March 15, 2007

DETROIT - Two Pitt wrestlers earned victories this morning and will advance to the second round this evening at the NCAA Championships. Matt Kocher won at 157 pounds, and Keith Gavin won at 174 pounds. Pitt's Drew Headlee and Sean Richmond will move to consolations.

At 157 pounds, Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) earned a 9-2 decision over Lehigh's Dave Nakasone. In the first period, Kocher scored four points on two takedowns and held Nakasone to two escapes, his only points in the bout. Kocher continued to score and with a point for riding time, won 9-2. Tonight he'll take on No. 6 Brandon Becker of Indiana in the second round.

The No. 2 seed in the tournament, Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) got off to a good start in the opening round with a fall over Oregon's Ronnie Lee at the 3:36 mark. In the opening period, Gavin jumped to a 13-2 lead after several takedowns and seven back points. He chose down in the second period and scored on an escape and another takedown. Lee came back with an escape, but Gavin came away with a win at the 3:36 mark. This is his third pin this season and the 16th of his career, putting him 10th in school history for most career pins. Gavin will now wrestle Wisconsin's Matt Maciag in tonight's consolations. When the two met earlier this season in Las Vegas, Gavin won a 6-4 sudden victory to defeat Maciag.

Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg) lost a tough opening bout at 133 pounds when he faced Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli. In the first period Tanelli got off to a 2-1 lead, scoring on a takedown and holding Headlee to just an escape. He maintained the lead in the second period with another takedown as Headlee had one more escape. In the final period, Headlee scored on a takedown to send it into overtime. An escape and takedown by Tanelli gave him the 7-4 decision. Headlee will now take on Wyoming's Cory VomBaur in tonight's consolations.

Richmond (Emmaus, Pa./Easton) is competing in his first NCAA tournament this weekend, and he faced No. 4 Travis Paulson of Iowa State in his first match. Paulson scored on a takedown and also for a near fall before winning with a pin at the 1:56 mark. This evening he'll wrestle Bryan Tice of Cal State Fullerton in consolations.

Tonight's second round and consolations is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

NOTES--Gavin needs just one more win to rank ninth among Pitt's most wins by a junior with 26. With the win today, Kocher passed Pitt assistant coach Ron Tarquinio to rank fifth among Pitt's career win leaders with a 121-35 record.