Rams' Giresi gets special invitation

By JAMAL THALJI

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2000

To be invited to the 11th annual Senior National High School Championships, one must be a senior and have been a state finalist at some point in his high school career.

Yet through a little-known exception, Ridgewood's 152-pounder Russell Giresi was granted a special invitation to compete this week in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Giresi has finished third at state his junior and senior seasons, both times losing to Josh Sheridan of Fort Myers in the semifinals. Each time, Sheridan won the state title.

Ram coach Vincent Lowe called it an unfortunate twist of scheduling because, in his opinion, Giresi and Sheridan's two matches clearly should have been for the state title; instead of being a state runner-up, though, Giresi settled for third each time.

But nationals allows each state to send one wrestler as a "wildcard" who may be deserving but doesn't meet the minimum requirements. Giresi petitioned the National High School Coaches Association to allow him to represent Florida, and the organization made him the lone at-large selectee from the state.

"They looked at his credentials and they decided they looked good enough," Lowe said. "Russ was pretty happy."

Giresi getting into the tournament, Lowe said, convinced Ridgewood's 119-pound Class 2A state champ, Joe Mendoza, to go.

"It just added what we needed to go to nationals," Lowe said. "Joe wasn't 100 percent sure whether he wanted to go or not. Once he knew Russell was going, that helped him feel more relieved about going up there."

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