If you would have asked 100 Virginia Tech sports fans if they knew who TJ Stewart and Clara Strack prior to the start of the winter sports seasons, the number who knew who each of them were would probably have been very low.
Both arrived at Virginia Tech as highly-regarded recruits in their respective sports with Stewart being the wrestling equivalent of a five-star recruit while Strack was a four-star recruit who broke numerous records at her high school prior to coming to Blacksburg.
Despite that, both were not expected to have large roles during the 2023-24 season even with their high potentials.
On the wrestling front, Tech had Sam Fisher ready to replace Hunter Bolen at the 184-pound weight class this year with Stewart being focused more on the 197-pound weight class as Tech figured out where his best fit may be. Meanwhile, Strack was set to learn as a backup behind a Virginia Tech legend in Liz Kitley, working as a backup center with Tech hoping back in November that she provide a few quality minutes for the Hokies to rest Kitley.
However, Stewart and Strack could be the two Hokies who define this March more than anyone else, reaching this point through their own hard work along with injuries pushing them into spots where they may carry greater expectations for what their coaches need from them to achieve their goals.
Let's start with Stewart, the former five-star wrestling recruit who started out at 197, redshirt as a freshman last year. Much of the focus was still on him at 197 until Sam Fisher suffered an injury that caused him to miss some time. Fisher had some success prior to his injury, emerging in the top 20 nationally at his weight class, but wasn't dominant which left an opening for someone else to seize the job if they could even when Fisher returned from injury.
Enter Stewart who had an up-and-down start upon getting his chance to be VT's starter at 184, going 1-1 in his first two starts with the loss coming against North Carolina veteran Gavin Kane on January 26th.
Since then, Stewart has hit his stride and emerged as one of the best 184 wrestlers in the country and is ready to become a star at the NCAA Championships in Kansas City this upcoming week.
Stewart has won his last eight matches across all competitions (dual meets and tournaments) including a pair of victories over NC State's Dylan Fishback (#11 per Intermat's 184 rankings) with one being to win his first ACC title, plus victories over Pittsburgh's Reece Heller (#16), North Carolina's Gavin Kane (#22) and George Mason's Malachi DuVall (#30), and more.
In the process, Stewart won his first ACC title as a redshirt freshman, won an important swing match with the ACC regular season team title on the line against NC State, rose to #10 in the Intermat rankings (second highest among freshman), and earned the #7 seed at 184 pounds for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
There are some similarities between the rapid ascent of Stewart and the rapid ascent of Mekhi Lewis when he was a redshirt freshman. During that season, Lewis showed promise early, but also had a couple losses. However, Lewis never looked back once he hit his stride not losing a single match following his loss at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational to Nebraska's Isaiah White on his way to winning an ACC title and a national title.
Unlike Lewis, Stewart wasn't a starter from the get-go nor was his winning percentage as high as Lewis' heading to NCAAs. However, once Stewart found his form, he has looked like an unstoppable force similar to Lewis did that year, with Stewart earning a slightly better seed at #7 than Lewis did at #8 that year.
Stewart could also play an important role in helping the Hokies try to finish in the top 5-7 at worst this year, as was the seeming ambition for this team entering the season. Tech strayed some from that with the struggles of some returning starters who the Hokies were expecting more from, plus the injury to Bryce Andonian that largely derailed his season.
However, Stewart has emerged as an x-factor who could sway things the other way, especially in an event where you can climb quite high up the team leaderboard if you can have three or four guys make deep runs. Mekhi Lewis and Caleb Henson appear to be certainties to do just that, but Stewart is more than capable of doing just that. Even just earning All-American status would be a major boost for the Hokies in that spot.
TJ Stewart is going to be a star for years to come for the Hokies, and could be a defining figure for Virginia Tech Wrestling next weekend in Kansas City.
Meanwhile, Clara Strack not only earned herself a few minutes per game as a backup center, but also showed plenty of versatility to the point that Kenny Brooks was able to play her alongside Liz Kitley for significant minutes with Strack working at the four.
Strack showed a lot of promise on both ends of the floor, helping the Hokies become a better rebounding team collectively while also providing some additional shot blocking on the interior and some points in the paint. That led to her minutes increasing as the season progressed, with Strack becoming the true third big behind Kitley and Olivia Summiel throughout ACC play.
Throughout the season, Strack showed that she has the potential to develop into an All-ACC player who can continue on the Kenny Brooks era legacy of talented bigs that Regan Magarity started and Liz Kitley took to a level of greatness that has never been seen by any basketball player, men's or women's, at Virginia Tech.
However, the timeline for Strack's ascendance into an important role was sped up dramatically when Kitley suffered a non-contact knee injury against Virginia. Kitley hasn't played since missing the ACC Tournament, though Tech has said that their focus is on having the three-time ACC Player of the Year ready for the NCAA Tournament.
In her absence, Strack stepped into the primarily center role even if she wasn't the starter for the Hokies, playing 28 and 27 minutes against Miami and Notre Dame respectively in Greensboro after playing 22 at UVA in the game which Kitley was injured.
As you might expect for a talented freshman, there were plenty of ups and downs with Strack being fairly effective against UVA and Miami with eight points, eight rebounds, and three blocks against the Cavaliers followed by 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocks in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal victory over Miami. She followed that with a rough game against Notre Dame during which she had only four points and six rebounds on 2-9 shooting showing her youth in the process.
Even if Kitley is able to go for the NCAA Tournament, Strack will still have a significant role for this team going forward. It's reasonable that Tech would like to limit Kitley's minutes the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament if she is able to play, and an effective Clara Strack playing 20-25 quality minutes primarily at center would allow them to do just that.
With Kitley back, Strack still has an important role to play as the primary big off the bench who can give teams a handful in combination with Kitley given their combined length, rebounding, and shot blocking.
If Kitley can't play, then it's unfair to expect Strack to be able to replace what Kitley can do nor is it reasonable to have the same expectations that you'd have for Tech with Kitley.
Even with that, the Hokies absolutely can have a goal of at least reaching the Sweet 16 and Strack will play an important complimentary role if Tech is to do that. There's plenty of reason to be confident in her ability to be an effective shot blocker and rebounder, but the Hokies will need more consistency from her around the rim. If she can provide the production she did against UVA and Miami while being fairly efficient, the Hokies will have a great chance at reaching the Sweet 16 for the second-straight year and only the third time in program history.
It seems very likely, if not certain, that TJ Stewart and Clara Strack will be stars for Virginia Tech for years to come. But both of these freshman are now in an unexpected position due to a combination of their own efforts and injuries to where they could define what this March is for the Hokies in the NCAA Wrestling Championships and in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
Given what we've seen from them so far this season, don't be surprised if both are ready to step up to the plate and deliver this upcoming week.
