Pitt wrestlers come up short

In an attempt to reach All-American wrestler status, four out of six Pitt wrestlers made it… In an attempt to reach All-American wrestler status, four out of six Pitt wrestlers made it to the second day of the NCAA Championships. However, none of the four finished in the top eight of their weight class to be given that title.

Pitt senior Josh Birt, a former junior college champion, finished one win shy of becoming an All-American wrestler at 197 pounds.

Birt first disposed of the tournament’s No. 8 seed, Matt Greenberg of Cornell, with a pin at the 1:14 mark of the first period. He advanced into the second round and earned an 8-2 decision over the No. 9 seed, K.C. Walsh of Boise State, to advance to the quarterfinals. In the second day of competition, Birt was defeated by No. 1-seeded Damion Hahn, 6-2, and failed to get a victory over J.D. Bergman of Ohio State, 4-2.

Ronald Tarquinio, an Eastern Wrestling League champion this year at 141 pounds, won his first-round match over Nate Gulosh of the Naval Academy, 10-7, but dropped an 11-2 major decision in the second round to fifth-seeded Cliff Moore of Iowa.

Tarquinio was eliminated on the second day by Tyler Laudin of Wisconsin, 9-8, to finish with a 1-2 record for the second straight year at the championships.

Freshman Matt Kocher lost a major decision at 149 pounds by a score of 10-1 in his first bout, but was able to win his next two to move on to the second day. Kocher bounced back by defeating Lehigh’s Matt Anderson by a score of 4-2 and finished the day by defeating Deonte Penn of Edinboro, 6-2. Penn had defeated Kocher twice earlier this season.

Kocher then notched his team-leading 32nd victory of the year by defeating Casey Olsen of Fresno State, 3-2, before dropping a 5-2 decision to Jake Giamoni of North Carolina State.

Francis Iorfido was narrowly edged by the tournament’s No. 3 seed in the 174-pound weight class, Brad Dillon of Lehigh, in the first round, by a score of 12-8. Iorfido moved on with a win in the consolations over Levi Craig of Duke — a 13-3 major decision.

Iorfido lost his only bout on the second day when he was pinned with 24 seconds left in the first period by Central Michigan’s Mitch Hancock.

Sophomore Zach Doll and junior Justin Nestor were both defeated twice on the first day to be eliminated from the tournament.

Doll had a tough opening opponent at 165 pounds in No. 6 seed Ralph Everett of Hofstra, and gave everything he had before dropping a tough 4-3 decision. Doll was then defeated by Matthew Veach of Eastern Illinois, by a score of 15-8.

Nestor, the Panthers’ 157-pounder, was topped by No. 7 seed Phillip Simpson of Army, by a 15-0 technical fall in the first round. Nestor then ran into a familiar EWL opponent in Charlie Brenneman, but lost a tough 5-3 decision to the Lock Haven wrestler in the consolations to finish his season with a 27-16 record.

The six Pitt wrestlers combined to win seven bouts to tally up a total team score of eight and a half points, well behind team leader and champion Oklahoma State, who finished with 123.5 points.

The end of the tournament marks the end of the Panthers’ season, as they will now look forward to winning the EWL next year. With Birt and heavyweight Travis Shirley as the only two seniors on this year’s team, nearly all of the squad will return next season.