Pitt Wrestling: ACC Individual Champs Deliver in 1st Round

PHILADELPHIA– Eight wrestlers are competing for Pitt at this year’s NCAA Championships in Philly.

The afternoon started at 125 pounds when No. 24 Nick Babin took on Nebraska’s Caleb Smith, seeded ninth.

That bout went scoreless into sudden victory before Smith won it with a takedown.

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Babin now moves into the consolation bracket, where he’ll take on Army’s Charlie Farmer, seeded No. 25

At 141, No. 30 Brier Priest had the misfortune of drawing the defending national champ in Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, seeded third. Mendez cruised to a 21-5 tech fall. In the consos, Priest will take on Oklahoma’s Mason Schwarz.

In the 157-pound class, No. 24 Dylan Evans fell to Minnesota’s Tommy Askey, ranked No. 9, in a 7-2 decision. Evans will now take on North Carolina’s Sammy Santiago, seeded 25th.

At 165, No. 32 Jared Keslar was in a “pigtail” match with No. 33 Chandler Amaker of Central Michigan. Keslar dropped a tight bout, 8-5, to Amaker in sudden victory.

Since this was a “prelim” bout, Keslar is out of the NCAA Tournament.

No. 15 Luca Augustine lost in a slight upset to No. 18 Gaven Sax of Oklahoma, falling 5-0. Augustine will not take on Lock Haven’s Avery Bassett, ranked No. 31.

There was finally some good news at 184 when ACC champ Reece Heller, seeded ninth, beat Bellarmine’s Devan Hendricks, seeded 24th, 2-0.

Heller now moves to the Round of 16, where he’ll take on No. 8 Jaxon Smith of Maryland.

At 197, No. 6 Mac Stout, another ACC Champ, took care of business against Cornell’s Michael Dellagata, ranked No. 27, winning 12-0 in a major.

Mac Stout’s next opponent will be none other than his brother, Luke, the No. 11-seed from Princeton.

At heavyweight, ACC champ Dayton Pitzer, ranked No. 10, beat Cleveland State’s Daniel Bucknavich, seeded No. 23 6-2. Pitzer now takes on NC State’s Isaac Trumble, ranked No. 7, in the Round of 16 Thursday night.