Wrestling: Where Pitt stands in the rankings currently
The Pittsburgh Panthers ended 2025 on a high note by placing second team overall at the Midlands Championship tournament in Evanston, Illinois. They finished with 92.5 points in the two-day contest, which was just a half point shy of tying Rutgers University. Compared to last season, Pitt improved from tying for fourth place to taking second.
A total of 13 wrestlers for Pitt competed in the tournament, and ended with redshirt sophomore Dylan Evans taking home the title in the 157 lb. weight class. To achieve that, Evans went toe-to-toe against Indiana University’s redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery in the championship match. Evans was able to pull away with a 4-2 decision victory.
As a result, Evans joins elite company in the history of Pitt’s wrestling program when it comes to the Midlands Championships. The last time one of Pitt’s wrestlers was named a champion in their respective weight class was Nino Bonaccorsi in the 2019 season.
With a dominant win like this in his collegiate career, Evans moved up in the rankings for both the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and in the conference Pitt is a member of, which is the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). For the NCAA, Evans is ranked #16 for FloWrestling, #18 for InterMat and #22 for WrestleStat.
For the ACC, Evans is ranked third for the 157 lb. weight class right behind Stanford’s redshirt junior Daniel Cardenas and NC State’s redshirt junior Jackson Arrington. Evans may have been the standout for Pitt, but that doesn’t exclude some of his teammates’ stellar performances.
Redshirt freshman Tyler Chappell placed second overall in the 125 lb. weight class after falling to Northern Illinois University’s redshirt senior Blake West, and redshirt sophomore Anthony Santaniello also placed second in the 141 lb. weight class after coming up short versus Spartan Combat RTC’s freshman Elijah Cortez.
Recently, the Panthers hosted their first conference rival in the form of the Virginia Tech Hokies. Pitt, unfortunately, fell 15-18 in a dual meet that could’ve been either team’s win or loss. Pitt for the season is 7-2 now and 0-1 in the ACC. Breaking down their record, they are 3-1 at home and 4-1 on the road. Their two losses are quite different in score disparity.
Their first loss was a 36-0 blowout victory for the Iowa Hawkeyes while on Iowa’s home mat, and their second, of course, was just a three-point loss at home. Teamwise, Pitt is ranked #14 out of the top 25 ranked colleges in NCAA wrestling per the NWCA Coaches Poll. They have neither moved up nor down in the top 25.
With the final results of the Midlands Championships and the dual meet against Virginia Tech, Pitt’s most productive wrestlers have seen a dramatic shift in individual rankings for both the NCAA and just in the ACC.
Redshirt junior Mac Stout has slowly climbed up to being officially in the top ten. Wrestling in the 197 lb. weight class, he is ranked currently at #11 per the NCAA, but is ranked at number one in the ACC.
After his performance at the Midlands Championships, Chappell was able to move up into the top 30 nationally and, according to WrestleStat, is #26. Meanwhile, Santaniello entered the InterMat by claiming #29 out of 30 total spots.
This time last year, Pitt went 6-2 in eight dual meets. This year, with one extra win under their belt, the Panthers are looking just as consistent as they were the season prior. With how storied their history is as a program, Pitt is more than likely to continue that string of wrestling superiority
Jude Hannahs is a staff writer for DreamBackfield since November 2025.
