By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call Jim Corpora,
Wrestling season may be over, but the accolades keep coming to area grapplers.
At the University of Pittsburgh wrestling awards dinner last weekend, the Freshman of the Year award was presented to Joey Ecklof (Northampton).
Ecklof found success in his first year with the Panthers as he qualified for the NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, his goal of reaching All-American status ended when he tore his PCL in his first match at nationals.
He had a 7-5 record in dual matches and went 12-8 in tournament competition with four wins by pin and three by major decision.
Freshman Brad Gentzle (Easton), redshirt freshman Sean Richmond (Easton) and junior Mike Heist (Parkland) all won Pitt ”Ironman Awards.” The awards are given to wrestlers who ”made a commitment to the program and persevered through adversity for the benefit of the team.”
In addition to competing in all of the Panthers’ dual matches, all of the local wrestlers also took part in the Cornell Body Bar, Las Vegas Invitational and Southern Scuffle tournaments.
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