NO. 24 PITT WRESTLING HEADING TO SOUTHERN SCUFFLE TOURNAMENT
12/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 28, 2006
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Pitt's No. 24 wrestling team will compete in the annual Southern Scuffle this weekend. The two-day tournament is hosted by UNC Greensboro and includes 32 teams, five of which finished in the top 20 at last year's national championships. Pitt has three seeded wrestlers heading into Friday's matches, and the Panthers will have competitors in every weight class except 174 pounds.
Representing Pitt at 125 pounds will be sophomore Brad Gentzle (Easton, Pa./Easton). He holds an 8-6 record this season, having placed fourth at the Cornell Body Bar. Gentzle will face the No. 11 seed Matt Pagan of Navy in his first bout. The winner of that match will wrestle Lehigh's No. 10 seed Matt Fisk.
Pitt has three wrestlers at 133 pounds. Leading the team is No. 4 seed Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg). Headlee has a 12-3 record and won the Cornell Body Bar. He also finished fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational earlier this month. In his first match, Headlee will wrestle Boise State's Levi Jones. The winner will go on to face either Zach Anderson of Virginia or Mitchell Johnson of UNC Greensboro. Also competing at 133 pounds will be Zach Bowman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and Jimmy Conroy (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield). Bowman will wrestle Lehigh's Kevin Vinh. The winner of that match goes up against Tripp Rogers of UNC Greensboro. Conroy will take on either the No. 1 seed Matt Keller of Tennessee-Chattanooga or Maryland's John Kohler.
The Panthers will have Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) at 141 pounds. He has a 9-6 record this season with four dual wins and a fifth-place finish at the Cornell Body Bar. Ciampoli will first wrestle Kellon Balum of Virginia. The winner will then face either NC State's Jake Smith or Matt Bullwinkel of the Citadel.
At 149 pounds, Pitt sophomore Joey Ecklof (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) earned a No. 11 seed. Ecklof is 3-4 this season and didn't compete until December because of an injury. He'll wrestle the winner of the bout between Cal Bakersfield's Brandon Doyle or Joel Ahern of Navy.
Pitt has two wrestlers competing at 157 pounds. Dave Kapetanovich (Pittsburgh, Pa./CCAC) will wrestle the winner of the match between the No. 12 seed Kody Hamrah of NC State and Navy's Spencer Manley. Also competing will be freshman Mark Generalovich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) who will face Maryland's Mike McGill. The winner will wrestle UNC Greensboro's Nate Berryman.
The Panthers' Sean Richmond (Emmaus, Pa./Easton) will wrestle at 165 pounds. He holds a 14-6 record this season, including a sixth-place finish at the Cornell Body Bar and a tournament title at the W&J Open. He has collected four falls and three major decisions in the last two months. Richmond will wrestle the winner of the bout between Pete Puckett of Central Michigan and Jordan Lowe of Gardner-Webb.
Wrestling at 184 pounds will be Mike Heist (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) and Kyle Deliere (Cecil, Pa./Canon-McMillan). Heist will face Appalachian State's Kevin Worsowicz. Deliere will wrestle the winner of the match between East Stroudsburg's David Williams and NC State's Jeremy Colbert.
The Panthers also have two wrestlers at 197 pounds. Eric Cassidy (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) will face David Mendoza of Old Dominion in his first match, and A.J. Hunte (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) will wrestle Stanford's Jared Boyer.
At 285 pounds, Pitt will have the No. 14 seed Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and freshman Ryan Tomei (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford). With a record of 14-6 this season, Sheaffer won the W&J Open and placed third at the Cornell Body Bar. Tomei holds an 8-5 record and recently finished third at the Cleveland State Open. Sheaffer will wrestle the winner of the match between Marcus Adelman of Ohio and Ryan Kittrick of George Mason. Tomei will take on the winner of the bout between Scott Buhman of VMI and the No. 12 seed Corey Morrison of Ohio State.
The competition opens up on Friday, Dec. 29 at 10 a.m. EST and extends through Saturday. Updated results will be available at www.southernscuffle.com.
