Ness takes out No. 2 Rasheed in session filled with upsets at NCAA Championships

PITTSBURGH – For the second year in a row, North Carolina’s Chip Ness picked up a big upset to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2019 NCAA Championships at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ness, who finished seventh at last year’s NCAAs, entered this weekend as the No. 15 seed at 184 pounds. After a solid 8-2 win over No. 31 Kevin Parker of Princeton in the first round, Ness was set to match up with 2018 All-American and No. 2 seed Shakur Rasheed of Penn State in the second round of competition.

Rasheed tallied takedowns in the first and second periods to lead Ness, 4-2, with riding time going into the final frame. Ness began the period with an escape to close in, 4-3. With only 35 seconds left, Ness scored a takedown and added four nearfall points to knock off the No. 2 seed with a 8-5 decision.

“It is an awesome tournament. We all start out at 0-0, and I was looking forward to it,” Ness said. “I was down 5-2 and behind on riding time. That’s not an easy deficit to overcome. You can never think you are out of it. I knew that if I kept believing that, I had a chance. When I have a chance, I take advantage of the opportunity.”

Rasheed is the highest-seeded wrestler to lose this year on day one.

Several other highly ranked athletes went down in session-two action, including one No. 4 seed, one No. 5 seed, four No. 6 seeds and a No. 12 seed.

Lock Haven’s Kyle Shoop, a junior, took down fourth-seeded Josh Alber of Northern Iowa in an exciting 19-10 major decision at 141 pounds. Shoop got off to a quick 6-2 start and held onto the lead, adding two sets of near fall and a takedown for the win.

“I am feeling good. I am on pace to be an All-American,” Shoop said. “We have some of the best fans at Lock Haven. I know what it is like. I have been in this situation before. I have my whole family, my friends and my girlfriend here supporting me. It means the world to me. It’s important for them to be here to see what I have been working on this season.”

At 197 pounds, Jacob Warner of Iowa, the No. 5 seed, dropped a heartbreaking 4-2 sudden victory match to No. 21 Thomas Lane of Cal Poly.

No. 6-seeds that lost on Thursday night included Mike Carr of Illinois at 141 pounds, 2017 All-American Logan Massa of Michigan at 165 pounds, two-time All-American David McFadden of Virginia Tech at 174 pounds and three-time All-American Willie Miklus of Iowa State at 197 pounds.

At heavyweight, No. 26 and All-American Sam Stoll from Iowa defeated No. 12 Conan Jennings of Northwestern in a 1-0 bout. Stoll scored an escape in the second period that would prove to be enough for the win.

The Hawkeye also owns multiple wins over Jennings from the past two years.

All 10 No. 1 seeds advanced to the quarterfinals, including 2018 NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell at 141, two-time NCAA champion Jason Nolf of Penn State at 157, 2017 NCAA champion Mark Hall of Penn State at 174, 2016 NCAA champion Myles Martin of Ohio State at 184 and two-time NCAA champion Bo Nickal of Penn State at 197.

Other past champions still alive on the front side are No. 3 Spencer Lee of Iowa at 125, No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State at 165 and No. 3 Zahid Valencia of Arizona State at 174.

Eight-time NCAA team champion Penn State extended its lead in the team race, ending the first day of NCAAs with 32.5 points, which is seven more than No. 2 Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions lost two other matches tonight in addition to Shakur Rasheed. Freshmen Roman Bravo-Young and Brady Berge suffered losses at 133 pounds and 141 pounds, respectively.

Bravo-Young lost a 7-2 match to Austin DeSanto of Iowa, while Berge went down, 8-5, against 2018 All-American Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton.

“It’s the national tournament. There’s a lot of tough kids here,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson said. “Tomorrow’s a new day. Each match is a new day. If you wrestled great, just keep it up. We’ve got to make that decision. Each individual has to make that decision tomorrow. I like where we’re at. I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys. More than that, it’s just about them. This is their opportunity. As a team, this is their opportunity. It’s the national championship. Let’s see what they do tomorrow.”

Third-place Iowa has the most athletes remaining on the front side with seven. Minnesota sits in fourth after day one, followed by Oklahoma State in fifth.

The quarterfinals will begin Friday at 11 a.m. CT live on ESPNU and online at ESPN 3. Brackets are available on Trackwrestling.com and FloWrestling.org.

2019 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa. (March 21-23)

Team scores
1. Penn State – 32.5
2. Ohio State – 25.5
3. Iowa – 24
4. Minnesota – 20
5. Oklahoma State – 20
6. Missouri – 18
7. Michigan – 17.5
8. Nebraska – 16
9. Virginia Tech – 16
10. Northern Iowa – 15.5

Quarterfinal matchups

125 pounds
#1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) vs. #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell)
#5 Jack Mueller (Virginia) vs. #4 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State)
#3 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. #6 Sean Russell (Minnesota)
#7 Patrick Glory (Princeton) vs. #2 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State)

133 pounds
#1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #8 John Erneste (Missouri)
#5 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) vs. #4 Mickey Phillipi (Pitt)
#3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) vs. #8 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)
#7 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. #2 Stevan Micic (Michigan)

141 pounds
#1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. #9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma)
#5 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) vs. #13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven)
#3 Nick Lee (Penn State) vs. #22 Max Murin (Iowa)
#7 Mitch McKee (Minnesota) vs. #2 Joey McKenna (Ohio State)

149 pounds
#1 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) vs. #8 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State)
#5 Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) vs. #4 Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#3 Mitch Finesilver (Duke) vs. #6 Austin O’Connor (North Carolina)
#10 Pat Lugo (Iowa) vs. #2 Micah Jordan (Ohio State)

157 pounds
#1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. #9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State)
#5 Hayden Hidlay (North Carolina State) vs. #4 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)
#3 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) vs. #6 Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#7 Larry Early (Old Dominion) vs. #2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)

165 pounds
#1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #8 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
#5 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) vs. #4 Evan Wick (Wisconsin)
#3 Josh Shields (Arizona State) vs. #11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa)
#7 Isaiah White (Nebraska) vs. #2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

174 pounds
#1 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. #8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa)
#5 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) vs. #4 Myles Amine (Michigan)
#3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. #22 Ben Harvey (Army)
#10 Michael Labriola (Nebraska) vs. #2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri)

184 pounds
#1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) vs. #8 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
#5 Max Dean (Cornell) vs. #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt)
#3 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) vs. #6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)
#10 Samuel Colbray (Iowa State) vs. #15 Chip Ness (North Carolina)

197 pounds
#1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. #8 Nathan Traxler (Stanford)
#21 Thomas Lane (Cal Poly) vs. #4 Patrick Brucki (Princeton)
#3 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) vs. #11 Christian Brunner (Purdue)
#10 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) vs. #2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State)

285 pounds
#1 Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. #9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)
#28 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs. #4 Jordan Wood (Lehigh)
#3 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #6 Amar Dhesi (Oregon State)
#7 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) vs. #2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)