Over the last few years, the Pitt wrestling team has flourished into one of the most successful athletic programs on campus. Over the last few years, the Pitt wrestling team has flourished into one of the most successful athletic programs on campus.

This past season, the Panthers brought home their best finish in 23 years when they finished in the top 15 nationally at the three-day NCAA Tournament in St. Louis, Mo. Two Pitt wrestlers also finished as All-Americans.

But the three-time defending Eastern Wrestling League champions now face the task of replacing a trio of wrestlers from the 2011-2012 squad, including two four-time national qualifiers.

Rising senior Anthony Zanetta believes replacing last year’s seniors presents a challenge to the current squad.

“It’s always hard to replace the seniors,” Zanetta said, “but it just gives an opportunity for someone else to step in the lineup.”

One of the members leaving the team is Ethan Headlee, who wrestled at 184 pounds for the Panthers and qualified for the NCAA Tournament four times in his career.

Also leaving is 149-pound Tyler Nauman, who finished in fifth place at nationals in his final season and was tied late in his semifinal match with a shot at the national title. Nauman capped his career with his second trip to the podium, earning All-American status for the second time in his collegiate career. He is ranked third all-time at Pitt with 140 wins — 39 of those coming by fall, which is also a third-place all-time Pitt record.

Redshirt junior P.J. Tasser commented on two of the wrestlers’ departures.

“It’s always tough to lose seniors,” he said. “Especially with a group that included Nauman, who was a two-time NCAA placer, and Headlee, who was a four-time NCAA qualifier.”

Nick Bonaccorsi, a freshman this past season, will likely step in to replace a third graduating athlete, 174-pound wrestler Andy Vaughan.

Junior Shelton Mack expressed confidence in the younger wrestlers.

“The young guys coming up have a lot of talent,” he said. “We are excited to have them on the team.”

Brothers Max and Zac Thomusseit will return from injuries that sidelined them last season and should instantly start for Pitt at the 184-pound and heavyweight weight classes, respectively.

Max Thomusseit’s performance should keep head coach Rande Stottlemyer from seeing any dropoff at the 184-pound weight class, despite the team’s loss of four-time NCAA qualifier Headlee. At heavyweight, Max’s older brother Zac will be an upgrade from sophomore Joel Yahner, who struggled in his first college season.

“We have a great group of guys returning, including the Thomusseit brothers,” Tasser said. “Our freshmen also really stepped up for us this year. Our recruiting class is a great one, and we are really excited about next year already.”

Tasser surprised the EWL by jumping weight classes to wrestle as a heavyweight for the Panthers at the conference tournament. He captured third place and advanced to his first NCAA Tournament.

Perhaps the most important wrestler in the lineup for the Panthers will be redshirt senior Matt Wilps. In his junior campaign, Wilps put together a dominating season and earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

But he finished in fourth place following a disappointing loss in the semifinals to Chris Honeycutt from Edinboro despite having defeated Honeycutt in the conference tournament to win the EWL title.

The good news for Wilps is that Honeycutt, along with the two other wrestlers who finished ahead of him, graduated and won’t be returning next year. The stakes will be high for the 197-pounder as he might very well be the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class heading into the 2012-2013 season.

Along with Wilps and Tasser, Pitt returns NCAA qualifiers Zanetta and Mack at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Travis Shaffer and Tyler Wilps also return for the Panthers looking to build on their first year in the starting 10 for Stottlemyer.

Senior Donnie Tasser will look to book his second trip to the NCAA Tournament after advancing in his sophomore season but narrowly missing out this past season.

After maintaining their status in the top 10 of the national polls for much of last season, Pitt’s wrestlers want work hard to improve upon their weaknesses.

“Every off-season you want to focus on the weaknesses you had during the season,” Donnie Tasser said. “This year, I’m definitely going to be working on my top position and tightening up the rest of my skills.”

Mack said he also has a specific focus — mat wrestling. He worked on it the last two summers and wants to continue to improve in that area.

“The past couple of off-seasons I’ve just been trying to develop my mat wrestling,” Mack said. “That’s what I’m going to focus on this off-season, too.”

Zanetta has been taking a broad attack to improve his wrestling ability.

“I’ve been working on every aspect of wrestling,” Zanetta said. “This off-season I want to focus on my strength training and wrestling skill set.”

As a team, the Panthers have set lofty goals for themselves the past few seasons and met them. This year will be no different, although the team’s competition might be.

Because of Pitt’s decision last year to begin the process of transitioning from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Panthers aren’t sure which conference they’ll be wrestling in. But they do know that winning a conference title remains their primary focus.

“We are still shooting for a league championship no matter what conference we are in, as well as working to qualify all 10 of our weight classes to NCAAs and keeping our top-10 ranking,” Donnie Tasser said.

Mack has even higher goals as he returns for his junior season.

“Our team goals for next year are [to be] a top-five team in the country, [to have] 10 national qualifiers, multiple All-Americans and winning another conference title,” Mack said. “My personal goals are to get back to NCAAs and become an All-American.”

According to Zanetta, the team wants to do more than just achieve a high ranking.

“We want to be dominant,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Donnie Tasser is a Pitt News staff writer.