Thursday, December 29
Evanston, Ill.
8:30 AM
Pitt
vs
Midlands Championships
Panthers Complete Day 1 of #Midlands54
12/29/2016 8:25:00 PM | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2016
Updated Brackets | Pitt Results (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. – The 23rd-ranked Pitt wrestling team completed the first day of the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Thursday, Dec. 29 in Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University.
Redshirt senior Nick Zanetta was the lone Panther to survive and advance to Friday's afternoon session after going 4-1 on the day. Zanetta will take on Jack Hathaway of Oregon State.
"It was a challenging day for the guys as a group but we had a few step up and compete hard as the day went on," head coach Jason Peters said. "I was happy to see Nick [Zanetta] have success today. He wrestled with intensity and wrestled well. We're looking forward to watch him wrestle for a medal tomorrow."
Redshirt junior Nick Zanetta was the first Panther to wrestle Thursday morning and got things started with an 8-2 decision over Alexander McKenna of Northwestern at 141 pounds. Zanetta then earned his third technical fall of the season after defeating Brandon Levesque of Sacred Heart in the round of 32, 18-3. In the round of 16, Zanetta faced sixth-ranked and third-seeded Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers and fell 15-5. Moving to the consolation bracket, Zanetta picked up his third win of the day over South Dakota's Isaac Andrade, 4-1. In his final match of the day, Zanetta outlasted Cole Weaver of Indiana in a 5-1 decision.
Senior Mikey Racciato went 2-2 on the day after pinning Blayne Briceno of Iowa State in 3:24 and collecting an 8-3 victory over Danny Reed of Columbia.
At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Taleb Rahmani had some notable performances on the day. After suffering a 12-3 major decision to 20th-ranked Josh Shields of Arizona State in the opening round, Rahmani bounced back in his first consolation match, pinning Matt Lattanze of Brown in 3:50. His fall was his sixth of the season. Rahmani then recorded a 5-3 decision over Danny Boychuck of Maryland before falling to North Dakota's Cullen Ream, 6-1.
Pittsburgh product Jake Wentzel also finished 2-2 on the day. Wentzel suffered a loss by technical fall, 20-3, in his opening match to Hayden Hidlay of NC State (unattached). He then dominated Lenny Merkin of Princeton, 16-1, before pinning Cullen Cummings of Ohio in 1:43. In what would be his final match of the tournament, Wentzel dropped a hard-fought match to Dawaylon Barnes of Oklahoma, 9-6.
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Updated Brackets | Pitt Results (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. – The 23rd-ranked Pitt wrestling team completed the first day of the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Thursday, Dec. 29 in Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University.
Redshirt senior Nick Zanetta was the lone Panther to survive and advance to Friday's afternoon session after going 4-1 on the day. Zanetta will take on Jack Hathaway of Oregon State.
"It was a challenging day for the guys as a group but we had a few step up and compete hard as the day went on," head coach Jason Peters said. "I was happy to see Nick [Zanetta] have success today. He wrestled with intensity and wrestled well. We're looking forward to watch him wrestle for a medal tomorrow."
Redshirt junior Nick Zanetta was the first Panther to wrestle Thursday morning and got things started with an 8-2 decision over Alexander McKenna of Northwestern at 141 pounds. Zanetta then earned his third technical fall of the season after defeating Brandon Levesque of Sacred Heart in the round of 32, 18-3. In the round of 16, Zanetta faced sixth-ranked and third-seeded Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers and fell 15-5. Moving to the consolation bracket, Zanetta picked up his third win of the day over South Dakota's Isaac Andrade, 4-1. In his final match of the day, Zanetta outlasted Cole Weaver of Indiana in a 5-1 decision.
Senior Mikey Racciato went 2-2 on the day after pinning Blayne Briceno of Iowa State in 3:24 and collecting an 8-3 victory over Danny Reed of Columbia.
At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Taleb Rahmani had some notable performances on the day. After suffering a 12-3 major decision to 20th-ranked Josh Shields of Arizona State in the opening round, Rahmani bounced back in his first consolation match, pinning Matt Lattanze of Brown in 3:50. His fall was his sixth of the season. Rahmani then recorded a 5-3 decision over Danny Boychuck of Maryland before falling to North Dakota's Cullen Ream, 6-1.
Pittsburgh product Jake Wentzel also finished 2-2 on the day. Wentzel suffered a loss by technical fall, 20-3, in his opening match to Hayden Hidlay of NC State (unattached). He then dominated Lenny Merkin of Princeton, 16-1, before pinning Cullen Cummings of Ohio in 1:43. In what would be his final match of the tournament, Wentzel dropped a hard-fought match to Dawaylon Barnes of Oklahoma, 9-6.
#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Players Mentioned
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