When the Penn State wrestling team blew out the rest of the field in last year’s NCAA tournament, the Nittany Lions gave the sport something it had never seen before with a record 177 points.
Don’t look now, but the guys from State College, Pa., are on pace to possibly break that record this weekend at Rocket Arena.
After the first day of action at this year’s NCAA tournament, the Nittany Lions have 40.5 points, which is one point better than last year’s first-day pace of 39.5 points that eventually led to a tournament-record 177 points.
Granted, Coach Cael Sanderson’s team “only” went 18-2 on the first day of action March 19, which isn’t quite as dominating as last season’s 20-0 mark on the first day. Regardless, the Nittany Lions are on pace to once again blow out the rest of the NCAA field and potentially earn All-American status for all 10 of the wrestlers they brought to Cleveland this weekend.
Heading into the second day of action, Penn State has eight of its 10 wrestlers in the quarterfinal round. Piling up bonus points via major decision, technical fall or pin, the Nittany Lions have 40.5 points, well ahead of second-place Nebraska (27), third-place Iowa (25.5), fourth-place Oklahoma State (25) and fourth-place Ohio State (23).
Day 2 of the tournament begins at noon with quarterfinals and consolation rounds, with semifinals scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
Penn State entered the tournament with seven wrestlers seeded No. 1 in their respective weight classes. All of them are in the quarterfinal round, with most of them notching one or more wins via bonus points, including:
• Luke Lilledahl, who improved to 23-0 with a decision and major decision at 125;
• Marcus Blaze, who improved 24-1 with a pair of 17-2 technical falls at 133;
• Braeden Davis, who won his opener, 2-0, but lost his next match, 9-4 at 141;
• Shayne Van Ness, who improved to 24-0 with a decision and technical fall at 149;
• PJ Duke, who improved to 22-1 with a decision and major decision at 157;
• Mitchell Mesenbrink, who improved to 25-0 with a tech fall and a major decision at 165;
• Levi Haines, who improved to 24-0 with a tech fall and a pin at 174;
• Rocco Welsh, who improved to 23-0 with a major decision and tech fall at 184;
• Josh Barr, who improved to 22-0 with a major decision and tech fall at 197; and
• Cole Mirasola, who went 1-1 with one decision win and one decision loss.
Six Penn State wrestlers enter Day 2 with undefeated records.
Meanwhile, fourth-place Ohio State has all 10 of its wrestlers still in contention for top-eight podium positions. But after going 9-1 in the first round, the Buckeyes took a lot of hits in the Round of 16 by going 4-5.
Ohio State’s quarterfinalists are Ben Davino at 133, Jesse Mendez at 141, Brandon Canon at 144 and Carson Kharchla at 144.