University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Wrestling Upends No. 24 Cleveland State, 23-17
1/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Wrestling Upends No. 24 Cleveland State, 23-17
1/16/2003
PITTSBURGH ?
Pittsburgh won its fourth consecutive dual meet with the victory over the Vikings (7-5, 1-1), who came into the match ranked 24th in the country by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. The Panthers built a 13-0 lead and earned bonus points in four of its five individual victories.
The match started at 157 pounds and redshirt freshman Justin Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) came out on fire and scored two takedowns and a reversal in the first two periods for a 6-1 lead. He then earned five more points including one for riding time and got a major decision over Chris Kallai of the Vikings, 11-3.
In his first dual meet, true freshman Francis Iorfido (Johnsonburg, Pa./Johnsonburg) got the Panthers another three points in the 165-pound match with a 4-2 decision victory over Jason Effner of Cleveland State. Senior Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) made it a 13-0 lead in favor of the Panthers with a first-period pin of Matt Klinger at the 1:45 mark.
Cleveland State battled back with 10 points in the next three matches. At 184 pounds, fourth-ranked Gerald Harris scored a 6-3 decision win over Mike Croyle (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin). Stipe Miocic also earned three points for the Vikings with a 7-4 decision over Joshua Birt (Couer Arlene, Idaho/North Idaho JC) at 197 pounds. In the heavyweight match, Russ Davie scored a major decision win over freshman Robert Kail (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) by a score of 9-1.
At 125 pounds, Jordan Sianni (Newark, Del./Hodgson) made quick work of Wayne Wertz with a fall at 0:39 of the first period. The Vikings got four of the six points earned by Sianni back at 133 pounds with a major decision win by Phil Mansueto over freshman Mike Ciotti (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe). Mansueto won the match, 20-6, but didn?t go for the technical fall win with one more takedown to earn the extra point.
Redshirt freshman Ronald Tarquinio (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) clinched the win for the Panthers and improved his dual meet record to 8-0 with a 14-6 major decision victory over Paul Theodore of the Vikings. In the final match of the evening, Anthony Coleman was able to escape with a 2-1 touchback victory over senior Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) at 149 pounds.
Pittsburgh will host Virginia Tech in an EWL dual meet on Saturday, January 25 at Fitzgerald Field House. The meet will begin at 3:30 p.m., moved up from its original time of 7:30 p.m.
