Five Pitt wrestlers learn seeding and brackets for NCAA championships
03/10/2021 6:30 p.m.
PITTSBURGH-On Wednesday night, five members of the University of Pittsburgh wrestling team learned their sowing and staples for the 2021 NCAA championships in St. Louis, due to take place next week.
Pitt’s four automatic qualifiers – Micky Phillippi (133 pounds), Cole Matthews (141), Jake Wentzel (165) and Nino Bonaccorsi (197) – Booked their trips to Nationals thanks to top 3 placements in the ACC, while the NCAA also honored Pitt senior Gregg Harvey (184) a general offer to St. Louis on Tuesday.
Wentzel (9-1), the two-time ACC defending champion at 165 pounds, took the highest starting place among Pitt’s NCAA qualifiers, taking third starting place and an opening game with Drexel’s Evan Barczak (6-3).
Pitt’s other ACC Champion, Bonaccorsi (9-1), received the No. 6 at 197 pounds and will face Stanford’s Nick Stemmet (7-2) in the opening round next Thursday.
Phillippi (8-1), three-time NCAA qualifier, also hopes for the NCAA podium and will start his run with the national teams as number 5 against Ty Smith (8-5) from the Utah Valley.
Matthews (6-5) and Harvey (6-6) both showed impressive performances in the ACC Championship, battling for All America spots with £ 141 and £ 184, respectively. Matthews, the number 16, faces McKenzie Bell (7-3) from Rider in the first round, while Harvey with the number 30 opens his tournament against Lou Deprez (7-0) from Binghamton.
Pitt head coach Keith Gavin At least half of his starting line-up qualified for the national team for the third time in a row. Now he’s hoping at least one Pitt wrestler can get on the All-American podium at the NCAA championships for the first time since 2015 after four Panthers were granted NWCA All-America status last season after Nationals were due the outbreak of the COVID -19 pandemic had been canceled.
Coverage of the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be broadcast by the ESPN network family. Live scenes from each mat are available on ESPN3 and through the WatchESPN app.
The first sessions on Thursday and Friday start at 11am on ESPNU. Coverage of the second round on Thursday starts at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN, while the semi-finals are scheduled for Friday evening on ESPN or ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m.
Television coverage of the NCAA Championships on Saturday will begin with placements on ESPN2 at 11:00 AM, before the championship finals of all 10 weight classes will be broadcast live on ESPN on Saturday night at 7:00 PM in St. Louis.
Follow @Pitt_WRES on Twitter and Instagram for updates and coverage throughout the next week’s event.
#pinzburgh | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Comments are closed.