Pitt recruits experience bitter sweet moment at Classic

WPIAL defeats Indiana 27-18; PA falls to USA 25-20

By Stephen Patrick
Like Nick Bonaccorsi, TeShan Campbell, Dom Forys, Mikey Racciato, John
Rizzo, Ryan Solomon, Cody Wiercioch and Nick Zanetta before them, Jake
Wentzel and Austin Bell have joined a long list of Panthers to compete in the
Pittsburgh (formerly Dapper Dan) Wrestling Classic.
Both Wentzel and Bell represented Team Pennsylvania on Saturday, with Wentzel
losing 6-0 to Drew Hughes of Lowell, IN (Thomas Bullard of Archer, GAs
replacement) and Bell losing 8-4 to Mark Hall II of Apple Valley, MN. Although out
for the Classic with a back injury, Bullard will continue to wrestle at North Carolina
State, while the 6x state champion (some states including MN, FL, and NY allow
middle school students to compete at the varsity level) Hall will take his talents to
Happy Valley. With NC State in the ACC and Penn State perennially on Pitts
schedule, it is likely that all four of these wrestlers may run into each other again.
Yeah that was definitely a rivalry everyone was talking about this whole week, Bell
commented on his highly anticipated match with Hall.

Photo credit: FloWrestling

It may be a rivalry talked about for much longer than that.

Hall, with 277 career victories and ranked No. 1 in the country at 170 as well as
pound-for-pound by FloWrestling, was the heavy favorite.
With the team score 22-20 in favor of Team USA, and the entire state counting on
him, Bell came out firing on all cylinders.

Within seconds of the first whistle, he got double under-hooks and took Hall straight
to his back which sent the Fitzgerald fieldhouse crowd into a frenzy.
I had nothing to lose.
And he wrestled like it. Any form of win for Bell would have netted a victory for Team
PA, but a pin would have created something of a wrestling folktale.
Ive been wrestling freestyle and Greco since I was little so Im comfortable up
there, Bell said of using upper-body moves. While he admitted he does not
specifically look for them, he is evidently plenty capable of using them.
The first period ended with a score of 3-3 and everyone in the fieldhouse believing
one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Classic was within reach.
Later in the third with a 6-4 score in favor of Hall, Bell found himself deep on a shot
and came up with Halls leg. After numerous trip attempts, and the crowd on the
verge of eruption, Hall managed to get his leg free, essentially squandering any
hopes of a comeback.
Although not the result he was hoping for, the Belle Vernon native and two-time
state third place-winner as well as PowerAde and Ironman champ is excited to get
started at Pitt.
It was definitely something Ive been looking forward to since I was little. I always
knew I wanted to go to Pitt.
Double defeat
Pitts other recruit Jake Wentzel of South Park, a 2x PIAA state champion, also
came up short in his match.
Although a bitter sweet moment, Ive been dreaming about the Dapper Dan
since I was a little kid, acknowledged Wentzel. Its been an ultimate goal of mine
to even be invited on the team.
Although it is Easter and he will not be competing for Pitt until October, Wentzel
made a point of saying he will be back in the room on Sunday, and will use his loss
as motivation to work harder and come back stronger for the Pitt season.
Looking forward
It is hard to predict exactly how the Pitt lineup will shake out next season, but it is
fair to assume a combination of red-shirts and weight class changes may be in
order.

LJ Bentley, Dom Forys, Robert Lee and Campbell were starters last year who are
still eligible to redshirt. All of the incoming freshman can redshirt and may compete
for starting positions, especially at 157 and 174.
Consider this no more than an educated guess, but it would appear logical for some
of the aforementioned wrestlers to redshirt. This would allow other starting-caliber
wrestlers to enter the lineup as well as give them an opportunity to get stronger and
improve their technique. An early postulation of the line-up next year may look
something like this:
125: LJ Bentley
133: Eli Seipel
141: Nick Zanetta
149: Mikey Racciato
157: Jake Wentzel
165: Cody Wiercioch
174: Austin Bell
184: Christian Dietrich (incoming freshman from Wyoming Seminary)
197: Ryan Solomon
285: John Rizzo
It may not be possible for Solomon to make 197, in which case Dietrich would bump
up, allowing Zach Bruce to re-enter at 184; Solomon would bump out Rizzo at
heavyweight.
Up next
The next major wrestling event is the Olympic Trials on April 9 th and 10th in Iowa
City, IA. Although the US has not qualified for the Olympics yet at 65 and 86kg in
mens freestyle, all weight classes will compete. The winner at those weights will
travel to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on April 22-24th for one of the last chances to qualify
for Rio. Other weight classes competing at the trials are 57, 74, 97, and 125kg.