March 13, 2006

PITTSBURGH - The EWL Wrestling Championship held on March 4 and 5 will air on Fox Sports Net (FSN) Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. For the third consecutive season, the Panthers finished third place overall with 97 team points. Six Pitt wrestlers also capture NCAA bids. Among them was redshirt senior Justin Nestor who was crowned the 165 pound EWL Champion.

For the second year in a row, Pitt had all 10 of its wrestlers become EWL placewinners. Along with Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds), five other Panthers will be making the trip to Oklahoma this weekend.

True freshman Brad Gentzle (Easton, Pa./Easton) captured third place at 125 pounds, while senior Mike Ciotti (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) earned a second-place victory in the 133-pound weight class to secure his first-ever trip to Nationals.

Fellow senior Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) followed suit, finishing second as well in the 141-pound weight class. Another true freshman, Joey Ecklof (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) will be traveling to Oklahoma after being chosen by the coaches as a wild card at 149 pounds. Mike Heist (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) was Pitt's final qualifier after a third-place finish at 197 pounds.

Nestor became the Panthers' 25th EWL champion by holding West Virginia's Larry Hall with a 2-0 decision. He is the fourth wrestler to capture a conference title for Pitt in the last three years. Nestor currently ranks sixth among the Panthers' all-time win leaders with 116 career wins and second among Pitt's all-time pin leaders with 34.

Tarquinio and Nestor join nine other Panthers to become the only four-time NCAA qualifiers. The last four-time qualifier was assistant coach Carl Fronhofer, who made appearances from 2000-03.