Wrestling Wins Beast of the East Tournament

12/20/2003

The Panthers placed first in the 20-team field with 126.5 points.

NEWARK, Del. — The Pittsburgh wrestling team had two weight-class winners and a total of eight wrestlers finish place in the top four to win the annual Beast of the East Tournament on Friday in Newark, Delaware.

The Panthers had a total of 126.5 points, 19.5 more than second-place Kent State in the 20-team field. Senior Josh Birt (Spokane, Wash./North Idaho JC/East Valley) and junior Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) won their respective weight classes to continue what has been a very successful early season for the team.

"Our guys worked very hard and we got the results we wanted," Head Coach Rande Stottlemyer said.

Birt, ranked 17th at 197 pounds by InterMat, won all four of his matches to take first place in the tourney. He entered as the No. 3 seed but defeated the two grapplers seeded above him in the semifinals and finals. He passed Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo, ranked 16th and 12th in the country in the two major polls, with a medical forfeit win and then picked up a major decision over Matt Delguyd of Northwestern, the No. 1 seed. Birt improved to 10-2 for the season with the four victories.

Doll remained unbeaten in 2003-04 with five wins in the 165-pound weight class. Ranked as high as sixth in the country, Doll had a pin in the first round and a major decision in the quarterfinals among his five wins. He won the tournament with a default win over Aaron Miller of Kent State in the finals.

At 141 pounds, sophomore Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) placed third with four wins and a loss. Tarquinio's record improved to 13-5 for the year and included in his victories were decisions over the No. 5 seed Josh Ruff of Binghamton, No. 6 seed Mike Trotta of Buffalo and No. 8 seed Scott Heckman of Bloomsburg. His only loss came to the No. 2 seed and No. 12-ranked wrestler in the country, Rob Becker of George Mason, by a 2-0 count.

Also placing third in his weight class was sophomore 157-pounder Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) with five wins and one loss. Nestor (15-6) was the No. 2 seed entering the tournament but dropped a tough 6-5 decision to the No. 3 seed, Mike Tolar of Kent State, in the quarterfinals. He came back to drop the Nos. 9 and 6 seeds, respectively, to earn third place. Tolar is ranked 20th at 157 pounds by Amateur Wrestling News.

Sophomore Francis Iorfido (Johnsonburg, Pa./Johnsonburg) finished second at 174 pounds after winning his first four matches and dropping a one-point decision to the No. 1 seed, Ed Pawlak of Buffalo, in the finals. Iorfido defeated Ed Willis of Ohio in the semifinals by an 8-2 margin before losing to Pawlak, 6-5. Iorfido is ranked 20th and Pawlak 19th by InterMat.

Other placewinners for Pittsburgh included freshman Matt Kocher (State College, Pa./State College) (4th, 149 pounds), freshman Keith Gavin (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) (4th, 165 pounds) and senior Travis Shirley (West Middlesex, Pa./Kennedy Christian) (4th, 285 pounds).

Kocher finished 5-2 with wins over the No. 2 seed, Josh Ballard of Northwestern, and the No. 5 seed, Mark Smith of East Stroudsburg. Kocher dropped a 4-2 decision to the No. 4 seed, Labe Black of Rider, in the third-place match.

Gavin lost his first match but came back to win six straight before bowing in the third-place bout to Michael Mitchell of Duke, 6-5. Mitchell was the No. 2 seed in the tournament but Gavin defeated the No. 4 and 6 seeds, Keith Smith of East Stroudsburg and Vinny DiGiovanni of Ohio.

Shirley finished 4-2 and won his quarterfinal match over Ryan Adams of North Carolina, seeded second, by a 2-1 count. His two losses were to the No. 4 and No. 6 seeds. Shirley came into the tournament seeded seventh at heavyweight. He is now 14-7 for the season.

The Panthers will have some competitors in the Midlands Open, held after the Christmas holiday, before returning to dual meet action on January 9 against state-rival Penn State. The "Clash of the Grappling Cats" will be held at Petersen Events Center. For ticket information, call (412) 648-PITT or log on to www.pittsburghpanthers.com.