On March 8, The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) hosted their championships. During the tournament, The Pitt Panthers had to wrestle the toughest opponents in the conference to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
At 125 lbs., Anthony Zanetta qualified taking 2nd place falling to Nathan Kraisser from North Carolina University 5-3 in overtime. Zanetta had a quality win that day defeating Nick Hermann from Virginia in the semifinals.
Shelton Mack was the number 1 seed at the 133 lb. weight class. Mack lost his first match to Tyler Goodwin, who caught him in a spladle, which ended the match. Mack fought hard and came back to take 3rd place by defeating Evan Botwin from Duke 17-6 and Troy Heilman from North Carolina 10-4.
At 141 lbs., true frehsman Edgar Bright made it to the finals before losing to the number 1 seed, Devin Carter 6-1. Bright had wins over Xaviel Ramos from Duke by fall in 2 minutes 21 seconds and Evan Henderson from North Carolina 12-5.
Mikey Racciatto made it to the finals at 149 lbs. before losing in overtime 3-1. Racciatto, the number 4 seed, defeated Frank Goodwin from Maryland 8-6. Racciatto also defeated the number 1 seed Augustus Sako from Virgina 10-8.
Ronnie Garbinski lost his first match at 157 lbs. 5-2, but he came back hard to defeat Danny Orem by a score of 20-11. Garbinski ended up falling to Sal Mastriani, the number 4 seed, 15-8.
Geno Morelli won his first match at 165 lbs. against Marcus Cain from Duke 4-2. Morelli lost his next match to the number 1 seed Nick Sulzer 13-1. Morelli won his next match against Max Rohskopf 6-1 to put him in the 3rd place match, where he fell to Chris Moon 8-2.
Tyler Wilps had a great tournament; he won his brakcet at 174 lbs as the number 1 seed. Wilps defeated Austin Gabel from Virgina Tech 15-5 and Stephen Doty from Virgina 7-2.
Number 2 seed Max Thomusseit made it into the finals after having wins over Michael Macchiavello from North Carolina State 4-0 and Nick Vetterlein from Virgina Tech 4-1. Thomusseit lost his match in the finals to Jimmy Sheptock from Maryland 3-1.
Nick Bonaccorsi won his first match at 197 lbs. against Frank Abbondanza from North Carolina 6-1. Bonaccorsi lost his next matches to Chris Penny from Virginia Tech 4-3, Chris Hartmann from Duke 4-3, and Karrone Jones from North Carolina State 5-4.
At HWT, the final weight class, PJ Tasser got into the semis over his win against Brendan Walsh from Duke 10-2 before falling to Spencer Meyers from Maryland 2-1. Tasser came back to win his next match against Ethan Hayes 3-2 and then lost to Ty Walz from Virginia Tech 5-2 in the 3rd place match.
The Pitt Panthers had a great tournament coming in 2nd place in the team standings.