Pitt
EWL Championships
Panthers Finish Fourth at EWL Championships
3/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 10, 2002
LOCK HAVEN, Pa.-The Pittsburgh wrestling team finished fourth at the Eastern Wrestling League Championships held at Lock Haven on Saturday and Sunday. The Panthers had 87 points, behind league champion West Virginia (114.5), Edinboro (104.5) and Lock Haven (105).
The format for the championships had each of the league's eight schools entering one wrestler in 10 weight classes for a tournament.
Pittsburgh's highest finisher was sophomore Jacob Lininger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) in the heavyweight class. Lininger was seeded third and pinned Bloomsburg's Tony Milone in the first round in just 1:59 to advance to the semifinals.
He then upset the Mountaineers' Ryan Kehler with a 7-6 decision to earn his first spot in the EWL finals. Unfortunately, Lininger injured himself in the bout with Kehler and had to take a medical forfeit in the final, giving Clarion's John Testa the league title.
Lininger's record is now 33-10 for the season and he will be making his first trip to the NCAA Championships held March 21-23 in Albany, N.Y.
At 125 pounds, James Thornton (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) finished in fourth place, which was three spots higher than the seventh seed he was given. He was topped by EWL champ Shawn Bunch of Edinboro in the first round by a major decision, 10-2. He was able to upset Geoff Head of Virginia Tech in the first round of the consolation finals with a 7-6 win and then topped Brock Hite of Bloomsburg, 5-3, before losing to Cleveland State's Rocco Mansueto in the third-place match by a score of 7-3 in overtime.
Senior Shawn Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity) was in one of the toughest weight classes at 133 pounds but won his first match over Brandon Lauer of West Virginia, 3-2, to advance to the semifinals. He was beaten by Phil Mansueto of the Vikings, 6-3, in the next round but came back to defeat David Hoffman of Virginia Tech by a score of 5-2 to advance to the third-place match. In one of the biggest wins of his Pittsburgh career, Amistade upset nationally ranked Cory Ace of Edinboro, 3-2, to gain a third-place finish and his third NCAA appearance.
Another Panther senior, Blaise Mucci (Blairsville, Pa./Derry Area), had a tough draw in his weight class. His first match at 141 pounds was a loss by fall to Nick Boucher of Cleveland State at the 4:05 mark. Mucci came back to register a win in the consolation round over Brandon White of Bloomsburg. He won the match by technical fall, 16-1, at the 5:40 mark. He ended up in sixth place with a technical fall loss to Chad Caros of Edinboro and a 5-4 decision loss to Mike Many of Lock Haven.
Junior Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) earned a bye when Bloomsburg did not have an entry at 149 pounds. He lost his first match in the semifinals with a close 6-4 defeat in overtime to Billy Smith of West Virginia. In the consolation semifinals, Giovinco evened his EWL tourney record at 1-1 with a 3-1 decision over Anthony Coleman of Cleveland State, to advance to the third-place match. He won that match as well with a 1-0 win over Dom Surra of Clarion, to gain entry into the NCAAs.
The 157-pound weight class had two nationally ranked wrestlers in Joe Carr of West Virginia and Ryan Yates of Edinboro and the two grapplers battled in the final with Carr taking the EWL title with a 7-3 decision. The Panthers' Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) was able to advance to the semifinals with an opening-round win over Mike Cox of Virginia Tech, 7-3. Yates was able to squeeze past Doll in the semis with a 6-4 win, pushing Doll to the consolation bracket. The sophomore came back to top Jason Gilligan of Lock Haven with a 6-1 win before defeating Jeremy Reitz of Clarion, 5-2, to gain a third-place finish and his second consecutive trip to the NCAAs.
Junior Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) took the same route to a third-place finish at 165 pounds as Doll did at 157. Fronhofer, the third seed, defeated Cleveland State's Jason Effner, 8-2, in the first round. He was then narrowly beaten by Matt King of Edinboro in overtime by a 3-1 margin before coming back to major Duane Bastress of Bloomsburg, 10-2, and edging Charlie Brenneman of Lock Haven, 4-3, to gain third place. He had lost earlier in the year to Brenneman at a dual meet.
At 174 pounds, Matt Catullo (Oakmont, Pa./Riverview) made a valiant effort, finishing 2-2 at the tounament and earning a fifth-place finish. He was beaten by defending national champ Josh Koscheck of Edinboro, 13-1, in the first round but came back to beat Todd Schuchert of Clarion, 10-6, to move on. After losing by major decision to Cleveland State's Gerald Harris, he pinned Tom Anderson of Bloomsburg at 6:01 to finish in fifth.
The Panthers' Rob Black (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) was defeated in both of his matches and finished seventh at 184 pounds. He was pinned by Justin Johnson of Bloomsburg in the first round before getting majored by Marcus Surin of Clarion in the consolation round.
Senior David Sandberg (Spokane, Wash./North Central) had the toughest road in a stacked 197-pound weight class. After narrowly defeating Brent Miller of West Virginia, 3-1, in overtime of the first round, he was beaten by David Shunamon of Edinboro for the third time this year by a score of 5-3. He came back to top Canaan Prater of Virginia Tech in the consolation semifinals, 10-8, but lost in the third-place match to Miller by a 3-2 margin. The NCAA wild-card invitations were still not announced at press time last night so Sandberg was still unsure of whether or not he would make his second consecutive NCAA appearance.
The fourth-place finish was Pittsburgh's seventh top four finish in the past eight years but the 87 points was its lowest output at the league championships since 1994.
125 - James Thornton 4th 133 - Shawn Amistade 3rd* 141 - Blaise Mucci 6th 149 - Justin Giovinco 3rd* 157 - Zachariah Doll 3rd* 165 - Carl Fronhofer 3rd* 174 - Matt Catullo 5th 184 - Rob Black 7th 197 - David Sandberg 4th HWT - Jacob Lininger 2nd*
* - Qualified for the NCAA Championships March 21-23 in Albany, N.Y.
