Wrestling recap: What went right, what went wrong and what's ahead - Pt. 1
After a historic finish to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, was this year a disappointment for the Pitt wrestling team?
Coach Keith Gavin says no – he prefers to look at each season individually instead of comparing one to another – but there are plenty of Pitt fans who would disagree. The Panthers were riding a high a year ago, as Jake Wentzel and Nino Bonaccorsi were coming off appearances in the NCAA finals that helped Pitt to an 11th-place finish in the tournament – its best since 1970.
Wentzel and Bonaccorsi each returned, as did three-time NCAA qualifier Micky Phillippi, Cole Matthews – who qualified for his second tournament despite wrestling with a torn ACL in 2021 – and two-time qualifier Gregg Harvey. Add in graduate transfers Gage Curry – a four-time NCAA qualifier for American – and Elijah Cleary – a two-year starter for Ohio State – and a top-10 finish seemed a real possibility.
That optimism dampened a bit by September, when a pair of potential starters – Jared McGill and Mick Burnett – were removed from the roster, leaving two holes in the lineup. The impact of their departures was felt during an 8-6 dual meet season that included double-digit losses to Lehigh, Ohio State, Michigan, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.
Those were balanced out by an incredible victory over No. 6 Arizona State that was as memorable for the way the Panthers won – on three pins and a disqualification for stalling – as it was for the upset itself.
Pitt also won the team title at the Illinois Matmen Open – a last-minute replacement for the Midlands Championships, which were canceled due to COVID – over a field that included Penn, Wisconsin and Rutgers, among others.
Gavin’s squad also had a strong showing at the ACC Tournament, with Matthews, Wentzel and Bonaccorsi winning titles. Phillippi, Cleary and Harvey also earned NCAA Tournament berths.
In Detroit, Bonaccorsi was seeded fifth at 197 and Matthews was sixth at 141 while the other four were double-digit seeds. The outlook was very positive after Friday morning’s round, when Matthews upset third-seeded Sebastian Rivera and Phillippi, Wentzel and Bonaccorsi all advanced in the consolation bracket.
Friday night was a different story.
Phillippi, Wentzel and Bonaccorsi were eliminated in the blood round. Matthews’ shot at the finals ended with an overtime loss to a wrestler he’d beaten during the regular season.
Matthews finished fifth, the lone All-American for the Panthers, who fell to 24th in the team standings.
Here’s a weight-by-weight look at how Pitt performed this season. It includes the team’s record in duals at that weight (with individual dual records in parentheses), how the weight performed in bonus-point matches and a plus-minus category that shows the weight’s relative performance in duals (plus six for a pin, minus six for a loss by fall).
There’s also an overall section that includes performances by backups and redshirts along with an outlook for the weight in 2022-23.
125 pounds
Duals - 8-6 (Gage Curry 7-5, Colton Camacho 1-2)
Bonus points: 1-2
Total +/-: +8 (Sixth on team)
Postseason
ACC: Curry went 1-2 and did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament despite being the No. 3 seed. He opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Duke’s Logan Agin before falling 8-2 to N.C. State’s Jakob Camacho. His career ended with a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker loss to North Carolina’s Spencer Moore, a wrestler he had beaten in sudden victory in the regular season.
NCAA: N/A
Overall: Curry was a four-time NCAA qualifier at American with more than 100 career victories, so hopes were high that the super senior could replicate that success at Pitt, even if the ACC represents a step up in competition from the EIWA.
Curry was 15-10 on the season and 7-5 in duals. Camacho, a redshirt sophomore, went 11-5, including 1-1 in duals. While the postseason was a disappointment, the weight class did produce a positive performance in dual meets.
2022-23 outlook: Camacho will be the only returning 125-pounder on the roster next season and should be a solid starter. He started in 2020-21, going 3-4 in duals. With another year of experience, there should not be much of a drop-off, if any, from Curry.
Codie Cuerbo is a solid recruit out of Ohio who is the No. 16 113-pounder in the country according to Mat Scouts, but he’ll likely need at least a year to bulk up.
133 pounds
Duals -10-4 (Micky Phillippi 10-4)
Bonus points: 4-1
Total +/-: +24 (Second on team)
Postseason
ACC: Phillippi finished second in the conference tournament, avenging a loss to North Carolina’s Joe Heilmann before falling to Virginia Tech’s Korbin Myers in the finals.
NCAA: A 3-2 performance in Detroit included victories over Appalachian State’s Codi Russell, Rutgers’ Joey Olivieri and Rider’s Richie Koehler. His losses were to Iowa’s Austin DeSanto and Northwestern’s Chris Cannon.
Overall: Phillippi continues to pile up victories – he’s 74-16 in a Pitt singlet and has a pair of ACC titles to his name, but he’s yet to stand on the NCAA podium. (He was named an All-American in 2020 when the NCAA Tournament was canceled.)
Phillippi went 18-8 on the season and helped make the weight the second-most productive on the roster in duals. It would have held down the top spot if Phillippi had not suffered a late defensive fall against Lehigh in a match he was winning.
2022-23 outlook: A fixture in the lineup for the past four years, Phillippi has another season –his seventh – of eligibility remaining but has not yet announced if he’ll use it. He’s one of the most likable guys in the sport and cuts a sympathetic figure with three losses in the blood round of the NCAA tournament. His best season was cut short by the pandemic. If he returns, he’ll likely be the favorite in the ACC and an All-American contender.
If Phillippi decides to focus on coaching, which is something he’s passionate about, the Panthers could be in trouble. A weight class that has been a strength would likely become a problem spot, as Phillippi is the only 133-pounder on this year’s roster.
Hempfield Area’s Briar Priest, who was a AAA state champion in 2021 and a runner-up this year, is a key piece to Pitt’s highly regarded recruiting class and projects by some as a 133-pounder, although he competed at 138 as a senior. He’s talented but asking him to immediately step into the lineup would not be ideal.
141 pounds
Duals - 11-3 (Cole Matthews 10-1, Ryan Michaels 0-2)
Bonus points: 5-1
Total +/-: +32 (Best on team)
Postseason
ACC: Matthews claimed his first ACC title, going 2-0 as the top seed. He beat N.C. State’s Ryan Jack 3-2 for the championship.
NCAA: Pitt’s lone All-American, Matthews finished fifth – one spot above his seed entering the tournament. He went 4-2 and beat Rutgers’ Sebastian Rivera in the quarterfinals in a bout that ranks among the best individual wins of the Gavin era.
A spot in the championship match was a real possibility, but North Carolina’s Kizhan Clarke edged him in Tiebreaker 2 thanks to riding-time advantage. Matthews had beaten Clarke, the No. 15 seed, in a dual meet this season.
Matthews dropped his consolation semifinal to Oregon State’s Grant Willits before rebounding with a 7-3 win over Stanford’s Real Woods.
Overall: Matthews had a breakout season that saw him go 21-4 with victories over an Olympian (Michigan’s Stevan Micic), an NCAA finalist (Clarke) and a five-time All-American and former finalist (Rivera). That was an amazing step forward for a wrestler who went 22-16 in his first two seasons wearing a Pitt singlet.
Matthews’ talent has never been in doubt. The redshirt junior was a two-time state champion and top-50 recruit in the nation. He’s very difficult to score on but couldn’t consistently find his offense early in his collegiate career. After missing the early portion of this season – he was still recovering after wrestling last season on a torn ACL – Matthews developed into a bonus-point threat, with five pins and two major decisions.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Michaels filled in for Matthews against Buffalo and Edinboro. He went 4-5 on the season.
Jake Cherry, a redshirt senior, went 0-2 at the Clarion Open.
2022-23 outlook: Matthews will be one of the top returning 141-pounders in the nation and a legitimate national title contender.
Michaels, who was a state runner-up for Elizabeth-Forward in 2020, will look to continue to improve after going 5-10 during his first two seasons.
149 pounds
Duals - 2-12 (Dan Mancini 1-7, Luke Kemerer 1-5)
Bonus points: 0-6
Total +/-: -33 (Worst on team)
Postseason
ACC: Mancini went 0-2 but he did throw a scare into third-seeded Josh Finesilver of Duke in an 11-10 bout. Mancini lost 4-1 to North Carolina’s Zach Sherman in a second-round consolation match.
NCAA: N/A
Overall: To say this was a trouble spot is an understatement. Mancini went 13-13 overall and Kemerer was 7-9 but most of those victories came against lower-level competition – each only had one win over a wrestler ranked in the top 75 by wrestlestat.com.
Freshman Brock McMillen took a redshirt year and went 6-1 in open tournaments, including a 6-5 victory over three-time NCAA qualifier Kanen Storr of Michigan.
Emory Taylor, another freshman, posted a 4-10 record in open tournaments.
2022-23 outlook: McMillen should step into the starting spot. The three-time PIAA champion from tiny Glendale High School showed promise in a season limited by injury.
Mancini is expected to move up to 157 pounds while Kemerer announced that he had entered the transfer portal and is looking for a new home as a graduate transfer.
Greater Latrobe’s Jack Pletcher, the younger brother of Panthers volunteer assistant Luke Pletcher, and Pine-Richland’s Kelin Laffey each wrestled 152 this season, and the recruits could be in the mix at 149 or 157.