Panthers shine in tournaments, fall in home opener

The Pitt wrestling team recorded just two wins in its home-opening loss on Dec. 19 against the… The Pitt wrestling team recorded just two wins in its home-opening loss on Dec. 19 against the No. 13-ranked Missouri Tigers.

Nick Padezan and Lou Thomas notched the only Panther victories as the Tigers won the match 29-9 in the Petersen Events Center.

“Missouri’s a good team,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “They wrestled us hard, and I felt we could wrestle harder.”

The Tigers won the first six matches, taking a 19-0 advantage before Pitt would ever put any points on the board. At 174 pounds, Padezan used a two-point takedown in the third period to secure a 7-1 win over Joey Garrity.

Missouri took the next two matches, but Pitt finished with a win in the heavyweight division when Thomas pinned Sean Connolle at the 1:42 mark.

“I know we have some injuries,” Stottlemyer said, “but every team has injuries. We can’t make excuses.”

The Panthers put a better showing together in the Southern Scuffle tournament held by UNC Greensboro last weekend. Four Panthers advanced to the final day of competition with two – Justin Nestor and Ron Tarquinio – placing.

Tarquinio faced off with the No. 1-seeded Cory Cooperman of Lehigh in the championship match, but he fell short in overtime, losing by a single point, 3-2.

With the tournament wins, Tarquinio upped his career wins at Pitt to 111, good for seventh on the school’s all-time list.

Nestor picked up a seventh-place finish after fighting back through the consolation rounds. In his final match, he pinned Edinboro’s Deonte Penn at the 5:40 mark for his 31st career pin. Nestor ranks third in school history in pins.

Freshmen Joey Ecklof and Sean Richmond each participated in the final day of competition as well, finishing with 4-2 and 3-2 records, respectively.

In redshirt tournament action, juniors Matt Kocher and Keith Gavin continued to excel.

Both wrestlers took home tournament titles at the Cleveland State Open in late December. It was Kocher’s fourth title of the year, and Gavin’s first.

Kocher kept up his dominance by earning a fifth-place spot at the Midlands Tournament. He has now placed in all six tournaments he has been in, and currently holds a 34-3 record on the season and 96-28 for his career.

Gavin also placed in the Midlands Tournament, picking up a fourth-place spot in the 174-pound bracket after losing his final match, 5-2, to R.J. Boudro of Michigan State.

So far this season, Gavin has placed in four different tournaments – capturing just the one title – and stands with a 23-7 record. He now has 59 wins in his career as a Panther.

Despite the tournament wins, Stottlemyer feels his team still needs to make some improvements.

“We can do better, and we’re going to do better,” he said.

The Panthers resume action today when they travel to Ohio State for a matchup with the Buckeyes. They then head back to Pittsburgh Saturday for a tri-meet with Duquesne and Slippery Rock.

The Eastern Wrestling League schedule will pick back up for Pitt on Jan. 26 with a match in Cleveland against Cleveland State.