Ecklof Wins West Virginia Open Title
11/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Ecklof Wins West Virginia Open Title
11/8/2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ? Sophomore Jeff Ecklof won the 149-pound title at the West Virginia Open wrestling tournament on Sunday in his first competition as a member of the Pittsburgh Panthers. In addition, freshman Lou Thomas advanced to the finals of the 197-pound weight class. Six Panthers competed unattached in the tournament.
Ecklof (Northampton, Pa./Northampton/Oklahoma) was an All-American as a freshman at Oklahoma in 2003-04 and transferred to Pittsburgh for this season. His first bout was a forfeit win over Issac Tingler of West Liberty State and then he took a 13-3 major decision over Stephen Wolery of Ohio State to move into the round of 16. There he earned the first of his two fall victories over Jesse Irwin of Ohio University. In the quarterfinals, Ecklof pinned J.D. Zengerle of Brockport before defeating Larry Hall of West Virginia in the semifinals. The championship match also went to Ecklof by a 5-2 count over Kevin Artis of UNC-Greensboro. He finished with a 6-0 record.
Thomas (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) returned to his native West Virginia and fared well, making the finals of the 197-pound tournament. After a win over Chris Cottrell of Navy in the first round, Thomas moved into the quarterfinals when Drew Baldauf of York University was disqualified. Thomas then topped Kyle Hood of Gardner-Webb by fall and moved into the finals with a victory over Willie Weiss of Brockport. In the finals, Thomas was forced to injury default, giving the title to Corey Jacoby of Shippensburg.
Other Panthers in action included freshman 125-pounder Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), freshman 141-pounder Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona), redshirt freshman 165-pounder Tim Allen (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and freshman 174-pounder Kyle Deliere (Cecil, Pa./Canon-McMillan).
Bowman went 2-2 in the tournament, defeating Matthew Beck of Navy by a 4-2 count and Steve Riner of West Liberty by a count of 3-1. Ciampoli did not end up wrestling in the tournament, forfeiting his first-round match to Albert Madsen of Ohio University. Allen won one of his three matches at 165 pounds, defeating Garry Price of Slippery Rock by a score of 2-1 in the consolation round.
Deliere won his first match as a Panther with a fall at 1:48 of the first period against T.R. Chinn of West Virginia. After a loss to Cody Rapp of Navy, Deliere came back to pin Kevin McFarland of Lehigh before defeating John Adams of Old Dominion by a 5-0 count. Deliere finished the tournament with a 3-2 record.
The Panthers will open the dual meet season at No. 5 Iowa State on Friday, November 12.