Pitt Wrestling Defeats No. 15 Stanford

Pitt retook the lead at 149 pounds, as No. 26 redshirt sophomore Finn Solomon (9-5) won a 15-0 technical fall against Stanford freshman EJ Parco (5-3).

Panthers No. 22 redshirt freshman Dylan Evans (12-4) faced a familiar opponent in Cardinal No. 28 freshman Grigor Cholakyan (10-6) at 157 pounds. Evans won a thrilling, 11-8 decision in sudden victory over Cholakyan back at the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29.

This match saw much less scoring, with neither wrestler gettng a great chance, heading back to sudden victory at 1-1. Evans got in on a single leg and completed the attack, as he won a 4-1 decision in sudden victory.

Evans has had a good season so far and is grateful for the opportunities he's had this season, his first starting.

"One of the big things our coaches always kind of say is alwayst try to get the next point, always try to get points as much as you can," Evans said. "I knew this match was going to be a little strange, the style matchup...he's a nationally ranked, really good wrestler. I think the biggest thing is I was trying to find my leg attacks, trying to fire off and I didn't want to take it into overtime, but just very happy I was able to pick up that win."

Stanford got one back at 165 pounds, as No. 14 redshirt sophomore Hunter Garvin (10-6) won a 15-6 major decision over Pitt redshirt sophomore Jared Keslar (5-6).

Cardinal No. 4 redshirt freshman Lorenzo Norman (15-1) got off to a good start against Panthers No. 18 redshirt junior Luca Augustine (10-4) at 174 pounds, with two takedowns for a 6-1 lead.

Augustine made two escapes and a takedown, but Norman would hold on for an 8-6 victory, with two escapes of his own, giving the Cardinal a 15-14 advantage.

Pitt retook the lead, as No. 18 graduate student Reece Heller (12-3) won an 8-4 decision over Stanford redshirt freshman Abraham Wojcikiewicz (7-4) at 184 pounds.

Panthers No. 12 redshirt sophomore Mac Stout (13-2) won a 10-1 major decision after riding time over Cardinal No. 24 Nick Stemmet (10-8) at 184 pounds.

No. 14 redshirt sophomore Dayton Pitzer (6-1) ensured the dual victory for Pitt, winning a 13-6 decision after riding time at 285 pounds over Stanford fifth year Peter Ming (8-4).

Pitt head coach Keith Gavin praised the addition of Stanford to the ACC, after previously spending their time in the Pac-12

"They've very good," Gavin said. "Super talented team. I mean they had, I think the No. 4 recruiting class in the country and those guys that we were wrestling against. Super talented and it's gonna help the ACC because it's just going to bring more [NCAA Championships] allocations to the conference."

Gavin also said that redshirt sophomore Vinnie Santaniello, the starter at 133 pounds who hasn't wrestled since the Rider Quad Meet, will continue to miss time with an injury.

"I think he'll get checked out in another two weeks to see where he's at, but yeah, we might some different guys there. We don't really have, we have a lot of back up [125 pounders] so I don't lknow, we'll see what we do."

Pitt will face rival No. 22 West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on the road on Jan. 12 to close out the weekend.