match really took a toll on me during that tournament so I went into the round of 12 not really caring because all I wanted to do was win a national title that year.”
Dance dropped his very next match to Conor Youtsey of Michigan, ending his sophomore campaign with no national title and no All-America honor.
“I never really had anything like that happen to me, where I went from almost winning a tournament to not placing at all. That was definitely different for me,” he said.
It may have been the first time it happened to him, but unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last time.
His junior year followed a similar pattern. The Hokie went undefeated in the regular season and captured his second ACC Championship.
The 2016 NCAA Championships took place under the bright lights of the city that never sleeps, New York City.
Dance was primed to take the Big Apple by storm as the No. 2 seed.
This time Dance went down in the round of 16, falling to No. 15 seed Terao, 5-3.
In his consolation match against Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion, Dance tore a ligament in his foot and lost the tightly contested bout, 4-3.
Another stellar year with no NCAA accolades to show for it.
This year is Dance’s senior season and the No. 2-ranked wrestler plans to take a new approach.
“One thing I think that hurt me the last two years was that I looked at wrestling like a job. This year, I’m going in with the mindset of having fun,” Dance said. “I’m more relaxed so far this year. I’m not constantly thinking about winning a national title. I’m relaxing and finding ways to get better each day and building toward the national title at the end. I’m not looking too far ahead in the future. I’m taking it one match after another.”
He’s on the right path this year, holding an undefeated record and recently taking the 125-pound title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite among a talented field. It was only the second time a Hokie has won the tournament, with teammate Ty Walz winning the program’s first CKLV title last season.
“Beating good guys is something I’ve always done since high school,” Dance said. “That’s not really anything that’s going to affect my mindset. It’s just something that lets me know I’m the best guy at the weight and I can do it. I just need to get down and dirty and get this done and keep everything where it needs to be. I just have to let it fly and show everyone how good I am and how offensive I can be. I have to put points on the board and let them know I’m the best in the weight and one of the best pound-for-pound guys in the country. If I do that, I should be fine in March.”