Wrestling: Brothers dominate Panthers roster

lthough it is common to find a family whose members all compete in the same sport, it is a rarer… lthough it is common to find a family whose members all compete in the same sport, it is a rarer occurrence to have a set of brothers competing together on a Division I athletics team — let alone three sets of brothers.

But if you happen to walk into a Pitt wrestling practice, this is what you will find.

The team is home to Donnie and P.J. Tasser, Max and Zac Thomusseit, and Matt and Tyler Wilps. The brothers — four of whom are in Pitt’s starting lineup— have been wrestling together for as long as they can remember.

What makes the sibling bond so special is that the older brothers, like Zac, a junior, have helped their younger brothers adapt not only to college wrestling but to the college lifestyle in general.

“He’s definitely very helpful and has showed me the things he struggled with his freshman year, so this way I don’t have to go through it,” said Max, a freshman. “The workload on and off the mat is a lot tougher as far as school and being on your own and getting your own things done, and the wrestling is a lot tougher too as far as practices and the competition.”

Earlier in the season, the Panthers accomplished a feat that was a first for the University. During the weekend of Nov. 27, both the Tasser and Thomusseit brothers won in matches against Virginia. Zac Thomusseit completed the sweep with a 5-1 decision in the 197-lb. weight class against Virginia.

The brothers earned their victories without immediately understanding how rare they were.

“I didn’t even realize it until I got home and my dad sent me an article from the Pitt website,” P.J. Tasser said.

“It’s just really cool. All of our parents were there. I probably won’t ever forget that.”

This season, both Tyler and Matt Wilps are redshirting for the No. 20 Panthers. This leaves the intriguing possibility that, with all of the brothers being underclassmen, the team could have six brothers in its top 10 in the upcoming season.

Aside from just being a rarity, the brothers are even more intriguing in how they encourage and challenge each other throughout the season. They all show a large amount of respect for each other and what they can accomplish as a whole.

“He’s been a path-blazer for our family,” P.J. Tasser said of his brother, Donnie. “Being able to not just learn from his mistakes but learn from him in general, having him as an example has really helped.”

P.J. and Donnie are both just pieces of a family puzzle that hopes to continue a strong competitive wrestling tradition.

“My dad also wrestled Division I,” P.J. said. “Hopefully one day my little brother will, too, and then we can all share that.”

Not surprisingly, the competition doesn’t stop at the mats.

“Even [while] playing pool or video games, I want to beat him,” P.J. said of Donnie. “He wants to beat me, my dad wants to beat all of us, and my little brother just wants to beat somebody.”

Even as the oldest, Donnie agrees that wrestling his brother has always brought out a certain type of competitiveness in him.

“When I’m wrestling my brother in practice, it’s not just practice,” Donnie said. “Even there, I don’t want to get taken down by my brother. I don’t want him to score points on me.”

Tyler and Matt — who are both technically “inactive” this season and are also in separate weight classes as well as the Tasser brothers — continue to find ways to compete with each other.

Matt, who weighs 197 lbs., said of his 157-lb. brother Tyler, “Lucky for him, he cut down enough weight so he doesn’t have to wrestle me in the room/ We still compare our mile-times and things like that.”

Much like the Thomusseits, the Wilps have the same age difference, with Matt being a junior and Tyler just in his freshman year. Matt also serves as a mentor to his younger brother.

Matt acknowledges an interesting positive of having your brother as a teammate, even though he is usually the one doing the teaching.

“I understand how he thinks about the sport and I can help him even more now. It’s just moved up a level.

There is so much more to the sport than there was in high school,” Matt said. “You can be more critical to your sibling. You can tell him exactly what is on your mind, so I think that’s a good thing.”

In the history of athletics, there have been other memorable sets of brothers. From Vince, Joe and Dom DiMaggio as well as the Griffin brothers, Blake and Taylor — who dominated the Oklahoma basketball scene — brothers have always been pushing each other to greatness in their respective fields.

With at least one more season to look forward to as a group, the expectations are infinite. But no matter the individual success of these brothers, the family-like bond on the team isn’t going to waver anytime soon.

“There’s a really good bond on the team. Everyone’s close and knows each other really well,” Max Thomusseit said.

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