Pitt Wrestling Ready to Travel West
11/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 30, 2005
PITTSBURGH - With nine ranked teams going in this weekend's tournament, the Las Vegas Invitational will likely be a preview of what the Panthers can expect in their NCAA Championship quest later this season. The invitational will extend from Thursday through Saturday.
"It gives us the opportunity to measure where we stand against the best Division I wrestling has to offer. These experiences are important to our progress individually and collectively as a team," said Head Coach Rande Stottlemyer. "Additionally Las Vegas gives us the opportunity to compete against all those schools west of the Mississippi that we do not normally see until the NCAA championships. That can prove to be very valuable at the NCAA tournament in March in either having seen/wrestled that individual at Las Vegas."
Top competitors for the Panthers will be redshirt seniors Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) and Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds). Tarquinio is the 2004 Las Vegas Champion at 141 pounds and recently clinched his 100th career win at the Cornell Body Bar. Nestor was named Wrestler of the Week for the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Conference last week after dual match win against Bloomsburg and a first-place finish at Cornell.
The Panther line up for this weekend's tournament will be:
125 - Brad Gentzle, FR
133 - Mike Ciotti, SR
141 - Ronald Tarquinio, SR*
149 - Joey Ecklof, FR
157 - Sean Richmond, FR*
165 - Justin Nestor, SR*
174 - Nick Padezan, FR*
184 - Kyle Deliere, FR*
197 - Lou Thomas, SO
285 - No competitor