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December 7, 1998

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Cavaliers travelled to Las Vegas, Nev. tocompete in the Las Vegas Invitational this weekend, where the squadfinished 14th out of 43 teams in the annual event. Virginia was led byseniors Jim Harshaw (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) and Matt Roth(Wescosville, Pa./Parkland), both of whom placed in the event. Roth tookfourth and Harshaw finished in fifth place.

Roth started things for the Cavaliers with a technical fall overRoss Boone of Colorado in the opening bout at 125. He survived a scare inthe second round, eking out a 3-1 victory in overtime. In the third round,he defeated K. C. Rock of Boise State 16-3 before falling to the top seedStephen Abas from Fresno State, who is ranked second nationally. In theconsolation finals, Roth, ranked 11th nationally, fell to Chris Viola ofMichigan, who is ranked 10th nationally, by a score of 5-2. With his 4-2record this weekend, Roth moved to eighth in the Cavalier history in winswith 76. He also moved to sixth all-time with 118 career matches (76-42).

Mike Pacillo (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore West) represented the Cavaliersat 133, going 1-2. He ran into the tournament’s top seed in the secondround, and held him close, losing by a score of 3-2 to Bob Patnesky of WestVirginia, who is ranked 15th nationally. Jon Frent (Wayside, N.J./OceanTownship) wrestled at 141, going 0-2 on the weekend.

John Pozniak (State College, Pa./State College) took home a winningrecord on the weekend, going 3-2. He notched a fall in his first boutbefore being pinned by the #15 wrestler Jason Grant of GMU. His second losswas also to a ranked opponent, this time to #19 Stan Spoor of Clarion.

Greg Francesca (Union, N.J./Blair Academy) also ran into the topseed on his way through the bracket. Francesca lost to the nation’s #14wrestler Larry Quisel of Boise State in a fall in the second period afterwinning his first match. Francesca finished with a 2-2 record.

Harshaw took fifth place with his 6-2 record on the weekend. Hedefeated the nation’s #16 wrestler Isaac Wood 11-8 in the third roundbefore losing to the tournament’s top seed, #10 nationally Joey Killer. Inthe consolation quarterfinals, Harshaw defeated the tournament’s fifth seedin Bill Zeman from Illinois with a pin in the second period, but he couldnot get past the second-seeded and 9th-ranked Steve Blackford in theconsolation semifinals. With his six wins, Harshaw moves into sixth placeall-time at Virginia with 77 career wins. He also ranks sixth all-time inUVA history in matches competed with 111 (77-34).

John Qualter (Short Hills, N.J/Millnurn) wrestled at 174 for theCavaliers, where he went 2-2. Former NCAA Qualifiers Craig Fenstermaker(Hilton Head, S.C./Northampton (Pa.) and Martius Harding (Baltimore,Md./McDonough) wrestled at 184 and 197, respectfully. Both Fenstemaker andHarding went 0-2 on the weekend.

Ryan Painter (Rainelle, W.V./Greenbrier East) also went 2-2 on theweekend. He lost his first bout but came back to win his next two.

Virginia will compete in its first dual match of the season onWednesday, Dec. 9 at VMI. The match is slated to start at 7:00 pm inLexington.

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