Pitt wrestling finishes 8th at Southern Scuffle

While you likely had New Year's Day off to relax and watch some football, the Pitt wrestling program was actually participating int he Southern Scuffle - an annual tournament. Overall, the Panthers finished in a respectable eighth place.

The tournament features many of the top programs in college wrestling. Penn State won the event with 165 total points.

No. 1 ranked Max Thomusseit (184) pounds, arguably the team's best wrestler, suffered his first defeat of the season, falling to Gabe Dean of Cornell in the final. Thomusseit had a strong showing, winning four bouts before that loss in the championship match.

The big development for the team was the return of Tyler Wilps, who had been recovering from an offseason injury. Wilps also won four matches, but lost two, including a narrow 6-5 defeat to No. 4 Matt Brown of Penn State. Wilps was forced to the third place match, then lost that to finish fourth in his weight class.

Pitt also had a few other strong showings. Edgar Bright, typically at 141 pounds, wrestled at 149 pounds and finished third in that class. Mikey Racciato, also at 149 pounds, finished seventh.

Thomusseit, Wilps, Bright, and Racciato all reached the podium. Other Panthers participating were freshmen Dom Forys, Cody Wiercioch, Nick Zanetta, Jake Gromacki, and Ryan Solomon, as well as upperclassmen Nick Bonaccorsi, Eric Nutter, and Troy Reaghard.

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