Neal Richards Earns All-American Honors

Manheim, Pa. – VMI red-shirt senior Neal Richards was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) All-American second-team Friday, becoming the program's first All-American since 1999 (Leslie Apedoe, 285) and third all-time.

Each year the NWCA recognizes the outstanding work of the DI student-athletes by naming the All-Americans based on their achievements in the national championship, however, this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic the championships were canceled. All-American honors were based on each wrestler's overall body of work through the conference tournaments and up to the national championships.

"Everyone is so proud of Neal," said head coach Jim Gibson. "This honor is greatly deserved, and is the culmination of hard work and dedication throughout his time at VMI.  It puts him in an elite category of wrestlers throughout the country." 

Richards was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler (co) for the second-straight year after winning the 174-pound individual championship at the 2020 Southern Conference Wrestling Championships. The South Chesterfield, Va. native qualified for the NCAA Division I Tournament for the third time and took home first-team All-State honors last week.

Richards finished the season with a 38-7 record with six major decisions, seven technical falls and five pins on the year, with victories in 18 of his last 19 matches.