Pitt looks to rebound against No. 19 Arizona State
Pitt could have started the new year off in style with a record-breaking crowd on hand to watch the No. 17 Panthers take on No. 7 Oklahoma State last week.
It didn’t work out that way. The Cowboys won the first six bouts, including one by fall and two by major decision, and took eight of 10 overall in a 31-6 rout.
Now, coach Keith Gavin’s Panthers will look to put that performance behind them as No. 19 Arizona State (2-3) comes to Fitzgerald Field House at 2 p.m. Sunday for a date with Pitt (7-4), which has fallen to No. 22 in InterMat’s dual meet rankings.
“We wrestle a lot of good dual meet teams, and Oklahoma State might be the best one. They don’t have one weak spot in there,” Gavin said. “I hate saying we didn’t wrestle well and that’s why we lost. We could have wrestled to the best of our ability and still lost that dual.”
A few Panthers starters competed at the Franklin & Marshall Open on Jan. 5, but many had nearly a month off from the National Collegiate Duals on Dec. 18 until the Oklahoma State match on Jan. 12.
“We put in that big break, and some didn’t manage that very well, specifically, guys like Colton (Camacho) and Finn Solomon,” Gavin said. “When they got back and checked their weight, we knew it was going to be at tough weight cut.”
Camacho got pinned in the first bout and things quickly spiraled out of control. Given how Pitt seems to feed off big wins in dual meets and struggle later in the lineup if its lightweights lose, Gavin was asked if he’s considered opting for a random draw of weights instead of always starting at 125. That could have given Camacho more time to recover after weigh-ins, but Gavin said that since duals now start two hours after weigh-ins – as opposed to one hour in the past – it shouldn’t make a difference.
“We knew Colton was having a bad weight cut, but if two hours doesn’t help you, I don’t know if two and a half will,” Gavin said. “They’ve done a great job, but that Christmas break hurt. In hindsight, I wish I’d wrestled them at Franklin & Marshall.”
Gavin said it’s been a good week of practice since the Oklahoma State match, and the Panthers will need to wrestle well to beat the Sun Devils.
“Arizona State has a very talented team,” he said. “They had some injury issues in the beginning of the year. It looks like they’re over now. From the projected lineup we got, they’re going to have their best lineup.”
That includes three wrestlers ranked in the top five and the potential for six ranked wrestlers in the lineup. Gavin expects a very tightly contested dual.
“On paper, it’s looking like five-five,” he said. “We need to pull off an upset or two. We’re looking to compete better. Oklahoma State outworked us, and we just can’t have that.”
Santaniello’s 133-pound match with Julian Chlebove, a three-time PIAA champion from Northampton will be one of the keys to the dual, as will Dayton Pitzer’s heavyweight rematch with Cohlton Schultz. Pitzer burst onto the national scene last year at the Midlands Championships with a 4-0 victory over Schultz, who is a three-time All-American and three-time Senior World Team member.
“I think that’s going to be a different one than last year,” Gavin said. “I think last year (Schultz) probably thought he was going to crush this skinny kid.”
And while Gavin wants individual wins to bring a dual meet victory as Pitt celebrates its wrestling alumni, he’s more concerned about how his wrestlers are performing as the team heads into the final month of the regular season.
“I think our guys can wrestle with anybody and beat anybody for the dual meet win, but what we’re more focused on is competing better,” he said.
No. 19 Arizona State at No. 22 Pitt
2 p.m. at Fitzgerald Field House
Stream: ACCNX/ESPN+
125-No. 11 Richie Figueroa or Tristan Mascarenas vs. No. 31 Colton Camacho.
133-No. 24 Julian Chlebove vs. No. 20 Vinnie Santaniello
141-Jesse Vasquez vs. No. 27 Cole Matthews
149-No. 4 Kyle Parco vs. No. 29 Finn Solomon
157-No. 5 Jacori Teemer vs. Jared Keslar
165-Chance McLane vs. No. 11 Holden Heller
174-Cael Valencia vs. No. 15 Luca Augustine
184-No. 26 Tony Negron vs. No. 12 Reece Heller
197-Jacob Meissner vs. No. 13 Mac Stout
285-No. 5 Cohlton Schultz vs. No. 12 Dayton Pitzer