Pitt heavyweight wrestler Ryan Tomei returned from his second practice of the day and had no… Pitt heavyweight wrestler Ryan Tomei returned from his second practice of the day and had no place to wash his workout clothes.

“All of the washers and driers were taken up,” Tomei said. “So I decided to fill up the bathtub with water and wash my clothes in there.”

The next day, he had clean clothes for practice but had flooded his room in the process.

“When you have a bunch of wrestlers coming back from practice, all with dirty clothes and only a few washing machines, there’s going to be a problem,” Tomei said.

That’s because the heavyweight was rooming with hundreds of the best wrestlers from around the world, and there simply weren’t enough washing machines for all of them.

Tomei was one of two heavyweights — and 10 wrestlers selected overall — to represent USA wrestling in Poland during the August competition.

His team competed at the Ziolkowski International in Warsaw, which hosted competitions from top nations all over the world.

After a wrestling workout this summer, assistant coach Jason Peters approached Tomei.

“Coach [Jason] Peters came up to me and asked me if I wanted to join the USA delegation to compete in Poland,” Tomei said. “It didn’t take me too long to respond. I was quick to accept.”

Peters also made the trip with the USA delegation, selected as one of two coaches to lead the team.

“It’s always a great opportunity to coach the best wrestlers in the country,” Peters said. “You’re coaching young guys who hopefully are going to make national teams and Olympic teams in the future.”

The junior heavyweight from Irwin, Pa., took part in a very active summer filled with intense training and competition, which he believes made his trip to Poland possible.

“Pitt was sending me a lot of places to compete,” Tomei said. “They invested a lot of money in me and gave me the opportunity to represent Pitt on a national scale.”

It didn’t take very long for the University’s investment to pay off.

The heavyweight placed fifth at the U.S. Open and fourth at the World Team Trials. His success at these two events made Tomei a top candidate to join the USA wrestling team.

Tomei remembered what it was like to learn he would represent Pitt, and his country, in international competition.

“I was really excited when I found out,” Tomei said. “I had never been overseas before, and I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that it would be an unbelievable experience.”

His excitement wasn’t paired with fear, as one might expect.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Tomei said. “I knew got chosen for a reason. I was just going there to show the world what Pitt wrestling was all about.”

The junior trained at the Polish Olympic training center, scrimmaging against other countries before competing.

While Tomei said he wasn’t fully content with his results at the event, the heavyweight said he went through an unparalleled learning experience.

Tomei lost in the first round to Bulgarian heavyweight Dimitar Kumchev, who represented his country in the world championships.

“I didn’t do all that well in the tournament,” Tomei said. “But I tried to take in as much as I could, learn as much as I could, and it was unbelievable what I was able to take away from my time there.”

Tomei recalled his time working out with wrestlers from around the world as the key to his development.

“I worked out with a couple of Russian heavyweights, and they taught me so much,” Tomei said. “I changed my techniques so much, almost a complete 360 degrees.”

As the projected starting heavyweight for the Panthers this upcoming season, Tomei will try to take what he learned overseas to improve his game this year.

Peters thinks that the opportunity to compete in Poland will have a profound impact on the Pitt wrestling program.

“It is a huge step for this program from a recruiting basis,” Peters said. “It shows there are things after collegiate wrestling here. You can make a world team at Pitt.”

Tomei said he knows that even though he was the one who was selected to compete from his school, several of his teammates are capable of wrestling on an international level.

“It just shows that there are wrestlers at Pitt that can compete at the highest level,” Tomei said. “I know there are other guys on this team that can do what I did.”

If that’s the case, Tomei will make sure to tell his teammates to pack some extra workout clothes.