Senior wrestlers fall short

With the honor of being named an All-American on the line, Pitt senior Ron Tarquinio met up… With the honor of being named an All-American on the line, Pitt senior Ron Tarquinio met up with a familiar foe for the fourth time this season last weekend at the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Freshman Brandon Rader, of West Virginia, stood in the way of Pitt’s 141-pounder as he held a 2-1 advantage in their series, defeating Tarquinio the last two times they wrestled against one another.

Tarquinio took a 1-0 lead into the third period before Rader picked up an escape point, then a takedown for a two-point lead. Tarquinio fought back, notching two points of his own to send the match into overtime.

From there, however, Rader made the move. As the two wrestled for a guaranteed top-eight finish and All-American status, Rader locked up Tarquinio, took him down and registered a 5-3 sudden victory.

“Tarquinio took a shot, but it wasn’t his best shot,” Pitt head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “It went one way and then back to the other and the kid just ended up taking him down.

“He was hustling and defending, but that kid [Rader] is pretty good. You’ve got to give him the credit.”

The loss sent Tarquinio home just shy of being an All-American – a feat eluding him in his career at Pitt, despite being one of the 11 Pitt wrestlers to ever advance to the NCAAs four times.

That fact, though, takes nothing away from the career Tarquinio will leave behind at Pitt.

He finishes 120-53, ranking him fifth on Pitt’s all-time win list. He’s also posted eight falls, seven technical falls and 38 major decisions during that span, and earned the 141-pound EWL title in 2004.

“He’s worked his tail off over the years,” Stottlemyer said of Tarquinio. “You’d love to see that pay off in an All-American title, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. It definitely wasn’t from a lack of effort, though.”

As for the Panthers’ performance as a team in the tournament, Stottlemyer’s seniors proved their leadership and experience. Along with Tarquinio, seniors Mike Ciotti and Justin Nestor were the only other Panthers that advanced to the final day of competition.

In the consolation rounds, the 165-pound Nestor continued to add on to his illustrious career.

He pinned Purdue’s Daniel Bedoy at the 2:25 mark for the 35th pin of his career – second all-time at Pitt. He then won a 3-0 decision the following morning, but fell to Iowa’s Eric Luedke, 4-1, to end his tournament and career.

Nestor ranks behind fellow senior Tarquinio at sixth place in the all-time win leaders at Pitt with a 118-57 record.

“You know, we wanted to see these guys on the podium,” Stottlemyer said. “They’ve given so much to the program and they are class acts. But look at what wrestling has done for them. They’ve benefited from the experience.

“We’ll miss them.”

Ciotti advanced through the consolation rounds with a 6-3 victory over Air Force’s Brandon Strong, but fell to Missouri’s Tyler McCormick, 5-0, to end his run.

With the loss, Ciotti concludes his career at Pitt as well, tallying a total record of 44-41, including five falls and six major decisions.

Three other Panthers – freshmen Joey Ecklof and Brad Gentzle, and junior Mike Heist – made their first trip to the national tournament.

Ecklof suffered a knee injury, tearing his posterior cruciate ligament, in his first match and was forced to take a medical forfeit, ending his tournament early.

Gentzle and Heist – both third-place finishers in their respective weight classes at the EWL Tournament – fell in their first matches of the consolation round. Gentzle lost 14-2, while Heist was shut out, 15-0, for a technical fall.

The experience, however, is what will benefit the younger wrestlers most. It’ll come in handy next season when the veteran leadership of Tarquinio, Nestor and Ciotti won’t be around.

“It’ll help those guys in knowing now how good everybody else is when you get there,” Stottlemyer said. “You might be good back in Pittsburgh, Pa., but when you get to the NCAAs, you think, ‘Wow, I’m just one of many here.'”