Micky Phillippi first became addicted at the age of 5. More than 20 years later, the addiction still consumes him.

What’s more, he has no plans to fight it or make it disappear. Why should he give up wrestling?

“This sport is addicting,” he said.

Phillippi, a Derry graduate who will turn 26 next month, is one of a conference-high four Pitt wrestlers seeded No. 1 for the ACC Tournament that will be held Sunday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. He’ll take a 12-2 record into the 133-pound bracket and will be joined by three Pitt teammates who also are No. 1 seeds:

• Bethel Park’s Nino Bonaccorsi (14-0), who is ranked No. 1 in the nation at 197 pounds by InterMat.

• Cole Matthews, who is 17-1 and No. 3 in the nation at 141. From Reynolds High School in Greenville, he is a wrestler so gifted that he feels comfortable saying, “(Opponents) won’t try to come score. They’ll kind of run away for a little bit because my defense has gotten significantly better. You don’t want to shoot on me because I’ll probably score.”

• Holden Heller (12-5 at 165), a transfer from Hofstra, who is also joined on the team by his younger brother Reece, a No. 5 seed at 184 pounds.

Bonaccorsi, who also won in 2021, and Matthews are defending ACC champions. Phillippi is shooting for his fifth appearance in a conference final after winning titles in 2019 and 2020. He also won PIAA championships at Derry in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Instead of working out this week in the basement of Fitzgerald Field House, Phillippi could be in the work force, putting his master’s degree in business management to use.

Phillippi, Bonaccorsi and Dazjon Casto (157 pounds) returned to Pitt this season for the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the covid-19 interruptions of 2020 and 2021.

“It’s hard to just step away when you put that much time into something. I’ve given my all to it,” Phillippi said.

“Whenever they told me, you have an extra year if you want it, (I said) ‘I’m going to take it.’ Why wouldn’t I? The rest of my life I’d be looking back and saying, ‘Why didn’t I? What if I did? You never want to leave regret.’ ”

It was not an easy decision, but Phillippi received a push toward the wresting mats from his wife, Marissa.

Married last July, the couple discussed the opportunity, and in the end, Marissa said, “I think you’d regret not taking it.”

Marissa works as a physician’s assistant while Micky takes classes, attends practices and matches at Pitt and continues to return to Derry where he helps train young wrestlers.

Here is one reason why Pitt’s Micky Phillippi remains among the best collegiate wrestlers in the country. pic.twitter.com/F6r4W1yupP

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) March 2, 2023

“She’s like my sugar mama right now,” Phillippi said, laughing. “She’s allowing me to chase my goals, and she’s been more support than I can ask for. At some point, she could say, `Let’s move on and start making a family.’ She (says) ‘I understand. You want to help these kids, and you want to be the best you can be. Take the time. You only get so many shots at this.”

Since the age of 5, Phillippi has been drawn to the sport, although his mission is a bit more purposeful now.

“I just thought it was a couple guys beating each other up,” he said of 5-year-old Micky. “I wanted to be able to beat someone up without getting in trouble for it.”

Aside from the accolades and the championships, Phillippi said wrestling has opened doors for him that might have been otherwise closed.

“I’ll be a well-educated man when this is all over and done with,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have (earned the master’s), if it wasn’t for (the extra year of wrestling). If I want to get into a career, I can walk into an interview and feel like I’m a little bit above the next guy because I have a master’s degree.

“It also gave me the will to want to be better. It gives you drive. There is no other sport in the world that can prepare you for life like this. You get knocked down and have to come back up. At the end of the day, you’re prepared.”

Phillippi said he has thought about winning a national championship since the second grade. And he’s not done dreaming.

“Honestly, I want to be the best in the world,” he said. “Shoot for the sky, and you’ll land somewhere.”

Phillippi began his collegiate career at Virginia but transferred to Pitt after one season to be closer to family.

“I have a lot of nieces and nephews, and my family is very close,” he said. “I have a lot of them who are wrestlers. I get to watch them all compete and do what I did.”

There also are moments at Pitt that never would have happened at Virginia.

“After matches, people come up to you and say, ‘I’ve been watching you since you were this little.’ That’s a cool thing to hear. This is home.”

Coach Keith Gavin, the most recent Pitt wrestler to win a national championship (2008), is building one of the best programs in the country. In seven seasons, he has coached 27 NCAA qualifiers, 10 ACC champions and seven All-Americans.

“Every year, we keep getting more and more kids who like to wrestle and like to compete,” he said. “We’re trying to build a team of guys who love to do what they do.”

Pitt is ranked 15th in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and finished the ACC season in first place with a 4-1 record.

Most recent Top 25 rankings:@Pitt_VB - 4️⃣@Pitt_MSOC - 8️⃣@Pitt_WSOC - 1️⃣2️⃣@Pitt_WRES - 1️⃣5️⃣@Pitt_FB - 2️⃣2️⃣@Pitt_MBB - 2️⃣5️⃣@Pitt_ATHLETICS is the only school nationally ranked in all of those sports.#H2P pic.twitter.com/YzFMgl8dHK

— RJ Sepich (@RJSepich) February 27, 2023

Wrestling is one of six Pitt sports that have earned national rankings this academic year, joining women’s volleyball (No. 4), football (No. 22), men’s soccer (No. 8), women’s soccer (No. 12) and men’s basketball (No. 25). Pitt is the only school ranked in all those sports.

“I went to Pitt, so I take pride in that,” Gavin said. “(Athletic director) Heather (Lyke) always says how success is contagious, and I think that’s what you’re seeing.”

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