Pitt website announced his passing. Multiple state titles. ACC champion. RIP.
Mikey Racciato
- Thread starter Somerset Panther
- Start date
Shocking. One of the most exciting and simultaneously frustrating Panther wrestlers ever.
my understanding is it was drug related.
Terrible news ...... condolences to his family and friends.
He had some personal issues but he was one of the best athletes I ever saw and was a truly kind-hearted person.
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He was part of a recruiting class by Jason Peters which looked on paper to be terrific, but never came close to living up to expectations. In addition to Mikey, there was a multiple time PIAA champion from the WPIAL whose only high school loss, I believe, was to Zain Retherford in a match where neither had a takedown and he lost in sudden death. (Can’t recall his name.)
My recollection is that he didn’t wrestle as a freshman, wrestled part of his second year with below average results and soon was off the team and gone from school.
There also was a state champion from Ohio who I don’t believe had anything beyond a mediocre career at Pitt. Probably the most productive member of that class was Nick Zanetta, who was the only one who was not a multiple state champion.
My recollection is that he didn’t wrestle as a freshman, wrestled part of his second year with below average results and soon was off the team and gone from school.
There also was a state champion from Ohio who I don’t believe had anything beyond a mediocre career at Pitt. Probably the most productive member of that class was Nick Zanetta, who was the only one who was not a multiple state champion.
I think I told you all on here about the kid on our high school wrestling time who got involved in drugs as well. His young life ended far too soon as well. And we were all helpless. We tried to help him, but he was too addicted. Just terrible. Our prayers with Mikey Radiators family and friends.
Was this Cody Weircioch? He lost to Chance Marsteller 3-2 on an escape in the fourth overtime.
Marsteller finally got his life together and had a successful wrestling career at Lock Haven. Does anyone know whatever happened to Cody?
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yea he’s confused, Mikey started from day 1 and had a really good freshman season, & also graduated from Pitt.
Cody Weircioch was the guy who was really good in high school but didn’t wrestle that much and left school after a couple years.
he never went to another school, he’s working south of Pittsburgh.
Do I remember correctly that Mikey was one of those involved in the incident that got Peters fired?
There have been a bunch of videos of Mikey posted on You Tube recently. There is one entitled “Mikey Raccioto 2 Time PIAA Champion” that ends with one of the most amazing pins I have seen. They show it twice in slow motion.
... Yup.
Relief of Pitt wrestling coach Jason Peters came after incident in Evanston - The Pitt News
The relief of Pitt wrestling head coach Jason Peters came after an incident in Evanston, Illinois, during the team's visit for the Midlands Championships.
I know that this is a huge generalization, but I’ve had “encounters” with too many great high school wrestlers who achieved their dream when they won a state title. For them, they (mentally) crossed their personal finish line when they wrestled their final high school match.
It would’ve been a happier ending had they approached their high school success as a launching pad toward bigger and better (read: more important) things, but the pressures of high school wrestling burns-out so many of these kids that even those who do wrestle in college achieve nothing close to the success that they had in high school.
This is certainly debatable and just my opinion, but I think it’s gotten worse since these kids are sometimes pressured to stick to one sport (in this case: wrestling), rather than experiencing several “seasonal” sports. Wrestling — for high schools and clubs — has made it a year-long sport; the grind is just too much for many of these kids.
Unfortunately, we all know of some really superb high school wrestlers - even some who were considered to be locks to be future NCAA champions - who faded into wrestling oblivion after getting to college.
It would’ve been a happier ending had they approached their high school success as a launching pad toward bigger and better (read: more important) things, but the pressures of high school wrestling burns-out so many of these kids that even those who do wrestle in college achieve nothing close to the success that they had in high school.
This is certainly debatable and just my opinion, but I think it’s gotten worse since these kids are sometimes pressured to stick to one sport (in this case: wrestling), rather than experiencing several “seasonal” sports. Wrestling — for high schools and clubs — has made it a year-long sport; the grind is just too much for many of these kids.
Unfortunately, we all know of some really superb high school wrestlers - even some who were considered to be locks to be future NCAA champions - who faded into wrestling oblivion after getting to college.
Ill back this theory up. I was a burnout victim with wrestling. I started wrestling when I was 6 and was pretty burned out by high school. It takes an extreme mental toll on a kid to be that dedicated to a sport at that young of an age. By the time I reached HS, I little desire to drive to be as good as I could be. I just didnt have it mentally. And this was even before the one sport focus of today.
I am firmly against the one sport focus that exists today. I firmly believe that it is bad for a kid's mental and physical development. Kids need multiple sports to develop a broad range of physical skills and to keep from incurring repetitive motion injuries, not to mention to keep a kid from burning out early.
Definitely think there's something to what you're saying, but don't think it fully explains things in this particular case. Mikey also played football and had a moderate amount of success in college.
Point well taken, but my post really wasn’t aimed toward him specifically, though I posted it in this thread.
I got to thinking about Mikey, Teasdale, and so many other wrestlers whom I either knew of, or have known personally, and it just got me thinking about conversations that I’ve had with some of these kids and their parents.
I’m retired now; my career was centered around the fields of mental health and state corrections. Sadly, I came into contact with former wrestlers (and other athletes) in both of those areas.
I think years and years of cutting weight and worrying about their weight wears on a lot of wrestlers. i know Mikey had a hard time when they asked him to drop a weight class his senior year.
I seem to remember Mickey wrestling 149 his senior year. He did have trouble with this weight tho.
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