Pitt Wrestling Defeats In-State Rival No. 17 Lehigh On the Road

No. 23 Pitt Wrestling bounced back after a loss to Navy in the Navy Duels last Sunday with a victory over in-state rival No. 17 Lehigh in Bethlehem Sunday afternoon.

The Panthers (3-1) make it back-t0-back wins against the Mountain Hawks (0-1), as they defeated them last season at home, 21-12. It also ends a two-match losing streak to ranked opponents in duels for the Panthers, who fell to the then ranked No. 6 NC State Wolfpack on the road and the No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones at home last February. 

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Pitt started out the duel with two defeats, as redshirt senior Colton Camacho (2-4) lost to first-year Luke Stanich (5-0) in an 8-5 decision at 125 pounds and No. 13 redshirt first-year Vinnie Santaniello (5-3) lost a major decision, 11-2, to sophomore Ryan Crookman (7-0) at 133 pounds.

The Panthers got their first victory as No. 7 redshirt senior Cole Matthews (3-1) won a 7-3 decision over junior Carter Bailey (4-3) at 141 pounds.

Redshirt first-year duo of No. 24 redshirt first-year Finn Solomon (9-1) and Jared Keslar (6-3) won their matches as well for Pitt. Solomon won in sudden victory, 11-4 over Lehigh first-year Matt Repos (3-3) at 149 pounds and then Keslar defeated graduate student Luca Frinzi (6-2) in an 8-6 decision at 157 pounds to give Pitt a 9-7 lead.

No. 10 redshirt senior Holden Heller (4-0) won the Panthers’ first ranked duel of the day, with a 7-1 decision over Mountain Hawks graduate student No. 32 Jake Logan (6-2) at 165 pounds.

Pitt No. 17 redshirt sophomore Luca Augustine (4-0) got a takedown in the third period and used riding time to win a 6-2 decision against Lehigh senior Thayne Lawrence (2-3) at 174 pounds to stay undefeated on the season. No. 17 redshirt senior Reece Heller (8-1) had another late takedown to defeat Caden Rogers (4-2), 4-1, at 184 pounds.

The Mountain Hawks ended the Panthers’ streak as No. 11 senior Michael Beard (7-1) won on technical fall, 18-3, over No. 18 redshirt first-year Mac Stout (8-1) at 197 pounds.

Pitt would finish off the duel with fan favorite and No. 13 Dayton Pitzer (3-1) winning a close, 2-0 decision over No. 11 Nathan Taylor (7-2) in a heavyweight bout. This was the only rematch from last season’s duel, which Pitzer won as well, majoring Taylor 10-1.

Pitt Wrestling will finish their road trip with a duel against Maryland in College Park, Md. Monday night at 7:30 p.m.