Panthers Place at Nittany Lion Open
12/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 7, 2005
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
A number of Pitt wrestlers traveled to Penn State last weekend to compete in the Nittany Lion Open. Junior Matt Kocher won the championship bout at 157 pounds, making this his third title of the season. Fellow junior Keith Gavin advanced to the seventh-place bout as well.
With his win at this tournament, Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) now holds a 24-1 record on the season and an 86-26 record overall. Kocher's other wins include both the East Stroudsburg Open and the Slippery Rock Open.
At Penn State, Kocher started out with an 11-5 decision over Tony Greathouse of Michigan State. He then went on to pin Dave Ausem of East Stroudsburg at the 1:54 mark. Kocher added another major decision to his stats with a 16-6 win over VMI's Chris Hardy. He defeated Jayson Layton of Nassau by a score of 8-2 in the semifinals and captured the championship title with a 9-4 victory over Heidleberg College's Joe Pflug.
Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) moved to 174 pounds for this tournament, finishing 4-1 overall. His first win was a 17-2 major decision over VMI's Dustin McCabe. He lost his second round to Virginia Tech's Jay Borschel by a close 6-5 score. Gavin went on to pin Lock Haven's Matt Marquart at the 3:25 minute and then win a major decision over Old Dominion's Bryan Lenhardt by a score of 13-2. In his next match he pinned Cleveland State's David Gilkey at 1:27. Gavin was to face Jeremy Bloom of Michigan State in the bout for seventh and eighth place, but no match up occurred.
Sophomore Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) finished 1-2 in the tournament with his 5-0 win coming over Dan Castillo of Cleveland State. Brandon Skonieczky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel), Brandon Smith (Columbia, Pa./Columbia), Julian Warshaw (New York, N.Y./Poly Prep), Justin Hunt (Salem, N.Y./Salem), Dave Kapetanovich (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills/CCAC), Mike Heist (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) and Matt Darnell (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley C.A.) were eliminated in the first round.
The Panthers' next competition is a dual matchup against Missouri. Pitt will take on the Tigers at the Petersen Events Center on Monday, December 19, at 7:30 p.m. This season opener is also Panthers' Wrestling Alumni Day.