Pittsburgh Finishes Second at Mat Town Invitational
11/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Pittsburgh Finishes Second at Mat Town Invitational
11/28/2000
Lock Haven, Pa. - University of Pittsburgh wrestling team, ranked 17th in the Amateur Wrestling News and 20th in the InterMat Wrestling preseason polls, placed second at the annual Mat Town USA Invitational, held Saturday, Nov. 25, at Lock Haven University.
The Panthers scored 138 points, one point behind winner Missouri (139) and 13 points better than third-place finisher and host Lock Haven (125), who is ranked 12th in the InterMat preseason poll.
Pittsburgh was led by senior Rob Loper (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) and freshman Zach Doll (Quakerstown, Pa./Pottstown), who claimed championships in the 133- and 157-pound divisions, respectively. The Panthers also had a pair of runner-up finishes by sophomore Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) at 141 pounds and sophomore Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) at 165 pounds. Other placewinners included freshman Jacob Lininger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin), who was third as a heavyweight, junior Dan Stine (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), who was fifth at 184 pounds, junior David Sandberg (Spokane, Wash./North Central), who was fifth at 197 pounds, and junior Shawn Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity), who was sixth at 125 pounds.
Loper recorded two wins by major decision en route to his title, including 13-2 in the first round over Penn State's Nate Pozniak and 14-0 in the semifinals over Lock Haven's Scott Bair, who defeated Loper, 4-2, in the finals of last year's Mat Town Invitational. Loper defeated Purdue's Evan Robinson, 8-6 in overtime, to win the 133-pound division.
Doll, who had to win a pigtail match to even reach the first round, reeled off five consecutive wins to win his first career title. In the pigtail, he defeated Penn State's Dave Martini by a fall (5:38). In the first round, Doll shutout Michael Saunders (Bucknell) 15-0 for a technical fall, followed by a fall over Don Carlos-Clauss (Virginia) at 4:31 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, the freshman won by major decision, 9-0, over Lock Haven's Rob Weikle and claimed an 11-6 decision over Rider's Cory Debais for the championship.
Giovinco, who led the team with nine falls last season, recorded his first of this season, defeating Mike Harris (Rider) at the 1:49 mark in the first round. Giovinco also recorded an impressive 9-0 major decision over Penn State's Eric Narkiewicz in the semifinals, before dropping a 5-1 decision to Lock Haven's Mike Maney in the finals. Stine added a fall over Scott Mania (Virginia) at the 2:43 mark in the first round.
