Wrestlers earn EWL honors

Ron Tarquinio and Matt Kocher continued their successful seasons for Pitt’s wrestling team… Ron Tarquinio and Matt Kocher continued their successful seasons for Pitt’s wrestling team this past weekend, being named co-wrestlers of the week in the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL).

Each earned an individual title at the Mat Town Invitational Tournament held at Lock Haven University of Pa. Combined on the weekend, Tarquinio and Kocher were an undefeated 9-0 at the 141-pound and 149-pound weight classes.

“That was a real nice honor for them, and it goes to show just how hard they have been wrestling,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said.

Tarquinio defeated DeWitt Driscoll of Penn State in the semifinals 9-2 before topping Indiana’s Mike Simpson 3-1 in the finals.

Kocher dominated the opposition in the 149-pound division, with the combined score of his five bouts being 32-2. After shutting out Tom Kniezewski 4-0 in the semifinals, Kocher recorded another shutout in the finals, a 3-0 victory over Penn State’s James Woodall, to earn the title.

Tarquinio and Kocher’s efforts on the weekend helped place Pitt fourth overall, with a total team score of 115.5 points, trailing Minnesota, Penn State and Indiana.

“The guys improved greatly from last weekend to this weekend, and that’s what we always want to see,” Stottlemyer said. “I was really proud of the way they wrestled, especially against all the top-25 teams we competed against.”

Justin Nestor put together another solid tournament with a second-place finish at 165 pounds. Included in Nestor’s three wins were a fall and a 9-0 major decision before he fell to Minnesota’s Matt Nagel, 8-5, in the championship.

Sophomore Drew Headlee lost in the semifinal to the eventual first place Mack Reiter of Minnesota, after he recorded two falls to start off his tournament.

Fighting back from the consolation bracket, Headlee defeated Tim Harner and B.J. Compton with scores of 5-2 and 4-2 to finish 4-1 on the tournament with a third-place finish.

After losing his first few matches of the season, Zach Doll ran off seven straight victories last week and continued his strong season with a third-place finish on Sunday.

Doll was defeated in the semifinals by American’s Daniel Waters, but recovered to win both of his consolation bouts, including a 6-0 shutout of Rider’s Sean Jenkins for the third-place finish.

Freshman heavyweight Zachary Sheaffer won four of his six bouts to place fifth in his weight class, while Joe Ciampoli and Keith Gavin each finished sixth in their respective weight classes.

Ciampoli won his first two matches before falling to Simpson and having to forfeit his final two bouts because of medical reasons.

“[Joe] Ciampoli did a really great job,” Stottlemyer said. “He was our backup in his weight class and was able to move on and defeat the No. 2 seed.”

Gavin, after winning a title at last weekend’s tournament, finished in sixth place by only winning three of his six matches.

The Pitt wrestlers will now travel to Las Vegas to participate in the Las Vegas Invitational tournament this weekend.

“The Las Vegas tournament is our opportunity to wrestle all the guys west of the Mississippi [River],” Stottlemyer said. “It will benefit us by wrestling some good competition and finding out some things that will help us later on when we get to the nationals.”