Upon further review: There were some Pitt positives in Nashville

By Monday night, if felt like nothing had gone right for Pitt at the National Collegiate Duals in Nashville.

Coming off a huge upset of Ohio State a week earlier, the Panthers won just 12 of 30 bouts, Cole Matthews went 0-3, and coach Keith Gavin’s squad needed an injury default and criteria to beat Little Rock.

It wasn’t a great day by any means.

But, in reality, it wasn’t all bad.

Luca Augustine went 3-0 including a pair of wins over ranked opponents, and Colton Camacho and Reece Heller each picked up the biggest wins of their respective careers, at least in terms of ranked victories. Most observers would have predicted Pitt to go 1-2 at the duals, if not in the exact fashion that it happened.

“I thought there was a lot of good,” Gavin said on Tuesday night, after having about 24 hours to digest the performance. “Of course, we want to beat everybody, but if we beat Ohio State, then Iowa State and Cornell, we’d be behind only Penn State in the rankings.”

Nashville hot

Augustine entered the event ranked 17th nationally and the duals might mark the breakout performance that fans have been looking for since the redshirt sophomore won the U20 freestyle national title in 2021. He beat No. 22 M.J. Gaitan of Iowa State in the opener, then won 5-1 over Cornell’s Benny Baker before closing the day with a 3-1 win over Little Rock’s Tyler Brennan, who was ranked 15th.

“Luca is just steady,” Gavin said. “That was a really good day for him.”

Camacho went 2-1 but might have wrestled as well as anyone on the team.

He lost 6-4 to No. 22 Kysen Terukina in the opener but rebounded in a big way to beat fifth-ranked Brett Ungar of Cornell. Camacho closed the day with a major decision of Little Rock’s Reid Nelson.

If the Terukina match had come later in the dual, it might have ended differently. Camacho caught the Cyclone on his back twice but didn’t get nearfall points either time. The second time, which came after Camacho took a 2-1 lead with a reversal in the third period, certainly looked like a review might have credited him with two swipes. Gavin regrets his decision not to challenge the sequence, but considering it was the first match of the dual and Camacho was already leading, it’s understandable that he didn’t gamble with the brick.

Camacho’s mat skills led him past Ungar, as he scored a third-period reversal and rode out the fifth-ranked wrestler for a 3-1 victory.

Reece Heller got off to an incredible start with a major decision of fifth-ranked Will Feldkamp of Iowa State. Things went downhill from there. A loss to No. 9 Chris Foca wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but the fact that it was by tech fall was disheartening. More problematic was Heller’s loss by fall to Little Rock’s Triston Willis.

Music City Meltdowns

Matthews continues to baffle. After beating third-ranked Jesse Mendez in Columbus, Ohio, the former NCAA semifinalist lost all three matches in Nashville. It’s not just that he’s losing – his low-scoring defensive style has always had him on the thinnest of margins – but how he’s doing it. He gave up multiple takedowns in each of those losses, which has become a familiar sight this season. That’s a troubling trend, because Matthews doesn’t have the offensive firepower to score three or four takedowns against a really good opponent, and if he’s giving up three, that’s a recipe for disaster. Worse yet, he gave up multiple takedowns to Little Rock’s Brennan Van Hoecke, who entered the match at 6-6 and was coming off losses by tech fall and pin on the day.

Matthews is 4-6 on the season. By comparison, he went 21-3 last season and 21-4 during his All-American run in 2022.

“Cole’s obviously struggling,” Gavin said. “That’s a big issue for us right now.”

Matthews’ path won’t get any easier with top-15 foes Tagen Jamison of Oklahoma State, Ryan Jack of North Carolina State and a rematch with Echemendia looming in January.

If Gavin were to give Matthews some time off to refresh, he’d have to turn to redshirt freshman Briar Priest, as highly recruited freshman Anthony Santaniello is out for the season after injuring his shoulder at the Clarion Open.

Pitt’s 157- and 165-pounders went a combined 0-6 in Nashville, with the former group giving up three major decisions. Jared Keslar lost to Iowa State’s Cody Chittum and Little Rock’s Matty Bianchi, while freshman Dylan Evans – who is still expected to redshirt this season – lost to stud freshman Meyer Shapiro.

At 165, Holden Heller looked like he had an opportunity to score the opening takedown against No. 4 David Carr, but 2021 NCAA champ ended up scoring it and went on to a major decision. Holden also struggled against No. 3 Julian Ramirez and sat out the Little Rock dual with what Gavin said is an injury that has been bothering him but shouldn’t affect his status for the Oklahoma State match on Jan. 12.

Freshman Grant MacKay stepped in against Little Rock and lost by technical fall to redshirt freshman Brendon Abdon.

Vinnie Santaniello went 0-3 in Nashville but showed positive signs in nearly knocking off No. 8 Evan Frost of Iowa State. Santaniello hipped over for a third-period reversal that gave him the lead, but Frost escaped just before the buzzer to send the match to sudden victory, then scored a takedown to win it. Santaniello also lost to world champ Vito Arujau – no shame in that – and to No. 21 Nasir Bailey in a match where the Little Rock wrestler was able to get to his double-leg on a regular basis.

Holler and swaller (I guess that’s a Nashville thing?)

Dayton Pitzer had a decent day that could have been much better if he’d been able to complete a takedown against Yonger Bastida before the buzzer. That 6-3 loss wasn’t bad, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Pitzer win the rematch on Jan. 14, should they meet again in that dual.

“That kid’s a unique heavyweight,” Gavin said. “He’s exceptional on his feet. (Pitzer) was able to stalemate those positions. That’s why you go down there. That guy’s ranked third and walked through the Vegas tournament. He’s good. He’s got some good skills. To beat him, you’ve got to get him tired.”

Pitzer pinned Cornell’s backup, then delivered a solid 5-0 win over Josiah Hill that allowed the Panthers to beat Little Rock on Criteria C (most individual match points scored).

Mac Stout also went 2-1 and looked solid, dismantling the two guys that weren’t at his level and dropping a 2-1 decision to Jacob Cardenas of Cornell on a stalling point.

The dual performances were a mixed bag. If Camacho and Santaniello pull off the upsets to start the dual – which they nearly did – Pitt might have beaten Iowa State, although the Cyclones might not have used backups at 149 and 197 if the dual was in doubt.

“We did wrestle well against Iowa State,” Gavin said. “We thought that was a better matchup. We got whooped by Cornell. They were just better. … The Little Rock match in general was frustrating.”

125 Colton Camacho (2-1)

· Lost 6-4 to No. 22 Kysen Terukina, ISU

· Won 3-1 over No. 5 Brett Ungar, C

· Won 20-7 over Reid Nelson, LR

133 No. 23 Vinnie Santaniello (0-3)

· Lost 9-6 in sudden victory to No. 8 Evan Frost, ISU

· Lost 19-4 to No. 2 Vito Arujau, C

· Lost 12-7 to No. 21 Nasir Bailey, LR

141 No. 15 Cole Matthews (0-3)

· Lost 12-3 to No. 14 Anthony Echemendia, ISU

· Lost 8-2 to No. 16 Vince Cornella, C

· Lost 10-6 to Brennan Van Hoecke, LR, dec. No. 15 Cole Matthews, 10-6.

149 No. 19 Finn Solomon (2-1)

· Won 8-4 over Zach Redding

· Lost 4-1 to Ethan Fernandez, C

· Won by inj. def. over Kyle Dutton, LR

157 Jared Keslar (0-2)

· Lost 13-2 to No. 21 Cody Chittum, ISU

· Lost 8-0 to Matty Bianchi, LR

157 Dylan Evans (0-1)

· Lost 14-3 to No. 15 Meyer Shapiro, C

165 No. 8 Holden Heller (0-2)

· Lost 9-1 to No. 4 David Carr, ISU

· Lost 11-1 to No. 3 Julian Ramirez, C

165 Grant MacKay (0-1)

· Lost 15-0 to Brendon Abdon, LR

174 Luca Augustine (3-0)

· Won 5-4 over No. 22 M.J. Gaitan, ISU

· Won 5-1 over Benny Baker, C

· Won 3-1 over No. 15 Tyler Brennan, LR

184 No. 14 Reece Heller (1-2)

· Won 14-6 over No. 5 Will Feldkamp, ISU

· Lost 18-1 to No. 9 Chris Foca, C,

· Lost by fall to Triston Willis, LR

197 No. 17 Mac Stout (2-1)

· Won 11-2 over Rowan Udell, ISU

· Lost 2-1 to No. 7 Jacob Cardenas, C

· Won 18-1 over Tanner Mendoza, LR

285 No. 10 Dayton Pitzer (2-1)

· Lost 6-3 to No. 3 Yonger Bastida, ISU

· Won by fall over Ashton Davis, C

· Won 5-0 over No. 27 Josiah Hill, LR