Wrestlers Grapple at EWL Championships
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 11, 1998
Participating in the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Championships March 6-7, Pittsburgh had two wrestlers capture EWL titles, while six qualified for the NCAA Championships. The Panthers finished third, behind second-place West Virginia and first- place Edinboro.
Pittsburgh sophomore Rob Loper (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) and redshirt freshman Nick Mengerink (Upper Sandusky, Ohio/Carey) each qualified for nationals and won individual titles in their respective weight classes. Loper, last season's EWL Freshman of the Year and the tournament's second-seed, wrestled to a first-place finish at 126 pounds after winning three straight matches, including a defeat of Edinboro's Kevin Saniga, 3-2 in the finals. On the way to his title, Loper also won a 22-7 technical fall over Clarion's Dominic Surra in the quarterfinals and a 7-2 decision over West Virginia's Bob Patnesky in the semifinals. First-seeded Mengerink became the individual champion at 167 pounds after winning a 1-0 decision over Clarion's Jason Moaney. In quarterfinals competition, Mengerink received a bye and went on to win a 1-0 decision over Cleveland State's Josh Didion to place him the finals.
Also qualifying for this season's NCAA Championships were Chad Jesko (Dunbar, Pa./Connellsville), Mike Ziska (N. Huntington, Pa./Norwin), John Withrow (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) and Mark Bodo (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds). Jesko seeded third at 134 pounds, finished fourth after losing a 7-6 tiebreaker to Edinboro's Rafael Vega in the consolation finals, yet still qualified for his third NCAA Championships. Ziska, a sophomore, will make his first appearance at nationals this season after recording a fourth-place finish at 142 pounds. The fifth-seeded Ziska finished fourth after a 1-0 loss to Lock Haven's Brent Conly in the consolation finals.
Bodo and Withrow qualified for their third appearance at nationals by finishing second and third, respectively. Bodo, the runner- up at 190 pounds, lost a 6-0 decision to Edinboro's first-seeded Jason Robison, and Withrow finished third after defeating Lock Haven's Dave Murray, 2-0, in the consolation finals.
The Panthers placed four other wrestlers among the top six in their respective weight classes. At 118 pounds, freshman Shawn Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity) placed fifth and Brian Pardini (Upper St. Clair, Pa./Upper St. Clair) finished fourth at 150 pounds. Also finishing fifth was junior Jacob Schaus (Kennedy, N.Y./Falconer) at 158 pounds and sophomore Matt Mueller (North Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) at 275 pounds.
The Panthers' final competition of the season will be March 19-21 at the 1998 NCAA Championships hosted by Cleveland State.
1997-98 PITTSBURGH PANTHER WRESTLING FINAL RESULTS (12-6 overall, 5-1 EWL) 1997-98 Individual Results NAME OVERALL DUAL TOURNEY FALLS TF MD Shawn Amistade 10-17 3-10 7-7 0 0 0 Sean Barkey 4-8 0-1 4-7 0 0 0 Kevin Bednarski 14-3 0-0 14-3 0 0 0 Mark Bodo 25-4 17-3 8-1 2 1 7 Scott Britton 1-2 1-0 0-2 0 0 0 Sam Davis 0-4 0-0 0-4 0 0 0 Ben Dings 5-3 1-0 4-3 0 0 0 Mike Dixon 2-3 0-0 2-3 1 0 0 JoshDrewitz 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Dave Galati 1-0 1-0 0-0 0 0 0 Zachary Hasse 7-7 1-1 2-2 1 0 0 Jonathon Hazi 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 Chad Jesko 26-9 10-6 15-3 1 0 7 Kevin Johnson 9-4 4-1 5-3 0 0 1 Dan Kelley 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Brian Legarth 13-12 4-5 2-3 2 0 0 Rob Loper 28-4 20-0 5-4 0 3 3 Nick Mengerink 31-3 20-0 11-3 4 1 4 Blaise Mucci 8-5 3-2 5-3 1 0 1 Matt Mueller 11-18 7-13 4-5 3 0 0 Kristoffer Neu 4-8 0-0 4-8 0 0 0 Brian Pardini 8-9 8-7 0-2 0 0 2 Jacob Schaus 16-14 10-11 6-3 3 0 0 Fabiano Sciullo 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 John Withrow 26-6 18-4 8-2 6 0 4 Bradley Wood 3-4 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 Mike Ziska 16-13 9-11 7-2 2 0 3 *statistics include matches through March 9