Pitt
Body Bar Invitational
Pitt Places Five in Cornell Body Bar
11/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 20, 2005
ITHACA, N.Y. - Pitt wrestling traveled to New York on Saturday for the Cornell Body Bar Invitational. Finishing fifth overall, the Panthers placed five wrestlers with redshirt senior Justin Nestor taking home the title at 165 pounds.
"The effort was outstanding, and the young guys got some great experience," said Head Coach Rande Stottlemyer. "The most important thing early in the season is to get a lot of matches in."
At 125 pounds, the Panthers wrestled true freshmen Brad Gentzle (Easton, Pa./Easton) and Brandon Skonieczky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel). Skonieczky finished 0-2 in the tournament, and Gentzle finished 1-2 with a win over Slippery Rock's Chris Clark. Senior Mike Ciotti (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) finished second at 133 pounds with a 3-1. In the championship bout he faced Cornell's Mike Mormile where he lost 3-1. Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) also wrestled for Pitt at 133 pounds, finishing 1-2 for the tournament.
Redshirt senior Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) captured his 100th career win during the tournament, finishing 4-1. His third-place finish came after a major decision over Sacred Heart's Chris Davis. Also wrestling at 141 pounds was Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) who finished 1-2 defeating Greg Jensen of Drexel 8-5.
Wrestling for the Panthers at 149 pounds was true freshman Joey Ecklof (Northampton, Pa./Northampton). Ecklof was also a placewinner for the Panthers, finishing second after a 3-1 loss in the championship bout against Patrick Simpson of Army. At 157 pounds, both Sean Richmond (Emmaus, Pa./Easton) and Dave Kapetanovich (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills/CCAC) battled compiling 1-2 and 0-2 records respectively.
Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) wrestled an impressive tournament at 165 pounds, finishing 4-0 and capturing the championship with a fall over Steve Anceravage from Cornell at the 4:20 mark. Joining Nestor at 165 was Tim Allen (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) finishing 1-2 including a major decision of Jed Giguere of Sacred Heart.
The Panthers wrestled Nick Padezan (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) at 174 pounds. Padezan finished 1-2 with a 6-3 win in his second match. At 184 pounds, the Panthers had a fifth-place finish in redshirt freshman Kyle Deliere (Cecil, Pa./Canon-McMillan) who pinned his Maryland's Josh Haines at the 1:00 mark. Also wrestling at 184 was Mike Heist (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) who finished 1-2 for the tournament. Finally at 197 pounds, both Lou Thomas (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) and Matt Darnell (Lyndhurts, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley C.A.) took to the mat for the Panthers. Thomas finished 1-2 while Darnell ended up 0-2.
"I think we wrestled a pretty good tournament," said Nestor. "I look at it as a step toward bigger things."
One of the bigger things to come will be the Panthers next tournament - the Las Vegas Invitational. The tournament will take place the first week in December and feature a number of nationally-ranked teams.
