Freshman Drew Headlee, along with four other Pitt wrestlers, places in Michigan State Open

Five Pitt wrestlers placed, including freshman Drew Headlee, at 125 pounds, as the Pitt… Five Pitt wrestlers placed, including freshman Drew Headlee, at 125 pounds, as the Pitt wrestling team opened its season last weekend at the Michigan State Open.

“Overall, we did pretty well,” assistant coach Jason Peters said. “We competed hard and wrestled well.”

Headlee, competing in his first meet for Pitt, defeated two seeded wrestlers, including No. 1 seed Tom Clum of Wisconsin, to earn a second-place finish. Clum was ranked sixth and seventh in the nation by wrestling magazines Amateur Wrestling News and InterMat, respectively. Headlee collected an individual record of 4-1 at the event.

“Drew did well,” Peters said. “He wrestled hard and he didn’t get tired.”

Sophomore Francis Iorfido also turned in a solid performance for the Panthers advancing to the finals in the 174-pound weight-class before bowing out due to an injury he sustained in the semifinals.

Iorfido finished the meet with an undefeated record of 5-0 to complement his second-place finish. Iorfido, in finishing second, placed higher than nationally ranked grapplers Ralph DeNisco of Wisconsin and Mitch Hancock of Central Michigan.

“[Iorfido] injured his shoulder, but he’ll be alright,” Peters said. “He wrestled a good tournament, and there was no need to risk anything.”

In the 157-pound weight class, sophomore Justin Nestor overcame an early quarterfinal defeat to advance through the consolation rounds to capture third place. Nestor came back and defeated Ty Morgan of Central Michigan after Morgan had beaten him in the quarterfinals. Nestor finished the tournament with a record of 6-1.

“[Nestor] avenged the loss [from his previous match],” Peters said. “He really just pounded him [Morgan].”

Sophomore Ronald Tarquinio lost in the consolation finals of the 141-pound weight class for a fourth-place finish. Tarquinio defeated Michigan State’ Andy Simmons, the 12th-ranked wrestler in the nation, on the way to finishing the tournament with a record of 4-2.

“Tarquinio did a nice job too,” Peters added. “He wrestled in a tougher weight class.”

Matt Kocher, a freshman, earned a seventh-place finish in the 149-pound weight class. Kocher rallied from a close loss to 16th-ranked Josh Wooton of Northern Illinois to compile a 4-2 record.

“[Kocher] did a heck of a job,” Peters said. “He’s a young guy, and we hope to get good things out of him this year.”

Also competing for the Panthers were freshmen Tim Allen, Keith Gavin, Michael Heist, and Jacob Panasevich, sophomore Adam Curry, juniors Steve Selcher and Mike Croyle, and senior Travis Shirley.

Pitt is next in action Nov. 19 at Lehigh where the team will open its dual meet schedule.

“Lehigh is ranked third in the country, and they’re a real strong team,” Peters said. “But we’ll be ready to fight.”