Dec. 3, 2001

PITTSBURGH-Five of the 10 Panthers that wrestled at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, one of the top intercollegiate tournaments, placed in their respective weight classes, including two second-place finishers in Blaise Mucci and Dan Stine. The Panthers finished in sixth place with a total of 96.5 points.

Mucci (Blairsville, Pa./Derry Area) breezed through the competition in the 141-pound bracket on his way to a finals loss against No.8 Cedric Haymon of Cal Poly. Mucci had five victories, including a forfeit win over the nation's third-ranked wrestler, David Douglas of Arizona State.

For Stine (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), the path to the finals at 184 was a little tougher as he scored upset wins over No. 12 Jeremy Wilson of Portland State and No. 10 Rob Rohn of Lehigh, who Stine lost to in a dual meet on Nov. 15. Stine's string of upsets ended in the finals against No. 4 Andrew Hrovat of Michigan with a 4-1 loss.

Redshirt freshman Mike May (Derry Area, Pa./Derry Area) had a 5-2 record over the weekend and earned a fourth-place finish at 125 lbs. May had three consecutive major decision wins and a 5-1 victory over Mario Stuart of Lehigh before falling to the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 125 lbs., Stephen Abas of Fresno State, in the semifinals.

Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) was also 5-2 but lost in the quartwrfinals and ended up seventh at 165 lbs. He had two major decision wins and a pinfall victory and defeated No.18 Burt Pierson of Cal Davis, 4-3.

The other Pittsburgh placewinner was senior David Sandberg (Spokane, Wash./North Central) at 197 lbs. He won his first three matches, including a 5-3 upset of No. 5 Justin Ruiz of Nebraska. Sandberg then lost to No. 3 Jon Trenge of Lehigh and No. 7 David Shunamon of Edinboro and finished in sixth place.

Shawn Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity) and Jacob Lininger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) combined for a 7-4 record, one major decision and three pinfalls. Junior Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) saw his first action of the season after returning from a shoulder injury and went 3-2 at 149 lbs.

In other tournament action over the weekend, freshman Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) won six of his seven matches in the Penn State Open on Sunday to improve his 2001-02 record to 14-3.

The Panthers (1-1) will travel to Bloomsburg for a dual meet on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.