Penn State separates from pack with five semifinalists at NCAA Championships in New York City

No. 1 seed Bo Nickal (Penn State) secures a single leg takedown on No. 9 seed Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) in the 184-pound quarterfinals. Photo: Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com.

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NEW YORK – Top-ranked Penn State has taken command of the team race after the quarterfinal session at the 2016 NCAA Division I Championships in Madison Square Garden.

The well-oiled Nittany Lion machine pushed five wrestlers in the semifinals set for 8 p.m. (ET) this evening. Four of the five Penn State semifinalists won their quarterfinal matches with bonus points attached.

No. 1 seeds Zain Retherford and Morgan McIntosh both dominated in the quarters and remain undefeated this season.

Retherford is certainly throwing his name in the hat for the Dan Hodge Trophy as he continues to demolish the 149-pound field. His latest victim, Justin Oliver of Central Michigan, made it to the 2:13 mark before Retherford locked up a fall.

“That’s what you want to do for the team. Those points add up in the long run, so that’s what I want to do if I can do it. For me I’m just thinking about being myself and I know the other guys competing are doing the same,” said Retherford.

Top-seed Bo Nickal picked up a huge 15-4 major decision victory over Chandler Rogers of Oklahoma State at 174 pounds that was pivotal for team race.

No. 3 seed Jason Nolf also picked up a major decision victory over an Oklahoma State opponent. It was tight early, but Nolf separated himself from Joe Smith in the third period, securing an 11-3 win.

Nico Megaludis became the ninth four-time NCAA All-American in Penn State history with a 4-0 win over past All-American Conor Youtsey of Michigan in the 125-pound quarterfinals.

Penn State has Jordan Conaway fighting through the consolation bracket, one win away from becoming an All-American. Conaway will face two-time All-American Mason Beckman of Lehigh at 133 pounds in the blood round tonight.

Four semifinalists anchor the Ohio State charge for a NCAA Championships repeat bid. The Buckeyes are currently in second place overall, 14.5 points behind Penn State.

Two Buckeyeys will face long-time rivals in the semifinal round. Defending NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello will take on the last man to defeat him, Thomas Gilman of Iowa, at 125 pounds and Bo Jordan will tango once more with his cousin, Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin, at 165 pounds.

“There’s still some things I want to do. I get to wrestle my cousin, so it’s going to be sweet. I want to figure out the wrestling this time, so that’s something to look forward too. I’m real excited for tonight,” Bo Jordan stated on wrestling Isaac again.

Ohio State big man Kyle Snyder won the battle of past Junior World Champions with ease as he topped Amarveer Dhesi of Oregon State by major decision, 16-5 at 285 pounds.

True freshman Myles Martin has navigated to the 174-pound semifinals where he will face Lelund Weatherspoon of Iowa State. Weatherspoon is the only unseeded wrestler remaining in the championships bracket.

After falling behind early Iowa has stormed into third place in the team standings, fueled by four semifinalists. The Hawkeyes currently possess 48.5 team points.

Outspoken Iowa 125-pounder Thomas Gilman is itching for another chance to topple Tomasello. The two last met in the 2015 Big Ten Championships finals with Tomasello escaping with the win.

“Of course I’m excited. We have a long history, mostly freestyle, going back to high school. He’s got the last win, but I’ve got the majority of them. I need to get that win back and get my streak going again. It’s always a fight when me and him wrestle. It’s exciting, so I’m looking for a dog fight,” said Gilman.

At 133 pounds No. 2 seed Cory Clark of Iowa will face No. 3 seed Zane Richards of Illinois in this year’s rubber match between the two. Richards took out Clark in the Iowa-Illinois dual meet, but Clark owns the last win after beating Richards in overtime in the Big Ten Championships finals.

Brandon Sorensen and Nathan Burak will also seek finals berths for the Hawkeyes in tonight’s session.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys dropped to fourth place overall after a tough quarter-final round. The Cowboys sent three wrestlers, Dean Heil, Anthony Collica and Alex Dieringer, to the semifinals, but they also lost four quarter-final bouts.

The No. 1 seed at 141 pounds, Heil was able to avenge his lone loss of the season to Joey Ward of North Carolina by an 8-3 tally.

“Great win, but it’s on to the next one. You know, it really doesn’t matter how I’m wrestling right now. It’s just getting wins. That’s all that matters to me right now. It doesn’t matter if I’m dominating, winning by one, you know, it doesn’t matter,” said Heil.

Collica has moved to the 149-pound semifinals from the No. 11 seed. He has defeated No. 6 Jason Tsirtsis and No. 3 Lavion Mayes already this weekend and will look to continue the upset trend against No. 2 Sorensen.

Two matches remain for Dieringer on his road to become Oklahoma State’s 16th wrestler to win at least three NCAA titles. Dieringer will face a stingy Daniel Lewis of Missouri in the 165-pound semis tonight.

Oklahoma State will have five wrestlers competing in the blood round tonight with a chance to become All-Americans and remain alive to make a serious push in the team standings.

At 133 pounds it will be a rematch of one of the best regular season matches this year when Top-ranked Nahshon Garrett of Cornell takes on defending NCAA champion Cody Brewer of Oklahoma. Both Brewer and Garrett became four-time All-Americans this morning.

“I just knew I had to keep my feet moving. The coaches were saying keep that right leg moving the whole time and I started to do it at the end of the match, not the beginning, but I wrestled alright. I’ve got to come back better tonight. I go out and wrestle. It doesn’t matter who it is,” said Brewer.

No. 1 seed at 184 pounds, Gabe Dean joins teammate Garrett in the semifinals. Dean reversed his only loss of the season to Nolan Boyd of Oklahoma State in impressive fashion, winning 10-4.

“Getting that two right at the end was huge and getting the two at the end of the second period was big too. I came out and got the ‘W’ so moving on to the next one. I had a lot of stuff going on leading up to the Oklahoma State dual, but I don’t like to use that as an excuse. He’s a tough kid and a great wrestler, so I think just a little bit more clear on what the mission was this time and getting after it,” said Dean.

It will be a rematch of last year’s NCAA finals at 285 pounds as Two-time NCAA champion Nick Gwiazdowski continues the quest for his third title against Adam Coon of Michigan.

Session four of the NCAA Championships will resume at 8 p.m. (ET) Friday night with the semifinals and blood round. All the action can be viewed live on ESPN and WatchESPN.

2016 NCAA DIVISION I WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, N.Y.

Team Standings
1. Penn State 68.5
2. Ohio State 54.0
3. Iowa 48.5
4. Oklahoma State 46.0
5. Missouri 42.5
6. Nebraska 35.5
7. North Carolina State 32.5
8. Michigan 32
9. Virginia Tech 30.5
10. Cornell 28.5

Semifinal Pairings
125 pounds
No. 1 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) vs. No. 4 Thomas Gilman (Iowa)
No. 3 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) vs. No. 15 David Terao (American)

133 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma)
No. 3 Zane Richards (Illinois) vs. No. 2 Cory Clark (Iowa)

141 pounds
No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 4 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers)
No. 14 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs. No. 2 Joey McKenna (Stanford)

149 pounds
No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. No. 5 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)
No. 11 Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa)

157 pounds
No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs. No. 4 Ian Miller (Kent State)
No. 3 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. No. 15 Chad Walsh (Rider)

165 pounds
No. 1 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 4 Daniel Lewis (Missouri)
No. 3 Bo Jordan (Ohio State) vs. No. 2 Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin)

174 pounds
No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. No. 12 Nathan Jackson (Indiana)
No. 11 Myles Martin (Ohio State) vs. Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State)

184 pounds
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 13 Pete Renda (North Carolina State)
No. 14 Willie Miklus (Missouri) vs. No. 7 Timothy Dudley (Nebraska)

197 pounds
No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (Penn State) vs. No. 4 Nathan Burak (Iowa)
No. 3 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota) vs. No. 2 J’den Cox (Missouri)

285 pounds
No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State) vs. No. 5 Adam Coon (Michigan)
No. 3 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 2 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State)

Quarterfinal Results
125 pounds
No. 1 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) dec. No. 9 Dylan Peters (Northern Iowa), 10-4
No. 4 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) maj. dec. No. 5 Ryan Millhof (Oklahoma), 16-5
No. 3 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) dec. Conor Youtsey (Michigan), 4-0
No. 15 David Terao (American) fall No. 10 Connor Schram (Stanford), 5:41

133 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. No. 8 Earl Hall (Iowa State), 5-0
No. 4 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma) dec. No. 5 Jordan Conaway (Penn State), 8-4
No. 3 Zane Richards (Illinois) maj. dec. No. 6 George DiCamillo (Virginia), 12-4
No. 2 Cory Clark (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Eric Montoya (Nebraska), 4-0

141 pounds
No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 8 Joey Ward (North Carolina), 8-3
No. 4 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) dec. No. 12 Chris Mecate (Old Dominion), 5-4
No. 14 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) dec. No. 6 Micah Jordan (Ohio State), 5-2
No. 2 Joey McKenna (Stanford) dec. No. 7 Solomon Chishko (Virginia Tech), 6-1

149 pounds
No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) fall No. 9 Justin Oliver (Central Michigan), 2:13
No. 5 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) fall No. 4 Matthew Cimato (Drexel), 3:49
No. 11 Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 3 Lavion Mayes (Missouri), 3-2
No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska), 4-2 SV1

157 pounds
No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) dec. No. 8 Nick Brascetta (Virginia Tech), 6-3
No. 4 Ian Miller (Kent State) dec. No. 12 Brian Murphy (Michigan), 5-4
No. 3 Jason Nolf (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Joe Smith (Oklahoma State), 11-3
No. 15 Chad Walsh (Rider) dec. No. 7 Cody Pack (South Dakota State), 11-10

165 pounds
No. 1 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 9 Tanner Weatherman (Iowa State), 11-5
No. 4 Daniel Lewis (Missouri) dec. No. 12 Connor Brennan (Rider), 3-0
No. 3 Bo Jordan (Ohio State) maj. dec. No. 6 Steven Rodrigues (Illinois), 10-2
No. 2 Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin) dec. No. 10 Austin Wilson (Nebraska), 3-1

174 pounds
No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) maj. dec. No. 9 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State), 15-4
No. 12 Nathan Jackson (Indiana) maj. dec. Jadaen Bernstein (Navy), 13-4
No. 11 Myles Martin (Ohio State) dec. Matt Reed (Oklahoma), 2-0
Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State) dec. No. 7 Cody Walters (Ohio), 5-3

184 pounds
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) dec. No. 8 Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State), 10-4
No. 13 Pete Renda (North Carolina State) dec. 5 Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 4-3
No. 14 Willie Miklus (Missouri) maj. dec. No. 11 Lorenzo Thomas (Penn), 16-6
No. 7 Timothy Dudley (Nebraska) dec. No. 2 Sammy Brooks (Iowa), 9-6

197 pounds
No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (Penn State) maj. dec. No. 8 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska), 16-4
No. 4 Nathan Burak (Iowa) dec. No. 5 Conner Hartmann (Duke), 5-2
No. 3 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota) maj. dec. Pat Downey (Iowa State), 12-3
No. 2 J’den Cox (Missouri) dec. No. 7 Brett Harner (Princeton), 6-0

285 pounds
No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State) maj. dec. No. 8 Max Wessell (Lehigh), 9-1
No. 5 Adam Coon (Michigan) dec. No. 4 Austin Marsden (Oklahoma State), 3-2
No. 3 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech) dec. Brooks Black (Illinois), 4-1
No. 2 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) maj. dec. No. 7 Amarveer Dhesi (Oregon State), 16-5