University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
NCAA Championships
Thomusseit, Wilps Punch Tickets To Quarterfinals
3/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Results|
Photo Gallery Session II
ST. LOUIS - Redshirt seniors Max Thomusseit and Tyler Wilps completed the first day of the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships with two wins apiece on Thursday, March 19 at the Scottrade Center to advance to the quarterfinals round of the championships bracket.
This is the first time since 2013 that multiple Pitt wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals when three achieved the feat. Thomusseit was one of those three, along with his older brother Zac and Wilps' older brother Matt.
Sophomore Mikey Racciato, redshirt senior Troy Reaghard and redshirt freshman Ryan Solomon also live to see another day as they all won their consolation matches to move on in the wrestlebacks, giving the Panthers five wrestlers remaining in the event.
As a team, Pitt is tied for 24th place with 6.5 points. Ohio State leads the team race with 23.0 points, followed by Iowa (21.0) and Oklahoma State (19.5) rounding out the top three.
All five Pitt wrestlers will participate in the third session tomorrow which begins at 11 a.m. (EST). Thomusseit and Wilps are looking to earn their way into the semifinals and lock up All-American status with strong showings on Friday morning when they wrestle some familiar opponents.
Wilps is set to go head-to-head with top-seed Robert Kokesh (Nebraska) at 174 pounds. The two were slated to meet at the NWCA All-Star Classic in October 2014, but that didn't occur when Wilps missed the beginning of the season with an injury. Friday's match will mark the third meeting between the pair. At last year's NCAA Championships, Wilps lost a narrow 2-1 decision in the tiebreakers. Their first ever meeting in December of 2011 resulted in a pin for Kokesh.
"I'm just going to wrestle Kokesh like any other opponent in front of me, a hard seven minutes" said Wilps. "Maybe tailor a few things that we know that he does. But other than that, it's just another match for me. One match at a time. Just focus on the next match."
Thomusseit, meanwhile, will go up against No. 7 Nathaniel Brown for the third time this season on Friday and owns a 2-0 record. He won the first meeting in November's dual match 6-4, then defeated Brown again in the Southern Scuffle semifinals, 3-1.
Wilps (17-3), seeded eighth, started off the evening by taking down Ohio's Cody Walters, the ninth-seed, by a score of 8-3. He opened up the match by scoring the first takedown halfway into the first period and led 2-1 after the first three minute stanza. Walters escaped to begin the second, evening the bout 2-2. The score remained that way until Wilps got away from Walters early in the third period. Holding on to a slim 3-2 margin with just over a minute to go, Wilps recorded a takedown followed by two nearfall points to give him some breathing room at 7-3. In the end, 3:01 of riding time gave Wilps one last point for the 8-3 final score.
Thomusseit (26-1) followed up his major decision from the morning with another strong performance in the night session, finishing off 15th-seed Richard Robertson (Wisconsin) 11-4. Thomusseit ended the bout with five takedowns, including three in the first period to build a 6-2 advantage. He tallied one in each of the next periods and added nearly two minutes of ride time for the final score.
Four wrestlers competed in the wrestlebacks on Thursday night after losing their morning matches and three of them won.
In a rematch of the 149-pound ACC Championship finals, 16th-seeded Racciato (22-10) tussled with North Carolina's Christian Barber for third time this year and second time in as many weeks. And just like the previous two times, Racciato came out on top. Racciato scored the only takedown of the match with under a minute to go in the opening period and received his only other point on an escape midway through the second. He only allowed Barber and escape in the first and third periods to clinch his first-ever win at the NCAA Championships in four career bouts. Racciato's opponent tomorrow morning is 15th-seed Bryant Clagon (Rider).
Coming down to a sudden victory, Reaghard (13-11) registered a takedown 18 seconds in to eliminate Michigan's Garrett Sutton, 3-1 in his 165-pound match. Points were at a premium in regulation as each wrestler was only able to muster an escape to begin the second and third periods. Reaghard will now face Missouri's Mike England.
Always at a disadvantage weight-wise wrestling up in the 285-pound weight class, Solomon (16-11) didn't let that deter him as he powered by Chattanooga's Jared Johnson to a 6-4 decision. After a scoreless first, Solomon found himself in a 2-0 hole when Johnson started off the second with two nearfall points. Solomon responded with an escape, followed by a takedown and two nearfall points to steal a 5-2 lead. In the third period, Solomon held on to Johnson for the first 1:32 before an escape by Johnson and hung on for the win. Awaiting Solomon in the next round is No. 14 Joe Stolfi of Bucknell.
Freshman Dom Forys' excellent rookie season came to a close on Friday night after he suffered a 9-4 decision to the 14th-seed Joshua Rodriguez of North Dakota State in the consolation round. The two were even as the first period was nearing a close, but a takedown by Rodriguez with 15 seconds left gave him the momentum. Forys was outscored 4-3 in the second suffering two takedowns and escaping three times to bring the score to 8-3. Rodriguez ended the bout with an escape and another takedown in the final period before Forys could escape one last time. He concludes his debut season with a 17-15 mark.
Dom Forys (125 pounds)
First Round: No. 3 Joey Dance (Virginia Tech) fall Dom Forys (Pitt), 6:36
Consolation Round 1: No. 14 Joshua Rodriguez (North Dakota St.) dec. Dom Forys (Pitt), 9-4
Mikey Racciato (149 pounds)
First Round: Brandon Nelson (Purdue) dec. No. 16 Mikey Racciato (Pitt), 10-6
Consolation Round 1: No. 16 Mikey Racciato (Pitt) dec. Christian Barber (UNC), 3-2
Troy Reaghard (165 pounds)
First Round: No. 12 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) m. dec. Troy Reaghard (Pitt), 14-4
Consolation Round 1: Troy Reaghard (Pitt) dec. Garrett Sutton (Michigan), 3-1 SV
Tyler Wilps (174 pounds)
First Round: No. 8 Tyler Wilps (Pitt) dec. Matt Reed (Oklahoma), 7-4
Second Round: No. 8 Tyler Wilps (Pitt) dec. Cody Walters (Ohio), 8-3
Max Thomusseit (184 pounds)
First Round: No. 2 Max Thomusseit (Pitt) m. dec. Bubba Scheffel (West Virginia), 14-4
Second Round: No. 2 Max Thomusseit (Pitt) dec. Richard Robertson (Wisconsin), 11-4
Ryan Solomon (285 pounds)
First Round: No. 13 Tyler Deuel (Binghamton) dec. Ryan Solomon (Pitt), 8-3
Consolation Round 1: Ryan Solomon (Pitt) dec. Jared Johnson (Chattanooga), 6-4
Players Mentioned
