Seven Panthers Place at Cornell Body Bar
11/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 19, 2007
PITTSBURGH - The Pitt Panther wrestling team sent 15 combatants north this weekend to the Cornell Body Bar in Itacha, N.Y. Seven of those fifteen contestants returned home as placewinners, helping the Panthers to a seventh-place finish in the team competition. Host Cornell took top honors in the 11-team tournament, with Wisconsin and Maryland rounding out the top three.
Ryan Bosso (Pequea, Pa./Penn Manor) and Brad Gentzle (Easton, Pa./Easton) took to the mats in the 125 class for Pitt. Bosso, a sophomore, posted a record of 2-2, with one of his losses coming at the hands of the No. 3 seed Steve Mytych of Drexel. The No. 5 seed Gentzle cruised out to a 2-0 start before being handed his first loss by the top-seeded Colin Cudd of Wisconsin. The Panthers' starter at 125 regained his rhythm, however, and went on to garner two more victories and a third-place finish in the division.
Pitt also had two entries in the 133 classification, as both Jimmy Conroy (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) and freshman Eric Rosencranz (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown Community) staked claims to the title. Conroy entered the competition as the seven seed and battled in each of his three bouts, but finished with only one victory against two losses. Rosencranz pulled out a victory over the No. 5 seed Whitt Dunning of Army, 3-2, but was knocked off by the No. 4 seed in his next bout and ended the day with a 2-2 record.
All-American Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg), fresh off of two dual meet victories and seeded No. 2 in the 141 pound division, earned a major decision in his first duel and made his way to the finals of the consolation bracket where he took fourth-place honors.
The Panthers made quite an impression on the mats in the 149 class, placing two grapplers in the top five. Junior Joey Ecklof (Northampton, Pa./Northampton), the No. 2 seed, claimed victory in his first three matches before a fourth-round loss to Maryland's Eric Medina sent him to the consolation bracket. Joe Ciampoli (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) posted a technical fall with 3:47 gone in his first contest. The two Pitt products then squared off against each other, with Ecklof taking the bout, 3-2, and continuing on to take fourth place. Ciampoli rebounded to take down Drexel's Kyle Bubb, 3-1, and lock up a fifth-place finish.
Adam Counterman (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) represented Pitt in the 157 pool. The freshman from Nazareth, Pa., picked up his second career fall against Ithaca's Stephen Andolena.
Redshirt freshman Jake Pelletier (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) three victories in the 174-pound class, registering two consecutive technical falls, before bowing out in the quarterinfals of the consolation bracket.
Pitt sent two wrestlers into the mix at the 184 division as well, with one contestant returning as a placewinner. Matt Darnell (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) took down the No. 8 seed, Drexel's Dustin Weiler, by a count of 5-3 in his first bout. David Sullivan (Dingmans Ferry, Pa./Delaware Valley/East Stroudsburg), a No. 6 seed, put together a string of four consecutive victories that including one fall and one technical fall. Sullivan squared off against Darnell in the consolation bracket and took the bout 4-0. He would continue on to grab a sixth-place finish.
The heavyweight bout was another weight class in which the Panthers unleashed two wrestlers on the field. Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley), the No. 2 seed, posted four wins against a single loss to grab a third-place honor. Sophomore Ryan Tomei (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) also has a strong showing with three victories, including a fall with less than a minute gone by in the bout that propelled him to a sixth-place honor.
The Panthers will travel next to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Invitational. No.1 ranked Keith Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) will also be in action tonight as he take part in the 42nd Annual NWCA All-Star Classic in Eugene, Ore.
Players Mentioned
