Wrestling: Eight Panthers selected to participate in NCAA Tournament

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When the NCAA announced the full brackets for the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship, two more Panthers found out that they would be making the trip to Oklahoma City.

Senior 133-pounder Shelton Mack and sophomore 197-pounder Nick Bonaccorsi both were selected as at-large bids and will enter the tournament unranked.

Mack and Bonaccorsi’s selections bring the Panthers’ total to eight wrestlers making 2014 the third time in four years that Pitt has sent eight wrestlers to the national tournament.

Mack will take on a fellow unranked opponent in a play-in match that the winner will face No. 3 Tony Ramos of Iowa.

Bonaccorsi’s opening-round opponent is a familiar one – Virginia Tech’s No. 14 Chris Penny.  Penny defeated Bonaccorsi twice this season, 8-3 in the regular season and 4-3 in the ACC Tournament.

At 149 pounds, freshman Mikey Racciato, who earned an automatic bid with his second-place finish at the ACC Tournament, is also an unranked wrestler going into the tournament.  Racciato is set for a first round matchup with Cornell’s No. 3 Chris Villalonga.

Pitt’s final unseeded wrestler is heavyweight P.J. Tasser.  The senior finished fourth at the conference tournament to gain an automatic bid and will face No. 7 Michael McClure of Michigan State.

Anthony Zanetta is the Panthers’ lowest seeded wrestler at No. 15 in the 125-pound weight class. Zanetta, a four-time tournament participant and second-place finisher at the ACC Tournament, is set to face Michigan’s Conor Youtsey.  

In Pitt’s dual with the Wolverines Feb. 15, Youtsey upset Zanetta 5-3 in the sudden victory period.

Coming in as the No. 14 seed at 141 pounds, freshman Edgar Bright will face Tyler Scotton of Boston University in the first round.  Bright finished in second place at the ACC Tournament and, along with Racciato, is Pitt’s second freshmen that qualified for the national tournament.

The Panthers’ two highest-seeded wrestlers come at 174 and 184 pounds.  No. 7 Tyler Wilps, the junior 174-pounder, is Pitt’s only ACC champion and is set to face Penn’s Brad Wukie in the opening round.

Junior No. 4 Max Thomusseit is Pitt’s highest-seeded wrestler. The 184-pounder finished second at the ACC Championships to Maryland’s No. 1 Jimmy Sheptock.  

If Thomusseit and Sheptock both take care of their lower-seeded opponents, the two would meet in the semifinals on Friday night for a spot in the championship match.  Thomusseit’s tournament gets started with a match against Rider’s Clint Morrison.

The play-in and opening round get underway in the morning on Thursday, Mar. 20 and the champions will be crowned Mar. 22 in Oklahoma City.