Wrestling places third at Mat Town Invitational

Drew Headlee and Zachariah Doll finished first in their respective weight classes, and the… Drew Headlee and Zachariah Doll finished first in their respective weight classes, and the Pitt wrestling team turned in an impressive third-place finish at the Mat Town Invitational last Saturday.

Eight out of 14 Panthers placed in the tournament, and Pitt finished with 126.5 overall points, which put it seven points ahead of fourth-place Ohio and just a half of a point behind second-place Penn State. Cornell won the Mat Town Invitational with 156 points.

“It was a very good performance,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “We have improved every time we’ve competed. We’re so young – we had to earn some respect [at the tournament].”

One of the most respectable performances in the tournament was turned in by Doll, who has missed virtually all of two seasons due to shoulder surgery, then an ACL injury. Doll overcame adversity and took first place at 165 pounds.

He was the first seed in his weight class, so it may not have come as a shock to some that he won, but Stottlemyer knows how difficult it is to come back from injury, let alone two of them.

“They say it’s a little like riding a bike but it’s a lot different; trust me,” Stottlemyer said about how hard it is to wrestle well after a long layoff.

Headlee was the other first-place finisher for Pitt, taking home the top spot at 125 pounds. Headlee, seeded 7th in his bracket, opened some eyes by defeating the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seeds on his way to the title. Stottlemyer was not surprised about Headlee’s performance.

“We knew that he was certainly capable of winning,” Stottlemyer said. “That kid doesn’t want to lose.”

WrestlingReport.com named Headlee the Eastern Wrestling League’s Wrestler of the Week for his achievements.

Sophomore Ronald Tarquinio nearly added a third first-place finish for the Panthers at 141 pounds, but lost to top-seeded Scott Moore of Virginia, 8-6 in the finals and settled for second place.

Three Panthers took third place in their weight classes including freshman Matt Kocher, at 149 pounds, sophomore Francis Iorfido, at 174 pounds and senior Josh Birt, at 197 pounds. Kocher improved his record to 12-3 in his first season of collegiate wrestling.

Rounding out the place winners for Pitt were sophomore Justin Nestor, who placed seventh at 157 pounds, and senior Travis Shirley, who placed sixth in the heavyweight bracket.

Stottlemyer was pleased that his wrestlers did not give up when they were eliminated from winning their brackets.

“When you come back and take third and sixth place, it shows a lot of character,” Stottlemyer said.

The Panthers are next in action on Dec. 19 at the Beast of the East College Tourney in Newark, Del., and Stottlemyer likes his team’s chances the rest of the season.

“If we stay healthy, we’re going to be pretty dangerous,” Stottlemyer said.