Previewing the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club's December 22 inaugural card

Graphic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club

The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club is hosting their first card, “PWC 1”, next Tuesday, December 22. The 10-match card kicks off at 6:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed live on Rokfin with a subscription.

The card’s main event features PWC resident athlete Luke Pletcher and Slovenian World Team member David Habat. Pletcher was a two-time NCAA fourth-place All-American for Ohio State. Last season, he earned NWCA First-Team All-American honors and was seeded No. 1 at 141 pounds going into the NCAA Tournament. In freestyle, Pletcher is a 2017 UWW Junior Nationals champion and a 2019 U23 World Team Trials runner-up.

Habat was a two-time All-American and NCAA finalist for Edinboro. He currently trains with the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club and has represented Slovenia at the World Championships four times. Habat is a 2017 European Championships bronze medalist.

The card’s penultimate bout features National Team member Darian Cruz taking on Kyrgyzstan’s Samat Nadyrbek Uulu. Cruz is currently No. 3 on the National Team at 57 kg. He is a three-time All-American and 2017 National champion for Lehigh. At his last tournament, Cruz won bronze at the 2020 Pan Am Championships in Ottawa, Canada. He also competed earlier this month in the FloWrestling/Titan Mercury RTC Cup, where he went, 1-2, with a victory over Jack Mueller.

Nadyrbek Uulu was a 2015 Kyrgyzstani World Team member and two-time Asian Championships medalist. Competing for the PWC, Nadyrbek Uulu won the 2017 Dave Schultz Memorial and the 2018 Bill Farrell International. He also finished second at the 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial.

The first match the PWC announced features current Pitt wrestler Cole Matthews taking on Pitt alumni Shelton Mack. As a redshirt freshman, Matthews compiled an 18-9 record and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Last month, Matthews finished runner-up at the U23 Nationals.

Mack was a three-time NCAA qualifier for Pitt. He is currently on staff as a volunteer assistant at Columbia. In 2020, Mack won the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in France and placed eighth at Senior Nationals.

Mickey Phillippi and Ethan Lizak will square off in an all-Pennsylvania battle in the eighth bout of the night. Phillippi was a NWCA First-Team All-American last season for Pitt as a redshirt sophomore. He is a 2020 U23 Nationals sixth-place finisher and a 2019 U23 Nationals runner-up.

Lizak was a three-time All-American and NCAA finalist for Minnesota. A 2013 Junior World Team member, he currently trains with the Pennsylvania RTC.

The pair wrestled once in college, with Phillippi winning a 4-0 bout at last year’s Cliff Keen Invitational.

The lone women’s freestyle match on the card features a battle between two members of Lock Haven’s women’s wrestling team Carly Gross and Alayna Gil. Both PA natives, in high school, Gross competed for West York and Gil wrestled for Penn Cambria. Since the PIAA has not sanctioned girl’s high school wrestling, Gross and Gil competed primarily against boys. However, Gross did finish runner-up at the MyHouse PA Girls High School State Championship in both 2019 and 2020.

Another compelling college matchup features NWCA Second Team All-American Nino Bonaccorsi and Princeton’s two-time NCAA qualifier Travis Stefanik. Bonaccorsi, a redshirt junior for Pittsburgh, has been active recently on the freestyle scene, placing third at the 2020 U23 Nationals and eighth at the 2020 Senior Nationals. Stefanik wrestled at the U23 Nationals as well, logging a 1-2 performance.

At heavyweight, fans will see PWC resident athlete Demetrius Thomas taking on Lock Haven’s Isaac Reid. Thomas was a NWCA First-Team All-American for Pitt last season. Before transferring to Pitt, he was a NAIA champion and two-time finalist for William Baptist. Reid is a redshirt sophomore at Lock Haven.

CJ Brucki vs. Gregg Harvey is another match featuring a Senior-level athlete taking on a current college wrestler. Brucki is a 2020 Senior Nationals and 2019 U.S. Open eighth-place finisher. Collegiately, he was a two-time NCAA qualifier for Central Michigan. Harvey is a redshirt senior for Pitt. He was a 2020 NCAA qualifier and placed 6th at the 2020 U23 Nationals.

Lightweights, Louis Newell and Luke Werner will kick off the event. Newell is a redshirt sophomore for Pittsburgh. Last season, he finished fourth in the ACC at 125 pounds. Werner is a senior at Lock Haven and a 2020 NCAA qualifier.

Another Pitt vs. Lock Haven matchup on the card features Luke Kemerer and Cole Manley. Kemerer is a redshirt sophomore for Pitt and the presumed starter at 149 pounds. Manley is a redshirt Junior and currently listed at 133 pounds.