Wrestlers Place Fourth at National Tournament With Six All-Americans
Miles Wins National Title and Corcetti Places Second
03/15/08...Head Coach Pat Pecora's Mountain Cat wrestlers turned in another impressive performance at the 2008 NCAA Division II National Wrestling Tournament in Cedar Rapids, IA by placing fourth with 87 team points. Six Pitt Johnstown wrestlers earned All-American honors, including Albert Miles (174 lbs.) (Canonsburg Pa.) who won the National Championship at 174 lbs. and Mike Corcetti (Export, Pa.), who was the National Runner-up at 184 lbs..... (Tournament Site) (Brackets)
Five Mountain Cats reached Saturday's semifinals, where Miles and Corcetti scored victories to advance to the national championship match. Miles took full advantage of the opportunity and became the first Mountain Cat since Thad Benton (141 lbs.) in 2006 to claim a national title. Miles defeated Kamarudeen Usman (Nebraska-Kearney), 6-2, in the semifinals, before scoring a 5-2 decision victory over Ross Taplin (Nebraska-Omaha) in the title bout. Corcetti reached the championship bout for the second time in his career with an 11-4 decision over Jared Deaguero (Adams State) in the semis. Unfortunately, Limestone's Dan Scanlan (Limestone) dealt Corcetti a 5-2 loss and a runner-up finish. Miles is now a two-time All-American, while Corcetti is a four-time All-American with a pair of National-up finishes.
Brandon Reasy (133 lbs.) (New Enterprise, Pa.), Shane Valko (141 lbs.) (Windber, Pa.) and Kyle Keane (165 lbs.) (Bradford, Pa.) also reached the semifinals, but suffered losses and wrestled back to earn fourth place finishes. Reasy lost an 11-3 decision to eventual National Runner-up Shane Perkey (Indianapolis) in the semis, before pinning Central Oklahoma's Tim Elliott at 1:09. However, Raymond Drunning (Adams State) avenged an earlier loss to Reasy with a fall at 4:01 in the third place match. Valko fell 6-1 to National Runner-up Steve Fittery (Shippensburg) in the semifinals, but battled back with a win over Travis Elg (Minnesota State-Mankato) before placing fourth after losing 4-3 to Jeff Rutledge (Nebraska-Kearney). At 165 lbs., Keane also suffered a loss in the semifinals but pinned Kyle Becker (Wisconsin-Parkside) at 2:55 for the chance to wrestle for third place. However, Blake Peterson (Truman State) dealt Keane a 10-6 loss in that match.
Senior heavyweight Zach Majocha (Upper Burrell, Pa.) earned his first All-America honor after reaching the National Tournament four times. Majocha wrestled back from a second round loss to place sixth. Majocha posted a 4-3 record but was pinned by Jesse Laber (Mary) at 2:46 in the fifth place match.
Sophomore Patrick Walsh (197 lbs.) (Leesport, Pa.) wrestled in the tournament, but was eliminated after posting a 1-2 record.
Nebraska-Kearney won the team National Championship with 108.5 team points. Minnesota State-Mankato finished second with 108 points, followed by Nebraska-Omaha (93.5 pts.), PITT JOHNSTOWN (87 pts), and Adams State (CO) (68.5 pts.). Central Oklahoma (65 pts.), Western State (CO) (64.5 pts.), Newberry (39.5 pts.), Chadron State (NE) (31 Pts.) and Mercyhurst (31 pts.) rounded out the top-10.