PITT WRESTLING TAKES THIRD AT BODY BAR TOURNAMENT

Nov. 18, 2006

ITHACA, N.Y. - Pitt's wrestling team attended the annual Cornell Body Bar tournament today where they finished third with 98.5 points. The No. 25 Panthers (1-0) had eight placewinners with redshirt junior Drew Headlee winning the 133-pound title.

No. 9 Cornell won the tournament with 115 points. No. 7 Michigan finished in second with 114. Pitt defeated Kent State, a team they'll face in a dual match later this season along with six other teams in the tournament. The Panthers will still face Michigan at the Las Vegas tournament, and they'll see Cornell at Las Vegas and the Southern Scuffle.

"We wrestled hard, and we really attacked," said Head Coach Rande Stottlemyer. "We did a lot of good things. I thought it was a pretty good effort on our part."

The Panthers picked up a lot of points from their lightweights as they had two placewinners at 125 pounds and a champion at 133 pounds. Sophomore Brad Gentzle (Easton, Pa./Easton) finished fourth at 125, going 3-2 in the tournament. All three wins were decisions, including a 9-4 victory over teammate Jimmy Conroy (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield). Conroy finished fifth in the tournament with a 3-2 record as well. He picked up a technical fall in his first match with a 16-0 bout in four minutes over Ithaca's Jon Gregory.

Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg) finished 4-0 with one fall en route to the 133-pound championship title. He defeated Morgan Remillard of Drexel with a pin at the 1:25 mark. Headlee then went on to win a 5-2 decision over Kent State's Clayton Stark and an 8-7 decision over Army's William Simpson. In the championship match, he defeated Army's Matt Kyler, 2-1. Also wrestling at 133 pounds was junior Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) who finished 2-2. Both of Bowman's wins were decisions, and his final bout against Drexel's Billy Martin went into overtime.

The Panthers had another placewinner at 141 pounds as redshirt sophomore Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) finished fifth with a 4-2 record. He grabbed a 12-6 decision in his first bout and won with a pin at the 1:45 mark in his fourth match. In the fifth-place bout, Ciampoli defeated Kent State's Clint Sponsellor by an 8-6 decision. Sophomore Dave Kapetanovich (Pittsburgh, Pa./CCAC) finished 1-2 with an 11-10 decision over Cornell's Tim Ironman.

Redshirt junior Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) placed third at 157 pounds, finishing 4-1 in the tournament. He collected three falls along the way to his final match where he defeated Old Dominion's Chris Brown, 4-2.

Pitt's Sean Richmond (Emmaus, Pa./Easton) took sixth at 165 pounds with a 3-3 record. He won two major decisions, one over teammate Tim Allen (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland). His other major decision was a 14-6 win over Ithaca's Mike Toscano. In the fifth-place match, he faced Cornell's Mike Mackie where he lost a 3-1 decision. Allen finished 0-2 with the loss to Richmond as well as a pin from an opponent from Sacred Heart.

At 174 pounds, Pitt's Keith Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) finished 3-1 for second place. He won his first bout with a 22-7 technical fall in six minutes over Cornell's Nate Holley. He then won a major decision in his second match. In the championship bout he lost a 6-4 decision to Michigan's Steve Luke. Also wrestling at 174 pounds was redshirt sophomore Kyle Delire (Cecil, Pa./Canon-McMilan). Deliere went 1-2 in the tournament, winning with a pin over Old Dominion's Derek Coffee.

The Panthers had a tougher time in their 184- and 197-pound matches. At 184 pounds, redshirt sophomore Matt Darnell (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley C.A.) went 0-2 with loses to wrestlers from Old Dominion and Cornell. At 197 pounds, redshirt junior Eric Cassidy (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) was injured four minutes into his first match. Freshman A.J. Hunte (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) finished 0-2 with a 3-1 decision in his second bout.

Pitt, however, finished the tournament strong as redshirt sophomore Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) finished third and freshman Ryan Tomei (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) was successful in his first collegiate tournament. Sheaffer went 4-1 including two major decisions and a pin. He won his first major decision, 14-1, over Maryland's Jerry Afari. He pinned Maryland's John Price at the 0:52 mark and in the third-place match won an 8-0 major decision over Cornell's Jason Manross. Tomei collected a major decision and a fall in his first appearance as a Panther. He finished 2-2 in the tournament with the pin against Ithaca's Bryan Dine at the 2:19 mark and a 12-0 major decision against Cornell's Doug Weidner.

The Panthers will open their home and conference season on Wednesday evening when they take on Bloomsburg. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Fitzgerald Field House.