Panthers ready for 'brutal weekend' with Oklahoma State, Iowa State duals

On a night when Pitt will honor its most recent national champion, coach Keith Gavin hopes the Panthers are taking steps to prepare for their next one.

No. 17 Pitt hosts No. 7 Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Friday, then will fly to Ames, Iowa, to face No. 5 Iowa State at 3 p.m. Sunday. All 10 of the Cowboys’ projected starters are nationally ranked by InterMat, as are all 10 of the Cyclones’ projected starters.

“It’s a brutal weekend,” said Gavin, whose team has nine ranked starters. “This is why you do it. We schedule these tough matches to get ready for nationals. We have a team this year that we knew had to get better through the season or we wouldn’t have anyone on the podium.”

Redshirt freshman Dayton Pitzer, the ninth-ranked heavyweight, could face No. 11 Konner Doucet on Friday night and No. 3 Yonger Bastida on Sunday. That doesn’t quite mimic the NCAA tournament, but it’s the kind of preparation that Gavin believes can get a young wrestler such as Pitzer or classmate Mac Stout, who is No. 15 at 197, ready for the postseason.

“We’re trying to have national champions and All-Americans. We’ve had three NCAA finalists and four in the semis over the last four tournaments,” Gavin said. “There are a lot of young kids in the program right now that I think are going to be on the podium in the not-too-distant future.”

Nino Bonaccorsi, who made two of those semifinal appearances and won the 197-pound title last season, will be honored Friday night, as the first 400 fans attending the match will receive a commemorative national championship banner.

Oklahoma State enters the dual with three wrestlers ranked in the top three – Daton Fix (third at 133), Izzak Olejnik (second at 165) and Dustin Plott (second at 184). Pitt’s Vinnie Santaniello, who is coming off an impressive title-winning performance at the Franklin & Marshall Open a week ago, will draw the tough task of facing Fix.

“He’s got nothing to lose,” Gavin said. “It’s all upside for him. It doesn’t hurt you to go out there and wrestle. We looked at it, and Vinnie hasn’t lost to anybody out of the top 20 and only two were not in the top 10 – something like that.”

Holden Heller might have the hardest road on the weekend, as the 165-pounder is set to face Olejnik on Friday and No. 4 David Carr on Sunday. Heller is familiar with both, having lost by injury default to Olejnik – who was then wrestling for Northern Illinois – in the NCAA round of 16 last season and 9-1 to Carr at the National Collegiate Duals on Dec. 18.

While Heller’s ability to scramble is an interesting contrast to Carr’s technically sound style, Gavin sees another key to the matchup.

“Holden was getting dominated in the handfight last time,” Gavin said. “He’s got to make an adjustment there. He was getting bullied in the handfight.”

Reece Heller could also have a pair of top-10 opponents on the weekend, with Plott on Friday and No. 9 Will Feldkamp on Sunday. Reece, who is No. 12, beat Feldkamp 14-6 in Nashville, but like so many of the ranked-vs.-ranked battles, it could go differently this time around.

In some cases, that’s not a bad thing, as Iowa State beat Pitt 21-14 in Nashville. Cyclones starters Casey Swiderski (No. 7 at 149) and Julien Broderson (No. 27 at 197) did not wrestle in that dual, but Pitt could have won if a few breaks had gone its way.

Colton Camacho was beating Kysen Terukina in the third period and looked like he could have had a set of backpoints that would have nearly put the match away, but they weren’t awarded and Terukina took him down in the final minute for the victory.

Switch the result of that bout and the one at 133, where Evan Frost scored an escape at the buzzer, then took Santaniello down for a 9-6 sudden-victory decision, and it’s a different result.

Pitzer lost 6-3 to Bastida but appeared to be less than a second away from a takedown, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see that result flip in Ames.

Bastida’s early pressure was the difference in their first meeting.

“(Pitzer has) got to be ready to go in the first period,” Gavin said. “When (Bastida is) fresh, he’s pretty special. (Pitzer has) two very different matches. Both are very good, but the Oklahoma State kid is more of a grind and the Iowa State kid is very slick.”

Of course, Iowa State is probably thinking that M.J. Gaitan can reverse the result in his 5-4 loss to Luca Augustine, the Cyclones could rout the Panthers.

That’s a risk that Gavin is willing to take in order to prepare his young team.

“To be an All-American or national champ is very hard to do,” said Gavin, who won an NCAA title for Pitt in 2008. “You’ve got to do hard things to prepare for that.”

No. 7 Oklahoma State at No. 17 Pitt

7 p.m. Friday at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse

Stream: ACCNX

125-No. 19 Troy Spratley vs. No. 28 Colton Camacho

133-No. 3 Daton Fix vs. No. 18 Vinnie Santaniello

141-No. 8 Tagen Jamison vs. No. 27 Cole Matthews

149-No. 21 Jordan Williams vs. No. 26 Finn Solomon

157-No. 20 Teague Travis vs. Jared Keslar

165-No. 2 Izzak Olejnik vs. No. 8 Holden Heller

174-No. 28 Brayden Thompson vs. No. 15 Luca Augustine

184-No. 2 Dustin Plott vs. No. 12 Reece Heller

197-No. 12 Luke Surber vs. No. 15 Mac Stout

285-No. 11 Konner Doucet vs. No. 9 Dayton Pitzer

No. 5 Iowa State at No. 17 Pitt

3 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum

Stream: ESPN+

125-No. 23 Kysen Terukina vs. No. 28 Colton Camacho

133-No. 6 Evan Frost vs. No. 18 Vinnie Santaniello

141-No. 10 Anthony Echemendia vs. No. 27 Cole Matthews

149-No. 7 Casey Swiderski vs. No. 26 Finn Solomon

157-No. 15 Cody Chittum vs. Jared Keslar

165-No. 4 David Carr vs. No. 8 Holden Heller

174-No. 22 MJ Gaitan vs. No. 15 Luca Augustine

184-No. 9 Will Feldkamp vs. No. 12 Reece Heller

197-No. 27 Julien Broderson vs. No. 15 Mac Stout

285-No. 3 Yonger Bastida vs. No. 9 Dayton Pitzer