ACC
Pitt Wrestling Places Six in National Rankings after Win over Duke
After a 31-12 win last Saturday against ACC foe Duke at Fitzgerald Field House, No. 12 Pitt has six wrestlers nationally ranked after their Week 3 performances. The Panthers are now (3-0, 1-0 ACC) on the year.
Two-time ACC champ Micky Phillippi saw all four of his rankings hold their positions after his fall in the first period over Duke’s Parker Decker on Saturday. InterMat has the Derry, Pa. native at No. 4 once again. FloWrestling and Trackwrestling both put Phillippi fifth. The Open Mat has the 133-pounder rounding out its top six.
Micky Phillippi welcomed Duke to #pinzburgh on Saturday! 💪 #H2P pic.twitter.com/PaMrupzHro
— Pitt Wrestling (@Pitt_WRES) January 17, 2021
At 141 pounds, Cole Matthews, who did not compete against the Blue Devils, also saw his marks in all four of the rating services remain unchanged from the previous iterations. InterMat has the redshirt sophomore at No. 14 while Flo and The Open Mat place him No. 16, and Trackwrestling ranks Matthews 17th.
Panthers’ captain Jake Wentzel comes in strong as a consensus top eight at 165 pounds. According to Flo, the South Park, Pa. middle-weight is No. 6. He held firm at No. 7 in both InterMat and The Open Mat. Trackwrestling bumped the senior up one spot, also to No. 7, in the latest Track poll.
While redshirt freshman Jared McGill was not ranked inside the top 20 by Flo or InterMat, he has been ranked for the second straight week by Trackwrestling, who moved the Osterburg, Pa. native down one spot to No. 20. McGill also cracked the list at The Open Mat for the first time this season, currently sitting at No. 33. The former Chestnut Ridge wrestler is now 4-0 this season.
Gregg Harvey recorded a dominant 10-0 major decision against Duke, forcing the talent evaluators to bump him up in multiple polls. nterMat moved the redshirt senior out of Boyertown, Pa. up two spots to No. 16. The three other polls all bumped the Pitt captain up one spot. Trackwrestling places him 15th, while he ranks 18th in The Open Mat and 19th in Flo.
Nino Bonaccorsi stands as the fifth-best 197-pounder according to Flo and InterMat. He checks in at No. 8 in the Trackwrestling standings and No. 9 in The Open Mat. All four rankings remain unchanged despite a 9-1 major decision over Duke’s Kaden Russell this past weekend.
As a team, Pitt is a consensus top-20 team once again this week. Flo places Pitt No. 15. InterMat has the Panthers as 15th-best tournament team and 14th-best dual meet team. Trackwrestling positions the ACC squad at No. 19. The latest NWCA Coaches Poll from Jan. 19 puts undefeated Pitt at No. 12.
The Panthers will be back in action Friday, Jan. 22 in Raleigh, North Carolina for a dual meet against the ACC’s top team, No. 4 NC State. Wrestling starts at 6 p.m. The event will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
