March 18, 2008

2008 NCAA Championships Notes

Six wrestlers will represent the University of Pittsburgh this week at the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. All six earned their spots to the national tournament with solid performances at the 33^rd annual EWL Championships earlier this month.

Jimmy Conroy (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) will be making his first appearance to the national tournament in just his second season at Pitt. He earned an automatic bid after claiming the EWL Championship at 133 pounds with a 3-1 victory over former high school teammate Billy Ashnault of Lock Haven. Conroy racked up 27 points in his two matches prior to the championship bout and helped the Panthers capture a second-place overall finish.

Conroy, who is 17-11 this season with three falls and four major decisions, drew the No. 3 seed Coleman Scott of Oklahoma in the first round this week. Scott owns a record of 28-4 this year. If Conroy were to pull the upset, there is the possibility that he could once again meet up with Ashnault in a second round showdown.

Drew Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg) will be making his third NCAA tournament appearance, having also qualified in the 2004-05 and 2006-07 seasons at 133 pounds. In 2004-05 he earned All-America honors after going 3-3 and finishing eighth. He defeated No. 4 Mark Jayne of Illinois in one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, and also defeated Tim Harner of Rider and Derek Moore of UC Davis. Last year, he entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed and dropped his first two matches against Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli and Virginia's Eric Albright.

Headlee boasts a 22-5 record at 141 pounds this season, with a 14-1 mark in dual matches. He will square off against No. 11 Keith Sultzer of Northwestern in round one. Sultzer carries a record of 16-6.

Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) is Pitt's only current four-time NCAA qualifier entering this year's tournament. He is one of only 12 wrestlers in school history to accomplish this feat. During his freshman campaign, Kocher went 2-1 in the tournament, defeating Edinboro's Deonte Penn and Fresno State's Casey Olsen. In 2005, he defeated Tyler Turner of Wisconsin in a 4-3 decision. Last season, he entered the championships as the No. 11 seed and registered an upset of Minnesota's C.P. Schlatter, the No. 4 seed, in the fifth-place bout to earn his first All-America honor. He took third at the EWL Championships this year and earned a unanimous wild card bid.

Kocher drew a No. 6 seed this year and take on Ryan Morningstar of Iowa in the first round of the 157-pound bracket. Morningstar is 21-12 this year, while Kocher is 20-5.

True freshman Ethan Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg) will be tested early on in his first trip to the national tournament, as he drew the top seed at 165 pounds, Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum. Headlee owns a 17-11 record this season, with 11 of the matches coming at 174 pounds at the beginning of the year. Headlee garnered a berth in the tournament after picking up a third-place finish at EWL's with a 10-0 major decision victory over Bloomsburg's Ricky Schmelyun. Tannenbaum is currently 26-2 this season.

The Headlee brothers are just the second sibling pair to reach the NCAA tournament in the same season in Pitt's history. The other duo consisted of Bill and Bob Bailey in 1976.

The nation's top grappler this entire season, Keith Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) picked up the No. 1 seed in the 174-pound bracket. Gavin boasts a flawless 22-0 record this season and is looking to continue his winning ways this week. Should he succeed and run the table, he would be Pitt's first undefeated wrestler since Pat Santoro went 48-0 in the 1987-88 campaign.

Gavin will take on Northern Iowa's Alex Dolly in the first round of action. Dolly is 16-10 this year. If both Gavin and West Virginia's Chance Litton win their matches, they would meet in the second round of competition. Gavin beat Litton 7-3 in the finals of the EWL Championships to win his second consecutive conference crown earlier this month.

Zach Sheaffer (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) is back at the national tournament for the second time in his career. His other NCAA berth came in 2005 after he claimed his first EWL title as a freshman. Sheaffer claimed his second conference championship earlier this month to lock up an automatic bid this week.

Sheaffer, who leads the team with 29 wins this year, will be the No. 10 seed and matchup with Boise State's Nick Smith in the second round after securing a bye in round one. Smith is 16-7 this season.

For complete brackets and other information from St. Louis, please visit the following link: