InterMat Staff

It took a mere three days to change everything for Iowa State head coach Kevin Jackson. Kevin Jackson led Iowa State to an 11th-place finish at the 2013 NCAAs in Des Moines (Photo/Larry Slater)Last week, when Jackson received a two-year contract extension, many scratched their head. Since a third-place performance in 2010, the Cylcone program has gone from feast to famine. Critics both inside the ISU program and throughout the wrestling community called for a coaching change in Ames. It is hard to blame them. After five straight top-five finishes, ISU placed 20th and 32nd in the 2011 and 2012 national team standings, respectively. In the last two NCAA championships, ISU has produced only one All-American, Jon Reader, who was recruited by Jackson's predecessor, Cael Sanderson. Cael's monumental success at Penn State has not helped matters for Jackson, whose performance has looked much worse by comparison. Making matters worse, Jackson headed into this past weekend's national championship with only one seeded wrestler, 197-pounder Kyven Gadson. Iowa State's bad situation did not look like it was going to improve very much. Then something weird happened. ISU saw four of its wrestlers make deep runs at the NCAAs. Freshman 174-pounder Tanner Weatherman upset two seeded opponents and finished one match away from All-American status. Kyven Gadson wrestled to his sixth seed, and 165-pounder Michael Moreno and heavyweight Matt Gibson also succeeded at achieving All-American status. Iowa State to the surprise of most outside observers (and me), finished 11th in the team standings. Travis Paulson and Jon Reader (Photo/Larry Slater)Iowa State's wrestling program is one of wrestling's most storied programs. The Cyclones have won the third most team national championships of any program, and have produced nine different Olympic medals. Simply placing on the cusp of the top ten does not suffice in vindicating a head coach's continued employment. What makes ISU's performance at this year's national tournament so encouraging for Jackson, is how the team is now positioned going into the future. After next season wrestling will say goodbye to many standout wrestlers who form the backbone of the sport's very best programs. The elite college wrestling programs will lose the following big-point scorers & All-Americans in 2014. Iowa: Tony Ramos, Derek St. John, and Ethen Lofthouse. Oklahoma State: Jon Morrison, Tyler Caldwell, Chris Perry, and Blake Rosholt. Minnesota: David Thorn, Kevin Steinhaus, and Tony Nelson. Penn State: David Taylor and Ed Ruth. Oklahoma: Jarrod Patterson, Kendric Maple, Nick Lester, Matt Lester (again, not an All-American), Andrew Howe, and Travis Rutt. In two years, the 2014-2015 season's team race looks to open up a bit. As of right now, few teams are poised to have as strong a core of wrestlers for that season as Iowa State. Kyven Gadson earned All-American honors with a sixth-place finish at 197 (Photo/Larry Slater)The beauty of Iowa State's success at last week's national championship was that they managed it with an incredibly young team. In two years, most of the wrestlers who gave ISU its 11th place finish will be around to lead the Cyclones to something far more special. In 2015 Kyven Gadson and Michael Moreno look to be potential national finalists, while Tanner Weatherman and 141-pounder Luke Goettl should be ready to stand on the podium. The performances of this week show that the very accomplished Iowa State coaching staff can develop the talent in the room to the point where it can succeed at the highest level. Talented blue-chip lightweight wrestlers like Ryak Finch and John Meeks haven't exactly lit the world on fire thus far in their collegiate careers, but the potential is still there, and they could be ready to do big things in two years, particularly under the tutelage of assistant coach Troy Nickerson. Kevin Jackson's team could also obtain contributions from incoming recruits. The current class for next year isn't terribly impressive on paper, but highly ranked talent is still out there, and last week's performance might be what it takes to attract some of them. If a newcomer to the Cyclone room can blossom into an All-American caliber wrestler between now and 2015, this team will become formidable indeed. Kevin Jackson was given a two-year contract extension (Photo/Larry Slater)College wrestling has its fair share of coaches who accomplish little with their resources. It even has a few coaches who do worse than little and allow their team and its prospects to stagnate and rot on the vine. Wrestling people know who these coaches are. I'm not in the mood to name names. At the very least, Kevin Jackson showed this week that he is not one of those coaches. At the least he is running a coaching staff which can consistently prepare its athletes to compete for high honors at the national championships. Only time will tell, but this ISU and Jackson's performance at NCAAs this year could be part of something even greater than that. It could be the harbinger of great accomplishments in Jackson's tenure, and a serious bid at college wrestling's greatest prize in just a couple seasons. What a difference three days can make. To close I'd like to acknowledge just how proud I am of the Citadel Bulldogs and what they were able to do at this year's nationals. Achieving national success in any sport at The Citadel is insanely difficult, and two All-Americans in one year is an incredible coaching experience. This program spent more than seventy years without an All-American, since Rob Hjerling took the helm of the team, it has three, and is positioned to earn more next year. If nothing else, The Citadel's coaching staff has created an environment where a young man can go to the school for the unique experience it offers, and still accomplish any of his wrestling dreams. I can't wait for next year in Oklahoma City.

BUFFALO, NY -- University at Buffalo Director of Athletics Danny White has announced today that Jim Beichner will not be returning as head wrestling coach next season. Jim Beichner"This was a very difficult decision and we appreciate all that Coach Beichner has done for UB wrestling in his 18 years of service," White said. "After a comprehensive evaluation of the program, we concluded it was time to move in a new direction. We are committed to winning Mid-American Conference championships at the University at Buffalo and believe a leadership change in wrestling is necessary at this time. Coach Beichner served as a fine role model to our student-athletes and we are grateful for all he has done in the continued development of our wrestling program." White confirmed a national search will commence immediately.

125: 1st: No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. No. 4 Nico Megaludis (Penn State), 7-4 3rd: No. 6 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. No. 1 Alan Waters (Missouri), 6-1 5th: No. 9 Trent Sprenkle (North Dakota State) dec. No. 5 Jarrod Garnett (Virginia Tech), 7-2 7th: David Thorn (Minnesota) pinned No. 12 Tyler Cox (Wyoming), 1:17 133: 1st: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) dec. No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa), 7-4 3rd: No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) dec. No. 4 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro), 6-3 5th: No. 7 Jon Morrison (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 5 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota), 6-4 7th: No. 8 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma) dec. No. 6 Nathan McCormick (Missouri), 15-10 141: 1st: No. 2 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) dec. No. 4 Mitchell Port (Edinboro), 4-3 3rd: No. 1 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State) maj. dec. No. 6 K. Undrakhbayar (The Citadel), 12-4 5th: No. 11 Mike Nevinger (Cornell) dec. No. 5 Evan Henderson (North Carolina), 9-2 7th: No. 8 Nick Dardanes (Minnesota) dec. Zach Neibert (Virginia Tech), 9-5 149: 1st: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 2 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State), 3-2 3rd: No. 5 Steve Santos (Columbia) dec. No. 6 Dylan Ness (Minnesota), 7-3 5th: No. 7 Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State) dec. Drake Houdashelt (Missouri), 6-5 7th: No. 10 Ivan Lopouchanski (Purdue) dec. No. 8 Nick Brascetta (Virginia Tech), 5-3 157: 1st: No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern), 3-2 3rd: No. 6 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) dec. David Bonin (Northern Iowa), 1:39 5th: No. 10 R.J. Pena (Oregon State) maj. dec. No. 12 Jedd Moore (Virginia), 10-2 7th: No. 4 James Green (Nebraska) maj. dec. No. 5 James Fleming (Clarion), 14-4 165: 1st: No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. No. 2 David Taylor (Penn State), 5-4 3rd: No. 4 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 3 Peter Yates (Virginia Tech), 5-1 5th: No. 7 Conrad Polz (Illinois) dec. Michael Moreno (Iowa State), 7-5 7th: No. 11 Cody Yohn (Minnesota) dec. No. 8 Nick Sulzer (Virginia), 8-5 TB1 174: 1st: No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State), 2-1 TB1 3rd: No. 4 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska) dec. No. 6 Logan Storley (Minnesota), 3-1 SV1 5th: No. 8 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) pinned No. 3 Mike Evans (Iowa), 2:10 7th: No. 7 Jordan Blanton (Illinois) dec. Cody Walters (Ohio), 4-3 184: 1st: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) maj. dec. No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 12-4 3rd: No. 4 Steve Bosak (Cornell) dec. No. 2 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 2-0 5th: No. 12 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland), 6-2 7th: No. 6 Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa) maj. dec. No. 11 Mike Larson (Missouri), 8-0 197: 1st: No. 2 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 1 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State), 8-6 3rd: No. 3 Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh) tech. fall No. 5 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State), 18-2 5th: No. 10 Scott Schiller (Minnesota) dec. No. 6 Kyven Gadson (Iowa State), 6-2 7th: No. 4 Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming) dec. No. 11 Blake Rosholt (Oklahoma State), 7-4 285: 1st: No. 2 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. No. 5 Mike McMullan (Northwestern), 6-2 3rd: No. 3 Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 1 Dom Bradley (Missouri), 3-2 5th: No. 9 Zac Thomusseit (Pittsburgh) dec. No. 10 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan), 3-1 7th: Odie Delaney (The Citadel) pinned Matt Gibson (Iowa State), 2:44

DES MOINES, Iowa -- University of Illinois Fighting Illini sophomore Jesse Delgado won the NCAA title at 125 pounds with his 7-4 decision over No. 4 seed Nico Megaludis of Penn State. The Illini's title is the first ever at that weight in school history. The squad finished ninth with 45.5 points and crowned three All-Americans including Conrad Polz (165) and Jordan Blanton (174). Jesse Delgado (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Delgado (Gilroy, Calif.) is the first NCAA champion since Matt Lackey accomplished the feat in 2003. He finishes the season with a 27-3 record and is the first Illini to win a Big Ten and NCAA title in the same year since Lackey in 2003. In the championship final match, Megaludis set the tempo early, pushing the action throughout the opening period. Delgado defended extremely well as he fought off the Nittany Lion's offense. The bout was tied 0-0 after the first period. Delgado chose down to begin the second period and notched the escape at the 1:47 mark to take a 1-0 lead heading into final period. Megaludis started down in the third and earned the escape to tie the match 1-1 at the 1:54 mark. However, Delgado got the takedown and three nearfall points to take the 6-1 lead with 43 seconds remaining. Megaludis scored an late escape and a takedown with 17 seconds remaining. Delgado notched one more escape with 15 seconds left to win the title 7-4. Two Illini wrestlers concluded their career at Illinois, winning their final matches at the 2013 NCAA Championships. No. 7 seed Polz (165) finished a career-best fifth while No. 7 seed Blanton (174) placed seventh at the national tournament. Three-time All-American Blanton defeated Cody Walters of Ohio by a 4-3 decision to finish seventh best in the nation. The two exchanged takedowns to tie the score at 2-2 after the first period. Blanton started down in the second and scored the escape which was the only point awarded in the period. The senior began on top in the final period and Walters escaped to tie the score 3-3, however Blanton notched 1:06 of riding time which was the key in winning the match. Blanton ends his career with an overall record of 115-43. Two-time All-American Conrad Polz wrestled No. 4 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State) in his first match of the morning but was defeated 2-1. The two exchanged escapes but Caldwell notched the riding time point to advance. Polz then wrestled Iowa State's Micheal Moreno in the fifth place match. The senior earned the first takedown and lead 2-0, however competition was paused due to an official review which lasted almost 10 minutes. After the challenge ended, both wrestlers were awarded reversals. At the end of the first the score was 4-3 in favor of Polz. Polz started down in the second and escaped to push the score to 5-3. In the third, Moreno escaped twice and Polz scored another takedown to win the match 7-5. The fifth-place finish is a career best for the senior as he ends his Illinois career with a 81-42 overall record.

DES MOINES, Ia. -- Mitchell Port's quest to become Edinboro's fifth Division I national champion came down to riding time. The redshirt sophomore, seeded fourth, battled second-seeded Kendric Maple of Oklahoma on even terms at the NCAA Division I National Championships at the Wells Fargo Arena, but Maple would claim the title at 141 lbs. on a 4-3 decision. With Port capturing second place at 141 lbs. and A.J. Schopp finishing fourth at 133 lbs., Edinboro finished 14th with 37.5 points. It is the highest finish since the 2009 team finished sixth, and marked the eighth straight year in the top 25. Penn State won its third straight national championship. The difference in Port's match came down to a riding time advantage of 2 minutes, 4 seconds for Maple, a two-time All-American who ended the year with a 31-0 record. The match was nothing like the first meeting between the two, with Maple winning 14-11 at the Midlands Championships. Port came in riding a 19-match winning streak. Maple recorded the lone takedown 47 seconds into the match. The redshirt junior was able to keep Port down until he built up over a minute in riding time before Port escaped with 46 seconds left to make the score 2-1. Maple started the second period in the down position, and while Port was able to wipe out the riding time point at that moment, Maple's escape with 1:28 left made it 3-1. That was the only scoring in the period. Port chose down to begin the third period, but he was unable to get out until 53 seconds remained. By that time Maple had been able to boost the riding time to 2:04. Port pressured Maple over the remaining time, but was unable to come close to taking down the Sooner. He would tie the match momentarily when Maple was called for his second stalling warning, but by that time only five seconds remained. Port's last moment attempt at a single leg shot failed, as Maple's riding time point accounted for the winning margin. Port ends his sophomore season with a 34-4 record and earned All-American honors for the first time with his second place finish. A year ago in his first trip to Nationals he came up one win shy of All-American honors while reaching the round of 12. Port was attempting to join the likes of Sean O'Day, Josh Koscheck, Gregor Gillespie and Jarrod King as Division I national champions. It marks the second year in a row the Fighting Scots had a wrestler finish in the runner-up spot. Last year Chris Honeycutt placed second at 197 lbs. Port has two years to take the next step and win a national championship.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Mizzou Wrestling program’s season came to an official close Saturday with five All-American Tigers being recognized in front of 16,131 fans at Wells FargoArena. Missouri capped off 2013 with a seventh-place finish at Nationals after accumulating 56.5 team points. Alan Waters, Nathan McCormick, Drake Houdashelt, Mike Larson, and Dom Bradley received medals this year at the 2013 NCAA Championships. The five total All-Americans ties the program’s mark set in 2009 in St. Louis. Junior Alan Waters gained All-American status for the first time in his career after taking fourth in this year’s field. Waters lost for the first time in 2013 during the NCAA Semifinals to Penn State’s Nico Megaludis. The match was decided by 18 seconds of ride time in the second set of tiebreakers. Waters path to becoming an All-American included wins over Minnesota All-American David Thorn and No. 8 Matthew Snyder of Virginia. Compiling a record of 33-2 in his third year at 125 pounds, Waters moves into fourth-place all-time in winning percentage (.943) in a single season. He collected his 100th win Friday against Snyder in only 111 matches. Senior-captain Nathan McCormick joined his brother Tyler on Mizzou’s list of All-Americans with a pin against Northern Iowa’s Levi Wolfensperger. McCormick made his third NCAA appearance at 133 pounds this season, finishing in eighth after dropping his final two matches. He leaves Mizzou with a 91-46 record and a career-best 34-7 mark this season. Drake Houdashelt shocked many at the Championships with two upsets over No. 11 Andrew Alton (Penn State) and No. 6 Dylan Ness (Minnesota). A win over Kevin Tao of American in the quarterfinals solidified his spot on the podium at 149 pounds this year. The sophomore fell in a couple of tight matches in the final rounds to higher-ranked opponents and claimed sixth place in his first year at 149 pounds. Houdashelt finishes 2013 with a 31-12 record. Of his 31 victories, 12 came via major decision, tying the program record set by Wes Roper and Raymond Jordan. He was last year’s Marshell Esteppe Most Outstanding Freshman. 184-pounder Mike Larson rode three straight wins in the wrestleback bracket to claim his first All-American honor as a senior. The California native qualified for NCAAs in every year as an attached collegiate wrestler. This year he finished in eighth place despite coming in seeded No. 11. Larson transferred from Cal State Bakersfield to Mizzou after his redshirt freshman year. He, too, eclipsed the 100-win plateau in his career after defeating Daniel Rinaldi of Rutgers. Redshirt senior Dom Bradley was named an All-American for the second time in his career in 2013 with a fourth-place finish at heavyweight. Another senior-captain, Bradley had an incredible campaign after taking an Olympic redshirt in 2012, finishing the year with a 39-3 record. His .929 winning percentage is fifth all-time in asingle season, and his 39 wins fits in at eighth place all time. He’s the 14th grappler to be a repeat All-American at Mizzou. After six years, Bradley ends his tenure with 105 wins to just 15 losses. His wrestling career isn’t over just yet, as the Blue Springs, Mo., native hopes to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. With Brian Smith at the helm, 19 All-Americans have now come through Columbia, Mo, claiming 31 total medals. The five from this season make it 53 total placers at the NCAA Championships since the programs beginning in 1923. Smith’s squads have had 12 consecutive winning seasons after posting a 16-3 dual record in 2012-13.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The young Iowa State wrestling team made drastic improvements in 2012-13, finishing in 11th place with 41.5 team points at the 2013 NCAA Championships, which ended Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena. A bulk of Iowa State’s team points came from three All-Americans in sophomore Michael Moreno (sixth at 165), sophomore Kyven Gadson (sixth at 197) and Matt Gibson (eighth at 285). The three went a combined 16-9 in the tournament en route to the All-America podium. ISU started the year 1-3 in duals. But a patient head coach Kevin Jackson rallied his troops and the Cyclones won 10 of their last 12 duals, finishing second at the Big 12 Championships behind No. 2 Oklahoma State. Iowa State heads into the offseason with much promise, as the Cyclones return eight starters from this year’s squad, including two All-Americans and five NCAA-qualifiers.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Even though Oregon State did not have any wrestlers competing in championship matches Saturday night inside Wells Fargo Arena, there was still cause for celebration as the Beavers held onto eighth place at the 2013 NCAA Championships, their best finish since 1996. At the end of competition, OSU had tallied 48.5 total points, which put them three full points ahead of Illinois and five in front of Virginia Tech, who finished ninth and 10th respectively. As a team OSU went a fitting 20-13 during the three day competition in 2013 and placed three wrestlers within the top five. It is also of note that for the second straight season, head coach Jim Zalesky’s squad produced three All-Americans and had one wrestler finish as high as fourth. Unlike last season, when one of the All-American trio was a senior (HWT, Clayton Jack), this time around, all of Zalesky’s All-Americans will return to the program for at least one more season. Scott Sakaguchi (Jr., 149 lbs.), RJ Pena (Jr., 157 lbs.) and Taylor Meeks (So., 197 lbs.), were the ones marching in the parade of All-Americans this year before the tournament’s championship session. The trio is no stranger from sharing the lime light as each are roommates while in Corvallis. Sakaguchi is the lone two-time All-American out of the group, while Meeks is the first underclassmen Orange and Black grappler to finish in the top five since 1992, when sophomore Babak Mohammadi did the same. Pena was the only one out of the three that wrestled eighth matches, losing only one following his first round defeat. Looking back at the tournament, Oregon State’s most productive day was Friday (Day No. 2), as the team reeled off 25 points and crowned three All-Americans. OSU set the tone for a successful tournament on Day No. 1 (Thursday) with 16 team points and finished strong on Saturday (Day No. 3), with a clutch 7.5 points to solidify their eighth place finish. The last time an Oregon State team finished as high as eighth at the NCAA Wrestling Championships was 1998, when former head coach Joe Wells led his team to back-to-back-to-back top 10 finishes. Zalesky already has had back-to-back top 10 NCAA Championship performances from his teams the last two seasons and will look to add his third in-a-row in 2014 at the NCAA’s in Oklahoma City.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Oklahoma State wrestling team produced a runner-up finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships, falling four points behind Penn State, who took its third consecutive title. OSU’s run at the title was highlighted by two national champions in senior Jordan Oliver and junior Chris Perry and seven Cowboys earning All-American status. “We gave ourselves a chance today. We did everything we could,” coach John Smith said. “We won nine out of 11 matches on the final day of competition. Any other time we’ve done that, we’ve come home with a team title. It hurts, but I’m proud of our team’s effort. We came to wrestle, and that’s what we did.” In the 174-pound finals, Perry took on the No. 2 seed Matt Brown from Penn State in the opening match of the finals. With no points scored in the first, Brown earned an escape point just seconds into the second period, and Perry answered with an escape of his own in the third, tying the score 1-1. The bout went into a sudden victory period that saw shots from both opponents, but no points were awarded, taking the match to a tiebreaker. In the first period of the tiebreaker, Perry rode out Brown for the full 30 seconds. Perry earned a quick escape in the second period of the tiebreaker and held off Brown for the remaining time to claim a 2-1 win and the 174-pound national title. “It’s unexplainable,” Perry said. “There’s so many people that I have in my life that I want to win for. I have so many great people that help get me through, and it’s just indescribable. It’s almost a shell shock moment when you’re up there. You don’t even know what to do when you win.” Perry’s win put the Cowboys on top in the team race by one point, but it was not enough as Penn State went on to win the finals at 184 pounds and 197 pounds to clinch the team title. There was still one more Cowboy who had some work to do. Senior Jordan Oliver ended an outstanding collegiate career capturing his second national championship when he defeated No. 2 Jason Chamberlain of Boise State, 3-2, in the 149-pound finals. Similar to Perry’s match, Oliver’s bout with Chamberlain was scoreless after the first. Escaping quickly in the second period, Oliver carried a 1-0 lead into the final period. Chamberlain tied the score, 1-1, with an escape, but Oliver put the nail in the coffin with a takedown in the final 10 seconds to win it. “It’s awesome to win another title,” Oliver said. “I’m happy to be a part of the Cowboy tradition and getting to cap off my senior season with my second national title. It’s been an honor wrestling under Coach Smith and for Oklahoma State. It’s been a great journey.” Not only did Oliver win every match this season to finish 37-0, but he did it without giving up a single takedown. The Easton, Pa., native became the program’s 13th four-time All-American, and finished his career with a 126-6 overall record, tying him for fifth in all-time wins in OSU history. In his time as a Poke, Oliver finished with a title at 133 pounds and 149 pounds, a runner-up finish and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma State finished the season with seven All-Americans in Jon Morrison, Alex Dieringer, Tyler Caldwell, Blake Rosholt, Alan Gelogaev, Oliver and Perry. The last time the Cowboys had seven All-Americans was in the 2005 NCAA Championships. The Cowboys have earned a total of 435 All-Americans and 136 national champions. In his 22 years at the helm of the program, Smith has coached 102 All-Americans and 26 national champions.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Doug Schwab put his first two All-Americans on the stand as the University of Northern Iowa head coach. The Panthers have their first two All-Americans since 2005. David Bonin, the only unseeded wrestler in the 157-pound weight class, took fourth. This was the senior’s third appearance at the NCAA tournament. “He is a great example for our guys,” said Schwab. “He’s a leader for our team. What he got was because of hard work.” Bonin got a pin in his first of two matches on the final day of the tournament. His first opponent was No. 10 RJ Pena of Oregon State. With just 13 seconds left in the first, Pena got the takedown to lead 2-0 going into second. Bonin started on top for the second period. Bonin got a stall warning late in the second but earned 1:45 in riding time. Bonin earned an escape to save his riding time. However, he wouldn’t need the riding time, as he would get the pin in 5:39 to give him the opportunity at a third-place finish. “I’ve been telling everyone, he’s been in there since day one,” said Schwab. “He’s had a phenomenal tournament so far, but he’s not done.” Bonin had to get past No. 6 Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State to get third. However, Dieringer proved why he was ranked and pinned Bonin in 1:39. Bonin has only been pinned twice this season and both have come from Dieringer. “I wanted to be up on the podium, and I finally got there,” Bonin said. “I am happy. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but I’m happy. Other than me and the coaching staff, who thought I would be there? I just figured, why not me?” Ryan Loder, 184 pounds, widened the gap on an opponent he has seen four times this season and two times in the national tournament. His 8-0 win over No. 11 Mike Larson earned Loder a seventh-place finish. After a scoreless first period, Loder earned a point when Larson was called for stalling midway through the second. Loder earned a reversal and three near fall points just as time expired in the second. His takedown early in the third extended his lead, and Loder erased Larson’s riding time to win it 8-0. “It’s heartbreaking, getting seventh,” said Loder. “But it’s good feeling to come out with a win. It’s humbling knowing that I have to work to get that much better, but I have 365 days to do that and come back next year.” Earning bonus points for the Panthers at the NCAA tournament: 133 – Levi Wolfensperger (2 pins) 141 – Joey Lazor (3 major decisions) 157 – David Bonin (1 pin) 184 – Ryan Loder (1 major decision) Headed into the championship matches scheduled for this evening, UNI was 15th with 34 points. Last year, the team finished 34th. “It’s coming,” Bonin said of the team’s future. “Things are meshing, and we are getting stronger and stronger.” Schwab said this proof that his team is on the right track. “Now we have something to point to and have examples in the room,” he said. “They have teammates that have done it, so that is critical for us to make the jump for us next year.”141 – Joey Lazor (3 major decisions) 157 – David Bonin (1 pin) 184 – Ryan Loder (1 major decision) Headed into the championship matches scheduled for this evening, UNI was 15th with 34 points. Last year, the team finished 34th. “It’s coming,” Bonin said of the team’s future. “Things are meshing, and we are getting stronger and stronger.” Schwab said this proof that his team is on the right track. “Now we have something to point to and have examples in the room,” he said. “They have teammates that have done it, so that is critical for us to make the jump for us next year.”

DES MOINES, Iowa -- It was an historic couple of days for The Citadel's wrestling team as K. Undrakhbayar (Ugi) nabbed fourth place, while Odie Delaney took seventh to close out competition at the 2013 NCAA Championship on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to yesterday, just one Bulldog grappler in the history of the program, which dates back to before the 1930's, has achieved All-America status. Delaney and Ugi added their names to that elite list yesterday when they guaranteed themselves a spot in the top eight of their respective weight classes. Aside from securing himself seventh place at the tournament, Delaney's final victory left the redshirt senior with 125 career wins, moving him into a tie with Sean Markey (2006) for most wins in Citadel history. "It was another really good day for us because we wanted them to finish strong and they did," said head coach Rob Hjerling. "Ugi got the pin to place fourth which was very strong and Odie finishing his career with a win, pin and the all-time wins mark was special to see. "It was a great weekend for the coaching staff and team and I would also would like to thank 157-pound qualifier, Matt Frisch, who was there training through each session with the guys," said Hjerling. "He was a great contributor to the team and we know he has bright future and will be out in the hunt for us in the next couple of years." Ugi entered the final day of competition with his sights set on the third place match, but needed to get by familiar foe Evan Henderson of North Carolina. Henderson topped the Mongolia native in each of their two bouts this season, once in a 4-3 decision at the Nittany Lion Open and then again in a sudden victory takedown at the Southern Scuffle. The Bulldog grappler made short work of Henderson in today's bout. Just one minute into the match, the Tar Heel slipped off allowing Ugi to get on top and capitalize with a chicken wing and quick pin at the 1:08 mark to launch him into the third place bout against top-seeded Hunter Stieber of Ohio State. The Buckeye grappler managed the clock after a couple of early takedowns in the third place bout to take the win and end the 12-4 match, completing Ugi's season with an impressive fourth place finish. The redshirt freshman closed out his first collegiate season with a 42-6 record, plowing through the three and five seeds at nationals. Ugi's only losses this season came against wrestlers who were ranked among the top 10 in the country. "It's tough competition here so I learned a lot of things, and I have a lot of things to work on, but I will do my best next year to try and achieve my goal of becoming an NCAA champion," said Ugi. "I really owe this one to my teammates, coaches and trainer because I couldn't have made it without them. It's not about me it's about everyone else who helped me." Fittingly, Delaney closed out his collegiate career with a pin at the 2:44 mark. The fall is the 61st of his career, which is good for second in Citadel history. Ten of Delaney's 19 Southern Conference-leading pins this season came in the first period. "I knew that I needed to find a way to get my game plan together so I could beat these higher ranked guys, but Coach Hjerling, Ragan and Lane are great at what they do and have been able to show us how to use our dangerous moves and I was able to get bonus points off of it," said Delaney. After a hugely productive three-win day on Friday, the Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., product entered Saturday with a seventh place bout set against Iowa State's Matthew Gibson. A takedown in the first period led to the Bulldog grappler's pin on Gibson just moments later and assured him seventh place in the nation. Delaney closed out his career having won 22 of his last 24 bouts. "I love this big stage and being here to take what I have worked so hard to earn was amazing," finished Delaney. Pictures of this week's action can be found here and more will be added after they take the podium tonight.

Steve Santos defeated Dylan Ness to finish third at the NCAAs (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine) DES MOINES, Iowa -- Columbia senior wrestler Steve Santos brought his prolific career to a close Saturday with a pair of victories to claim third place at the 2013 NCAA Wrestling Championships. In front of a sellout crowd of 16,131 at the Wells Fargo Arena, Santos picked up a pair of decisions to claim the best individual finish in Columbia wrestling history. “Coming out today I wanted to wrestle strong, wrestle my best and getting these two wins is a great way to end my career,” said Santos in the tunnel following the third-place bout. “Representing Columbia is a great experience for me. We have a great support system and our coaches are great. I believed in them and going out there and getting to represent my team and being the highest finisher just shows all the hard work we put in.” “Steve, he deserves it,” said Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling Carl Fronhofer after Santos’ victory. “I’ve never been around a kid that works the way he does and competes as hard as he does.” After winning his first bout in the wrestleback semifinals, Santos earned the right to compete for third against Minnesota’s Dylan Ness, the sixth seed, in the third-place bout. Ness (20-6), the Big Ten champion at 149 pounds, reached the third-place match through the wrestleback bracket after falling in the round of 16 to Missouri’s Drake Houdashelt. After winning four bouts after the loss, a rematch with Houdashelt was set for the wrestleback quarterfinals. This time it was Ness that came away with the decision, 5-2, sending Houdashelt home and setting up the bout against Santos. Santos and Ness wrestled the first three minutes of the bout to a 2-2 tie. Santos tallied the first two points with a takedown 58 seconds in, but Ness responded with a reversal in the final minute of the first period. In the second period, Santos choose to start on the bottom, which proved to be the perfect strategy as he scored a reversal 31 seconds in. He would ride the rest of the period out and take 1:41 of riding time into the final two minutes. Santos extended his lead to 6-2 10 seconds into the third period with his second takedown of the bout. Santos would continue to add riding time until the last 10 seconds when Ness finally escaped, but it would be too late for the Gopher. Santos would tack on the riding time point for the 7-3 decision. After the bout, Santos was asked whether he believed the win was more important to him our the program. “I think its equally weighted. Definitely for me I wanted to go out on top and finishing with a win is great, but I think it definitely shows a lot about our program, how tough we are. I’m happy I got to represent my school and to just show Columbia can wrestle out there with the best.” In his first match of the day and with a trip to the third-place match on the line, Santos went up against the seventh-seed, Scott Sakaguchi from Oregon State, in the wrestleback semifinals. The first meeting between the two wrestlers started out in favor of Sakaguchi. After the first 90 seconds passed without any scoring, Sakaguchi was able to get Santos to the mat and score two points with a takedown. Santos was able to wrestle free 18 seconds later and the grapplers wrestled out the remaining time on their feet. The second period cleared without any scoring, but Santos was able to accumulate 1:41 of riding time. In the final stanza, it was all Santos, as he wasted little time setting up Sakaguchi for a reversal just 16 seconds in. The Columbia senior showed his strength and endurance over the remainder of the period, riding Sakaguchi out to bring the final score to 4-2 to set up the third-place bout against Ness. Santos finishes his record-setting career with 91 total victories. The two-time NCAA qualifier is the fifth All-American to wear the Columbia blue and white and first since Matt Palmer finished eighth in 2007. Prior to the 2013 NCAA Championships, Bob Hartman’s fourth-place showing was the highest Columbia finisher in program history. In team scoring, Columbia tallied 17 points and stands in 26th out of 66 teams with just the finals round remaining Saturday night.

Related Content: Coverage | Team Scores | Brackets DES MOINES, Iowa -- Kyle Dake thought he knew what it might feel like to make history as the first wrestler to win four NCAA Division I titles at four different weight classes. Cornell's Kyle Dake gets interviewed by ESPN's Quint Kessenich after winning his fourth straight NCAA title (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)On Saturday night he found out. Dake accomplished the almost unimaginable feat of winning four NCAA Division I titles in four different weight classes capped off by a 5-4 victory over Penn State's David Taylor in the NCAA finals at 165 pounds. What the Cornell senior felt after the match, though, was much different than he imagined. "It's not even close," said Dake. "I was really happy. Every time I visualized myself winning I had a huge smile on my face. I don't think I've smiled bigger ever in my life. It's been an amazing experience." On Saturday night Dake found himself in a 2-0 hole early in the match after giving up a quick takedown off a Taylor ankle pick. But Dake took the lead 3-2 late in the first period after escaping and getting a takedown of his own off a low single leg attack. Dake added an escape in the second period to lead 4-2 heading into the final period. Dake then rode Taylor for most of the third period, accumulating a riding time point in the process. Dake gave up a point for a second stalling call before Taylor escaped with 19 seconds left. But it was too little too late and the match would end 5-4 in favor of Dake. Kyle Dake gets his hand raised after a 5-4 victory over Penn State's David Taylor (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)His first title came at 141 pounds in 2010 as a true freshman. As a sophomore, Dake moved up to 149 pounds and won the title at 149 pounds, outscoring his opponents at the NCAA tournament 32-1. Last season Dake cruised to the NCAA title at 157 pounds with three pins and only one point surrendered. At this week's tournament at 165 pounds he outscored his opponents 32-0 heading into his finals match against Taylor, a returning NCAA champion and Dan Hodge Trophy winner. Dake becomes only the third wrestler ever to win four NCAA Division I titles, joining Pat Smith and Cael Sanderson. "I finished the book ... the college wrestling book, I finished it," said Dake. "I finished it with coming out on top, 20-0 at NCAAs. Only two other people have done that in Division I level. I'm just really happy to be a part of that group. But I already have another book. I'm going to put the one I have right now on the shelf and the new one is going to come down." Penn State captured its third straight national championship and finished with 123.5 points, four points ahead of Oklahoma State (119.5). Minnesota finished in third with 103 points and had the most All-Americans with eight. Iowa (73) and Cornell (65) finished fourth and fifth respectively. "We're super happy," said Penn State coach Cael Sanderson. "Our guys did a great job. It was back and forth. Our guys came through. I think every year you have different challenges. It certainly doesn't get easier. That first one was super special, but it doesn't get easier. I'm really proud of these guys for the effort and what they did." The Nittany Lions advanced five wrestlers (half their lineup) to the NCAA finals, and crowned two NCAA champions: Ed Ruth (184) and Quentin Wright (197). Penn State's Ed Ruth finished the season 38-0 and extended his win streak to 68 (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)For Ruth, it was his second straight NCAA title, but first at 184 pounds. He was dominant in the finals, earning a 12-4 major decision victory over Lehigh's Robert Hamlin. Ruth scored three takedowns in the final period to earn the bonus point and help his team in a close team race. "At first it was more just me building my lead," said Ruth, who finished the season 38-0 and extended his win streak to 68. "But as I saw my lead just kept getting bigger and bigger, I looked over at the coaches and they were just saying 'cut him, cut him.' So I'm like oh wow, they must be going for the major. I wasn't even sure that last takedown was for the major, but I just really wanted to get it." Wright came through as the No. 2 seed, knocking off top-seeded and previously unbeaten Dustin Kilgore of Kent State to win the title at 197 pounds. The two past NCAA champions traded takedowns in the first period and the match was tied 3-3 heading into the second period. Wright took a 4-3 lead in the second period after an escape. But Kilgore would even the score at 4-4 in the third with an escape of his own. Then Wright took control of the match in the final minute by scoring two takedowns from an underhook to a knee pick and rolling to the 8-6 victory. Quentin Wright took down Dustin Kilgore three times in their NCAA finals match (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Kilgore did not surrender a takedown during the regular season, but was taken down three times in the finals by Wright. "I used the underhook and found a way," said Wright, who is now a two-time NCAA champion and three-time NCAA finalist. "It played right into how I wrestle. It worked real well out there." Oklahoma State went two-for-two in the finals and finished with seven All-Americans. "I think we had the tournament we needed to have to give ourselves a chance," said Oklahoma State coach John Smith. Looking back on it, it just wasn't enough this time." The Cowboys had two individual champions: Chris Perry (174) and Jordan Oliver (149). Both came through as No. 1 seeds. Chris Perry was one of two NCAA champions for Oklahoma State (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Perry won his title by edging Penn State's Matt Brown 2-1 in tiebreaker. The two wrestlers battled to a scoreless first period, and then traded escapes in the second and third period to make the score 1-1 at the end of regulation. Neither wrestler was able to score in the one-minute sudden victory period, which sent the match to tiebreaker. Perry started the tiebreaker period by riding out Brown for 30 seconds. Then, with Brown starting on top, Perry was able to get a quick escape and hold on for the victory. Perry comes from a legendary wrestling family. His older brother Mark won two NCAA titles for Iowa. His father coached at the Division I level. His uncles John, Pat, Lee Roy, and Mark Smith won numerous national and international titles. "Being around my family we don't accept second," said Perry. "I was pretty excited yesterday making the finals, but I knew if I lost it was a failure. In our family we don't accept second. We don't sleep if we get second." For Oliver, it was his second NCAA title. He won his first title in 2011 at 133 pounds and finished runner-up last season. This season he moved up two weight class to 149 pounds and earned his title on Saturday night by defeating No. 2 Jason Chamberlain of Boise State, 3-2. Jordan Oliver gets in on a shot against Boise State's Jason Chamberlain (Photo/Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com)Oliver and Chamberlain were knotted at 1-1 late in the match before the Cowboy scored a takedown off a slide-by with under ten seconds reaming to take the match. Oliver had high praise for his finals opponent after the match. "Jason is a great wrestler," said Oliver. "He's incredible, very strong and talented. Right in the beginning of the match could I feel not only was his defense good, but I could feel his go-arounds ... and if I wasn't careful enough I would get re-attacked. Real strong opponent. He was able to slow me up a little bit." Ohio State's Logan Stieber capped off an undefeated season (27-0) by winning his second straight NCAA title at 133 pounds with a hard-fought 7-4 victory over Tony Ramos of Iowa. Stieber used two takedowns in the first period to race out to a 4-1 lead. In the second period Ramos scored a takedown off a shot and put the Buckeye in danger by locking up a cradle, nearly picked up nearfall points. Iowa challenged the no-call, but it stood and Stieber controlled the match the rest of the way. Stieber, a two-time NCAA champion in two seasons, is halfway to joining Pat Smith, Cael Sanderson, and now Kyle Dake as a four-time NCAA Division I champion. "I'll worry about four if I get three," said Stieber. "I have to worry about next year first." Minnesota junior Tony Nelson gives a fist pump after winning his second straight NCAA championship at heavyweight (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Also winning a second straight NCAA title was Minnesota's Tony Nelson, who topped Northwestern's Mike McMullan 6-2 in the championship match at heavyweight. Nelson scored takedowns in the first and third periods to pace him to the victory. Nelson becomes the fifth Gopher wrestler to earn back-to-back championships. The last Minnesota wrestler to accomplish the feat was another Gopher heavyweight, Cole Konrad in 2006 and 2007. Nelson will have a chance to win a third NCAA title next season as a senior. "After I won it last year, and even before it, one of my goals was to be the first three-timer from Minnesota ... Cole Konrad, Brock Lesnar. Brock won it once, Cole won it twice. So I'm right up there with him, and he's a guy that I've always looked up to. So to be up there with him is a big accomplishment. Jesse Delgado earned nearfall points in the third period (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Jesse Delgado of Illinois rode the momentum of winning the Big Ten title two weeks ago to earn his first NCAA title at 125 pounds. His finals victory came over Penn State's Nico Megaludis, 7-4. Neither wrestler was able to earn a takedown in the first two periods. The match was tied 1-1 in the third period before Delgado won a critical scramble that resulted in a takedown and three nearfall points from a cradle, which made the score 6-1 in favor of the Illinois wrestler. Megaludis escaped and earned a late takedown, but it wasn't enough as Delgado held on for the win. Delgado said a turning point in his season came in mid-January. "I was having a rough season the first half," said Delgado. "It was right before the Nebraska dual, I think, I was on the phone with my mom. I was pretty emotional. She just gave me a talk. After that I feel like my season turned around. I started focusing on all the right things. I just committed to what Mark (Perry) and Jeremy (Hunter) were telling me to do. That was the turning point I feel like." Iowa's Derek St. John edged Jason Welch in the finals at 157 (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Iowa's Derek St. John climbed to the top spot on the podium at 157 pounds after finishing as an NCAA runner-up to Kyle Dake last season. St. John edged top-seeded Jason Welch of Northwestern in the finals, 3-2, despite losing the takedown battle. The match was scoreless after the first two periods after St. John rode out Welch the entire second period. In the third period Welch locked his hands as St. John tried to escape, which gave the Iowa wrestler a 1-0 lead. St. John escaped a short time later to make it 2-0. Welch then scored a takedown of a reshot on the edge of the mat to make it 2-2 on the scoreboard, but the Northwestern wrestler was unable to erase St. John's riding time point, and it would end 3-2 in favor of the Hawkeye. "It's unbelievable, it's awesome," said St. John of winning his first NCAA title. "It's something I've been working the last four years for ... and finally got it. It's unbelievable." Oklahoma's Kendric Maple won the title at 141 pounds with a 4-3 victory over Edinboro's Mitchell Port. Maple finished the season with a record of 31-0 and becomes one of only six wrestlers to finish the season undefeated, along with Ruth, Wright, Stieber, Oliver, and Dake. He becomes the program's 66th national champion and Mark Cody's first at Oklahoma. "It's a great honor to get here," said Maple. "I just love the sport." Finals Results: 125: Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. Nico Megaludis (Penn State), 7-4 133: Logan Stieber (Ohio State) dec. Tony Ramos (Iowa), 7-4 141: Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) dec. Mitchell Port (Edinboro), 4-3 149: Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) dec. Jason Chamberlain (Boise State), 3-2 157: Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. Jason Welch (Northwestern), 3-2 165: Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. David Taylor (Penn State), 5-4 174: Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. Matt Brown (Penn State), 2-1 TB 184: Ed Ruth (Penn State) maj. dec. Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 12-4 197: Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. Dustin Kilgore (Kent State), 8-6 285: Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. Mike McMullan (Northwestern), 6-2

David Taylor

Kyle Dake

Tonight's finals of the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will feature five Penn State wrestlers and one historic matchup. Kyle Dake, who is in search of his fourth NCAA title in four seasons, will face off against Penn State's leader David Taylor in a bout billed as the "Match of the Century." Here is a look at the 10 finals matchups ... 125: No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) vs. No. 4 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) The first Big Ten rematch of the night, which pits familiar rivals with a series split of 1-1. Delgado was beating Megaludis during their dual meet match before being pinned from a scramble late in the third period. Delgado won the rematch 6-3 in the Big Ten semifinals. Their history makes the match difficult to predict, but look for Delgado to attack the same right side high crotch to double finish that's led him to key victories over Matt McDonough of Iowa and Nahshon Garrett of Cornell. If Delgado wants to win it will be important to stay away from Megaludis' scrambling, and that means not allowing Nico to push him underneath and between his legs. Staying on his game means staying fast and not getting tangled up. Megaludis' game plan will be to stay low, find attacks and make sure he clears danger positions before re-engaging. Delgado lives off the reshot and Megaludis will need to protect the angle if he has any chance to fend off the Illini's attacks. 133: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) vs. No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) Though the epic battle makes its second go-round in 2013, it will be Stieber who will wrestle as the heavy favorite after back-to-back technical falls in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Ramos is coming off a hard-fought overtime win against Wisconsin's Tyler Graff who managed to take down the Hawkeye twice. Stieber is much better than Graff on his feet and on the mat. If the Buckeye opens up against Ramos in the finals it could be a four-takedown performance. More importantly, he'll have a huge advantage on the mat and could earn some back points. Ramos will need to slow down the action and make the match a single takedown affair. That, or push Stieber past his breaking point. 141: No. 2 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) vs. No. 4 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) Expect scoring -- lots and lots and lots of scoring. Port and Maple tangled at Midlands this season and put up an impressive 25 points with Maple winning the match 14-11. Maple is quick on his feet and Port can defend well, but when they met it was more about big moves (which favors Maple) and top work (which favors Port). The match will come down to who can control the action and ensure that their points aren't just openings for their opponents. This has Match of the Night potential! 149: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Okie State) vs. No. 2 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State) Oliver looked dinged at the end of his match against Steve Santos, leaving some on media row making faces to each other. If there is anyone in the building who can beat Oliver in 2013 it's Chamberlain who beat Oliver at the 2010 FILA Junior World Team Trials. That win was in freestyle, but it is their only interaction. Psychology aside, it will come down to Oliver's chances of turning Chamberlain from top. Given the Boise State wrestler's stingy policy on giving up points, this will be where any non-overtime match is contested. If Chamberlain gets out he's got a forty percent chance of pulling off the upset. If not, it will be a standard multiple-point win for Oliver. 157: No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern) vs. No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) Welch and St. John have met five times in their career, and all five times DSJ has come out victorious. Sometimes streaks are meant to be broken, and other times they're meant to endure. Welch was winning with five remaining in the 2012 Big Ten finals when DSJ pulled off an improbable takedown. That was a mental meltdown by Welch, but what should concern him is how he will score his points. DSJ is remarkable at staying calm in new and funky situations, finding ways to score points of his own instead of just earning stalemates. For Welch to reverse course he will have to do something that is out of character -- he'll have to shut it down and be content with control positions after scoring opportunities. He might also want to try some solid defense to further frustrate DSJ and open up new scoring options on his reshots. DSJ will want to make sure that he pushes Welch and continues to roll with him in funky situations. 165: No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) vs. No. 2 David Taylor (Penn State) It's just one man's opinion, but Kyle Dake has not been himself this weekend. The athleticism has been dulled by something that feels like stress and was exemplified in his 2-0 win over Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma State. Other than some sluggishness and the real possibility that this is all getting to him, it will be the Dake you've seen wrestle a dozen times. Taylor on the other hand has pinned his way through the tournament. Peter Yates of Virginia Tech gave him some trouble in the semifinals when he locked in a cross-chest hold in the hopes of slowing the inevitable. Taylor did take a short injury time to recover after he fell hard and lost his breath. Watch for Taylor to come out attacking. He wants the takedown and early riding time to make sure that he's leaving an impression. Dake would prefer something slower, and though he can out-scramble Taylor, he will need to be on his very best scramble. After the initial action it will come down to riding, which has been Taylor's advantage up until the moment it wasn't -- like when Dake hit the edge-of-the-mat reversal. 174: No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State) Matt Brown proved his detractors wrong and his fans right in a well-wrestled 3-2 win over Logan Storley of Minnesota in the semifinals. To keep the wins rolling in he will need to get Perry tired in transition. Brown opens his chest on his left side high crotch, which means that it's both faster than a normal straight-on, post high rotch, but it can also give his opponents profitable angles to launch reshots. Perry will need to sniff out Brown's attacks and look for ankles. Perry will also need to find and secure the angle on his finishes and prevent brown from using his trick knee as a line of defense. Both wrestlers are adept, but not wonderful from top. 184: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) Before his semifinal win over defending NCAA champion Steve Bosak, Ed Ruth's closest match of the season came in the first week of the season against Robert Hamlin, who kept it within two in a back-and-forth match. It's tough to know how Hamlin can stop the Truth, but you have to imagine it starts by not getting taken down early, something that Ruth is increasingly looking to do in tough matches. If Hamlin avoids the early takedown and fends off the rest of the first he will put himself in position to keep it a one-point match for the distance. However, Ruth doesn't like leaving question marks about his dominance, and will likely use his position as the night's second match to put on a show. If he comes out with blast doubles and solid top control it will be a long night for Hamlin. 197: No. 1 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) vs. No. 2 Quentin Wright (Penn State) The other top match of the night pits NCAA champions Quentin Wright and Dustin Kilgore in a match that could be decided on the mat. Kilgore looked mortal against Taylor Meeks of Oregon State, giving up a takedown and a reversal. If Kilgore continues his late-match defensive struggles against Wright, there could be big-point consequences. Similarly if Wright gets too chipper on top, or tries to force a throw, he will be quickly brought back to the mat by Kilgore. Both are pinners, but look for a points battle, not a fall. 285: No. 2 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) vs. No. 5 Mike McMullan (Northwestern) These big men know each other pretty well, and unfortunately for McMullan (Nickname: Muscles and Glasses) the record favors Nelson. In addition to beating McMullans 4-1 in the 2013 Big Ten finals, Nelson pinned him at the 2012 NCAAs and beat him 4-3 at Big Tens in 2012. That's three losses and all in the postseason. McMullan will need to maintain the attacks that helped him beat Dom Bradley in the semifinals, but also avoid being caught beneath the Minnesota giant. Should he get an angle and earn a quick two he will also need to be ready for Nelson's immediate re-attack. Nelson would prefer to play defense and look for late opportunities to push McMullan into making mistakes. Should the Northwestern wrestler choose bottom, the match will be decided in his ability to get off bottom in under one minute.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The wait is almost over. Kyle Dake of Cornell and David Taylor of Penn State, both returning NCAA champions, punched their tickets to the NCAA finals with semifinal victories on Friday night. The two wrestlers will meet in the final match of the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Saturday night. Dake needed just an escape and riding time point to defeat Oklahoma State's Tyler Caldwell 2-0 in the semifinals. It was Dake's second victory over Caldwell this season, with the first coming at the Grapple at the Garden in December. "He had a different game plan," Dake said of Caldwell. "He had a low stance, solid and then when he got close enough he would lock me up with a tie and it made things difficult to get going." The Big Red senior has not surrendered a single point in four matches over the past two days of competition, outscoring his opponents 28-0. Dake now stands just one win away from making history as both the first four-time NCAA Division I champion in four different weight classes and the first wrestler to win four NCAA titles without a redshirt season. Pat Smith and Cael Sanderson are the only wrestlers ever to win four NCAA Division I titles. Both redshirted during their careers. Standing in the way of history is Taylor, the returning Dan Hodge Trophy winner. Dake has two close victories over Taylor this season. "It's just another wrestling match for me," said Dake. "The mat size hasn't changed. There is going to be a referee, a guy sitting across from me, two coaches in my corner and two coaches in his corner. So really it's not that much different. We're going out and wrestling." Taylor reached the finals by pinning Virginia Tech's Peter Yates early in the second period. It was Taylor's fourth pin in four matches over the past two days. "I get in this tournament and something happens where I have to pin people," said Taylor. "I'm not complaining. This is a tournament where bonus points are everything, and they're preached by every coach. You don't realize how important bonus points can be." So what does Taylor expect will happen on Saturday night? "We will shake hands," said Taylor. "There is going to be a lot of wrestling done and I'm going to get my hand raised at the end, that's what I've been thinking about all season." Penn State opened up its lead in the team standings on Friday night after going five-for-five in the semifinals. The Nittany Lions are 20.5 points ahead of second-place Oklahoma State. Minnesota is in third place, eight points behind Oklahoma State. Also advancing to the finals for the Nittany Lions were Nico Megaludis (125), Matt Brown (174), Ed Ruth (184), and Quentin Wright (197). Megaludis reached the finals with a 2-1 victory in tiebreaker over top-seeded and previously unbeaten Alan Waters of Missouri. It's the second straight finals appearance for Megaludis, who fell to Iowa's Matt McDonough in last year's championship match. "Last year I expected to get in the finals, but this year I just really, really, really expect it, I guess," said Megaludis. "I guess it's because I've been here already, you know, been at this stage. It's like every kid in here ... They want to win it." Delgado and Megaludis have split two matches this season. Megaludis pinned Delgado in the third period of their first meeting on Feb. 3. The two met again in the Big Ten semifinals two weeks ago, with Delgado winning 6-3. "He was better than me that day," said Megaludis of his recent loss to Delgado. "That was one day, one week and this is a different match. I have to be offensive, but be aware of his quickness, but I need to get after it." Delgado, the Big Ten champion, registered four takedowns en route to a 10-5 victory over Cornell's Nahshon Garrett in the semifinals. "I knew if I didn't attack, he would, so I figured I would keep him off my legs and stay on his," said Delgado, who improved to 26-3 with the victory. Brown, a Big Ten champion two weeks ago as a No. 5 seed, earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Minnesota's Logan Storley in the semifinals at 174 pounds, avenging a loss from the Southern Scuffle in early January. He will face top-seeded Chris Perry of Oklahoma State in the finals. Ruth defeated Cornell's Steve Bosak 4-1 in a battle of returning NCAA champions. Ruth's finals opponent at 184 pounds will be Lehigh's Robert Hamlin, who advanced with a 3-2 victory over Central Michigan's Ben Bennett, who entered the match undefeated. Wright edged Pitt's Matt Wilps 4-3 in tiebreaker, setting up a meeting with Kent State's Dustin Kilgore in the finals at 197 pounds. Both wrestlers enter the NCAA finals undefeated. It's Wright third straight NCAA finals appearance. He was an NCAA champion in 2011 and finished runner-up last season. "All or nothing," said Wright. "There is no next year, so this one is a little bit more important. I'm glad to still have my health and my knees and shoulders and all that stuff. I'm excited to go out there and give it everything I have." Returning NCAA champion and undefeated Logan Stieber of Ohio State continued his dominance as he won by technical fall, 18-2, over Edinboro's A.J. Schopp in the semifinals at 133 pounds. "I've got the best training partners and coaches," said Stieber. "They allow me to get better every day." Stieber will meet Iowa's Tony Ramos in a rematch of the Big Ten finals. Ramos reached the finals by defeating Wisconsin's Tyler Graff 6-4 in sudden victory. Ramos said it's going to take "hard wrestling" to beat Stieber. "There's no game plans," said Ramos. "Everyone has a game plan, a strategy. You've got to go out there and you've got to fight and fight and keep on fighting, and that's how I'm going to win." Jordan Oliver, a 2011 NCAA champion at 133 pounds and two-time NCAA finalist, reached the finals at 149 pounds with a dominating 14-3 victory over Columbia's Steve Santos. Oliver, who enters the finals with a perfect 38-0 record, will meet Boise State's Jason Chamberlain, seeded second, in the finals. Chamberlain reached the finals by defeating unseeded Drake Houdashelt of Missouri, 7-3. The Boise State wrestler said he looked at his team's schedule early on in the year and realized that he wouldn't meet Oliver until the NCAAs. "I've been looking forward to it," Chamberlain said of meeting Oliver. "I think everybody kind of expected that maybe we would make it to the finals, so it's just something that I've been training for most of the year." Minnesota's Tony Nelson will be in his search of his second straight NCAA title at heavyweight on Saturday night after advancing to the NCAA finals with a 5-4 victory over Oklahoma State's Alan Gelogaev. Nelson trailed in the third period, but scored a late takedown and rideout for the win. His finals opponent will be Northwestern's Mike McMullan, who knocked off top-seeded Dom Bradley of Missouri in the semifinals. Like the match at 133 pounds, the heavyweight match will be a rematch of the Big Ten finals, which Nelson won 4-1. "Going out there and being able to do this again and be back in the finals, it's fun," said Nelson. "I'm excited to see what I can do tomorrow night." Oklahoma's Kendric Maple will take an undefeated record into the NCAA finals at 141 pounds after a 4-0 shutout victory over K. Undrakhbayar of The Citadel. Maple's finals opponent will be Edinboro's Mitchell Port, who reached the finals by defeating top-seeded and previously unbeaten Hunter Stieber of Ohio State. Saturday's Session V is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT. The finals (Session VI) will take place at 7 p.m. CT. Team Standings (Top Ten) 1. Penn State 114.5 2. Oklahoma State 94 3. Minnesota 86 4. Iowa 68 5. Cornell 51 6. Missouri 47.5 7. Ohio State 46 8. Iowa State 41 8. Oregon State 41 10. Virginia Tech 40 Semifinal Results 125: No. 4 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) dec. No. 1 Alan Waters (Missouri), 3-2 TB No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. No. 6 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell), 10-5 133: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) tech. fall No. 4 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro), 18-2 No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 6-4 SV 141: No. 4 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) dec. No. 1 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State), 7-6 No. 2 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) dec. No. 6 K. Undrakhbayar (The Citadel), 4-0 149: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. No. 5 Steve Santos (Columbia), 14-3 No. 2 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State) dec. Drake Houdashelt (Missouri), 7-3 157: No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern) dec. David Bonin (Northern Iowa), 7-1 No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. No. 6 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State), 3-2 TB 165: No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. No. 4 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State), 2-0 No. 2 David Taylor (Penn State) pinned No. 3 Peter Yates (Virginia Tech), 3:24 174: No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 4 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska), 4-2 SV1 No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Logan Storley (Minnesota), 3-2 184: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) dec. No. 4 Steve Bosak (Cornell), 4-1 No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) dec. No. 2 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 3-2 197: No. 1 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) dec. No. 5 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State), 8-6 No. 2 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 3 Matt Wilps (Pitt), 4-3 Tb 285: No. 5 Mike McMullan (Northwestern) dec. No. 1 Dom Bradley (Missouri), 3-1 SV1 No. 2 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. No. 3 Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State), 5-4

1. Penn State 114.5 2. Oklahoma State 94 3. Minnesota 86 4. Iowa 68 5. Cornell 51 6. Missouri 47.5 7. Ohio State 46 8. Iowa State 41 8. Oregon State 41 10. Virginia Tech 40 11. Illinois 39.5 12. Edinboro 34 13. Oklahoma 33.5 14. Northwestern 32.5 15. Nebraska 31.5 16. Boise State 29 17. Central Michigan 27 17. Pittsburgh 27 19. Northern Iowa 26.5 20. Virginia 23.5 21. North Carolina 21.5 22. Kent State 20 23. Wyoming 19.5 24. Lehigh 18.5 24. The Citadel 18.5 26. Maryland 16.5 27. Ohio 16 28. North Dakota State 14.5 29. Columbia 12.5 30. Wisconsin 12 31. Binghamton 10 31. Purdue 10 33. Clarion 9 33. Michigan 9 35. Pennsylvania 7.5 35. Rutgers 7.5 37. Bloomsburg 6 38. Air Force 5.5 38. Stanford 5.5 40. Rider 4.5 41. Arizona State 4 41. Eastern Mich. 4 41. Harvard 4 41. Indiana 4 41. Northern Ill. 4 46. Bucknell 3.5 46. Hofstra 3.5 46. Utah Valley 3.5 49. Appalachian S. 3 49. Navy 3 51. American 2.5 51. Boston U. 2.5 51. Brown 2.5 51. Michigan State 2.5 55. Chattanooga 2 55. Franklin & Marshall 2 57. Buffalo 1.5 57. Drexel 1.5 57. Lock Haven 1.5 60. CSU Bakersfield 1 60. Gardner-Webb 1 60. Old Dominion 1 63. Duke 0.5 63. North Carolina State 0.5 63. West Virginia 0.5 66. Army 0 66. Cal Poly 0 66. Campbell 0 66. Cleveland State 0 66. Davidson 0 66. George Mason 0 66. South Dakota State 0

125: No. 4 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) dec. No. 1 Alan Waters (Missouri), 3-2 TB No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. No. 6 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell), 10-5 133: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) tech. fall No. 4 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro), 18-2 No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 6-4 SV 141: No. 4 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) dec. No. 1 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State), 7-6 No. 2 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) dec. No. 6 K. Undrakhbayar (The Citadel), 4-0 149: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. No. 5 Steve Santos (Columbia), 14-3 No. 2 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State) dec. Drake Houdashelt (Missouri), 7-3 157: No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern) dec. David Bonin (Northern Iowa), 7-1 No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. No. 6 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State), 3-2 TB 165: No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. No. 4 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State), 2-0 No. 2 David Taylor (Penn State) pinned No. 3 Peter Yates (Virginia Tech), 3:24 174: No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 4 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska), 4-2 SV1 No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Logan Storley (Minnesota), 3-2 184: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) dec. No. 4 Steve Bosak (Cornell), 4-1 No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) dec. No. 2 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 3-2 197: No. 1 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) dec. No. 5 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State), 8-6 No. 2 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 3 Matt Wilps (Pitt), 4-3 Tb 285: No. 5 Mike McMullan (Northwestern) dec. No. 1 Dom Bradley (Missouri), 3-1 SV1 No. 2 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. No. 3 Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State), 5-4

The NCAA semifinals and All-American round is the most exciting two hours in sports. In addition to compelling individual matchups, Penn State and Oklahoma State will be looking for their five semifinals a piece to secure advancement points and earn a lead in the team race. 125: The Nahshon Garrett upset of Matt McDonough makes two plotlines for the All-American round tonight. First, it'll be interesting to see what Garrett's shots can do against Jesse Delgado of Illinois, who had consistently stymied McDonough's offense this season. If Garrett can find a way to take down Delgado, he has the type of top game that could manage the match enough to squeak out a win. Do you really bet against a Cornell lightweight at the NCAA tournament? According to Troy Nickerson and Travis Lee you don't. The second is just how will McDonough wrestle in the consolations, a place he's never seen at the NCAA tournament? The top side matchup between Missouri's Alan Waters and Nico Megaludis will most likely be decided by a single takedown. Low-scoring matches means it's likely that the result will come down to Megaludis' ability to defend Waters' early offense. Look for a Megaludis' to use his patented splits on the edge of the mat. If he can control the early aggression, and escape from bottom, I like his counter offense to deliver the Nittany Lions their first finalist of the night. 133: Logan Stieber (Ohio State) showed just how dominant he can be when he exploded for a 17-1 quarterfinal technical fall of Cody Brewer (Oklahoma). He'll face A.J. Schopp who impressed from top in his quarterfinal matchup, but even that won't be enough to overcome the skills of the top-seeded Buckeye. This match will be decided on the mat, and that should favor Stieber. Tony Ramos (Iowa) and Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) will renew their rivalry on the other side of the bracket. Though Ramos won the last match 3-1 and is wrestling at home with the support of a rabidly Iowa crowd, expect Graff to stick with them on their feet. The edge, where Ramos pushes opponents and finds the space to score, will decide this match. If Graff relaxes on the edge, Ramos will earn the takedown and the win. 141: Hunter Stieber (Ohio State) escaped the grasp of No. 9 Richard Durso (Franklin & Marshall) in the quarterfinals, but in doing so showed some vulnerability from his feet and in transitional positions. He's in trouble against Mitchell Port. The Edinboro No. 4 seed is a wrestler with similarities to Durso, but with the additional help of being trained by Tim Flynn. Call for the upset. The Citadel's K. Undrakhbayar (Meaning: Effusive Happiness) upset No. 3 Mike Mangrum of Oregon State in double OT rideout. In winning, Ugi became the second Citadel semifinalist in school history, the second All-American, and the first Mongolian since Ganbayar Sanjaa to place at NCAAs. He's a feel-good story, but Ugi is going to have trouble slowing down Kendric Maple of Oklahoma. If he does it'll be from the left side front head that he's used all season to frustrate and open up his opponents. Maple is still the heavy favorite. 149: Jordan Oliver will face Steve Santos of Columbia in the top quarterfinal. Santos is that school's first semifinalist since 1978 and has been wrestling well. Unfortunately he's run into a buzzsaw. Bracket buster Drake Houdashelt of Missouri needed every ounce and every second of two rideouts to get past Kevin Tao of American. The Missouri wrestler is hot, and will face Boise State's Jason Chamberlain who won a 2-1 rideout against Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State). Chamberlain is excellent at winning tight matches and this should be the end of Houdashelt's run. However, with an excellent top game, the Sammie Henson effect and a serviceable and solid defense on his feet, I'd look for a much closer match than expected in the semifinals. 157: The match of the tournament might belong to Jason Welch of Northwestern and Dylan Alton of Penn State. Welch utilized aggressive but loose attacks to create scrambles where he could find takedowns and back points. His big-move style and control on top will be more than enough to beat David Bonin, the unseeded bracket buster from Northern Iowa. Derek St. John (Iowa) and Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) are meeting in what might be an entertaining clash of styles, or a snoozer. St. John won the first match 8-4, but the Cowboy wrestler is competing like he's a brand new version of his youthful self. If Dieringer can finish clean and avoid funk rolls he should be able to keep it closer. Both are areas you might expect to head coach John Smith would have worked before the semifinals begin. Dieringer is special and could prove it this round with the upset of the returning NCAA finalist. 165: The collision course is still set, but as Taylor seems to be enjoying the spotlight and wrestling like an NCAA champion, Dake is much more tentative. The Cornell wrestler earned a 13-0 win in the quarters but wasn't his normal cheery self. Meanwhile Taylor is 3-3 on falls after a 24-second fall in the quarters, and will meet Peter Yates of Virginia Tech. Dake will have the tougher of the two matchups, facing off against Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State) who he beat 4-1 earlier in the season. Caldwell is a difficult matchup for Dake, but I'd still expect a several point victory and a meeting with Taylor in the finals 174: Maybe the best matchup of the semifinals comes in a weight class many thought was in utter disarray heading into these championships. Logan Storley (Minnesota) will face Matt Brown (Penn State) in a rematch of the Southern Scuffle semifinals where Storley caught Brown on his back in a scramble. The Nittany Lion will look to avenge the loss and is wrestling tough enough to get the job done. If Brown can control the mistakes from scrambles that cost him in their first match, and the dual meet against Mike Evans, then he should come away with the victory and finals appearance. The topside has Oklahoma State's Chris Perry facing Nebraska's Bob Kokesh. Perry looked sloppy against Nick Helfin of Ohio State, gutting out an overtime win, while Kokesh earned a major against Josh Asper of Maryland. If Kokesh can get his offense going early, it should be his match to lose. If he hesitates and keeps it close until the final whistle, Perry will find a way to squeak it out. 184: Ed Ruth and Steve Bosak will meet as returning NCAA champions looking for a chance to repeat. Boask, who started the season late is finally starting to catch form, but will it be enough to stop Ruth who has cruised in all his matches? Unlikely. Though Bosak has found his way to the semifinals, expect to see Ruth continue his domination and earn a spot in the finals. Ben Bennett of Central Michigan and Robert Hamlin meet in the other semifinal. Bennett is now a four-time All-American with a chance to make the finals in his senior season. Bennett beat Bosak 2-1 at Midlands and with a healthier body and the type of style it takes to beat Hamlin, look for Bennett to win and make his first NCAA finals. 197: Penn Stater Quentin Wright's headlock of Scott Schiller (Minnesota) was the highlight of the 197 quarterfinals. The senior is a pinner and he's "feeling it" on Friday. He'll meet Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh) who he recently pinned during their dual meet, but who likewise earned the fall against Q in the NWCA All-Star Classic. Wilps looked like a hammer against Blake Rosholt (Oklahoma State) in the quarterfinals. But expect Quentin to throw too much at Wilps, find back points and earn another trip to the finals. Kent State's Dustin Kilgore will meet Taylor Meeks of Oregon State in a match that should've been a walk through for Kilgore, but after quarterfinals might be tighter than expected. Meeks has strong top game and is an adept scrambler. If he can hand fight with Kilgore and score on a reshot of his won, he can make the match much closer than many would expect. However, if Kilgore can find his attacks and win even one scramble, he'll open up a lead that would be difficult for Meeks to overcome. 285: Mizzou's Dom Bradley was contented with an overtime ride-out win in the quarters against Zac Thomusseit (Pitt). He'll need to bring a lot more to his semifinals match against returning All-American and No. 5 seed Mike McMullan of Northwestern. The B1G Ten wrestler is a mover, and though he'll be outweighed by 20-plus pounds, he's always willing to cause a scramble and take shots. Bradley won the first match 3-2 and will need to stay in good position again to find energy for the reshots. If Bradley stays in position, he can win, but if he stands too tall or gets into an unnecessary scramble, then it'll be McMullan's match and first trip to the finals. Returning NCAA champion, Tony Nelson of Minnesota will face Oklahoma State's Alan "Z" Gelogaev, who the Gopher has bested twice this season, once by decision and once by pin. It's worth noting that last season Z earned a 16-5 major decision against Nelson. The results are all over the place, but if Nelson can keep it close, he'll win. That simple. But if the scoring starts early it'll be tough for the big man to generate his offense and climb back from even a two-point hole.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Returning NCAA champions Kyle Dake of Cornell and David Taylor of Penn State moved one step closer to a potential showdown on Saturday night at the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Both Dake and Taylor earned bonus-point victories in their quarterfinal matches at 165 pounds on Friday morning. Dake registered his third straight shutout, defeating Virginia's Nick Sulzer 13-0. The Big Red senior has outscored his competition 26-0 over the past two days. Taylor, the returning Dan Hodge Trophy winner, now has three pins in three matches after a 24-second pin in the quarterfinals over Conrad Polz of Illinois. Dake will meet Oklahoma State's Tyler Caldwell tonight. The two wrestlers met at the Grapple at the Garden in December, with Dake winning 4-1. Taylor's semifinal opponent will be Virginia Tech's Peter Yates, who needed overtime to edge Minnesota's Cody Yohn, 5-3. Cael Sanderson (Photo/Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com)Two-time defending national champion Penn State continues to rack up bonus points and extend its lead in the team standings. The Nittany Lions went 5-1 in the quarterfinals, with all five of their quarterfinal winners earning bonus points. Oklahoma State remains in second place and sits 12 points behind Penn State after Session III. The Cowboys, like the Nittany Lions, have five semifinalists. Minnesota sits in third place, 16 points behind second-place Oklahoma State. Iowa and Missouri are in fourth and fifth place respectively. For the first time since 2010 all ten No. 1 seeds advanced to the NCAA semifinals. Drake Houdashelt of Missouri (149) and David Bonin of Northern Iowa (157) were the lone unseeded wrestlers to advance to the semifinals. Houdashelt topped fellow unseeded wrestler Kevin Tao of American in the quarterfinals, and will now face No. 2 Jason Chamberlain of Boise State in the semifinals at 149 pounds. Bonin advanced with a 3-0 shutout over over Virginia's Jedd Moore. Nahshon Garrett won in sudden victory over Matt McDonough (Photo/Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com)Two freshmen, both No. 6 seeds, advanced to the semifinals: Nahshon Garrett of Cornell (125) and Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State (157). Garrett stunned two-time NCAA champion Matt McDonough of Iowa 4-2 win in sudden victory, avenging a loss from earlier this season. He becomes Cornell's first freshman semifinalist since Kyle Dake in 2010. Dieringer scored a late takedown to pull ahead and defeat Boise State's Georgi Ivanov, 4-2. He will now meet Iowa's Derek St. John, who advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over Ohio State's Josh Demas. St. John defeated Dieringer earlier this season, 8-4. Ten wrestlers will take undefeated records into their semifinals matches: Alan Waters of Missouri (125), Logan Stieber of Ohio State (133), Hunter Stieber of Ohio State (141), Kendric Maple of Oklahoma (141), Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State (149), Dake (165), Ed Ruth of Penn State (184), Ben Bennett of Central Michigan (184), Dustin Kilgore of Kent State (197), and Quentin Wright of Penn State (197). Team Standings (Top Ten) 1. Penn State 77.5 2. Oklahoma State 65.5 3. Minnesota 49.5 4. Iowa 39 5. Missouri 38.5 6. Cornell 37 7. Ohio State 30.5 8. Edinboro 27 8. Nebraska 27 10. Oregon State 26 Quarterfinal Results 125: No. 1 Alan Waters (Missouri) dec. No. 8 Matt Snyder (Virginia), 4-0 No. 4 Nico Megaludis (Penn State) maj. dec. Dominic Parisi (Appalachian State), 12-4 No. 6 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa), 4-2 SV No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. No. 7 Nathan Kraisser (North Carolina), 10-7 133: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) tech. fall No. 8 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma), 17-1 No. 4 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro) dec. No. 5 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota), 11-7 No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) dec. No. 6 Nathan McCormick (Missouri), 5-3 No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Jon Morrison (Oklahoma State), 6-1 141: No. 1 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State) dec. No. 9 Richard Durso (Franklin & Marshall), 9-8 No. 4 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) maj. dec. No. 5 Evan Henderson (North Carolina), 13-5 No. 6 K. Undrakhbayar (The Citadel) dec. No. 3 Michael Mangrum (Oregon State), 3-2 TB1 No. 2 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) maj. dec. No. 7 Mark Ballweg (Iowa), 12-3 149: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. No. 9 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska), 11-3 No. 5 Steve Santos (Columbia) dec. No. 4 Cole VonOhlen (Air Force), 5-4 Drake Houdashelt (Missouri) dec. Kevin Tao (American), 3-2 TB No. 2 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State) dec. No. 7 Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State), 2-1 TB 157: No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern) dec. No. 8 Dylan Alton (Penn State), 8-3 David Bonin (Northern Iowa) dec. No. 12 Jedd Moore (Virginia), 3-0 No. 6 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) dec. Georgi Ivanov (Boise State), 6-4 No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) dec. Josh Demas (Ohio State), 4-0 165: No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) maj. dec. No. 8 Nick Sulzer (Virginia), 13-0 No. 4 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 12 Taylor Massa (Michigan), 3-1 No. 3 Peter Yates (Virginia Tech) dec. No. 11 Cody Yohn (Minnesota), 5-3 SV2 No. 2 David Taylor (Penn State) pinned No. 7 Conrad Polz (Illinois), 0:24 174: No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 8 Nick Heflin (Ohio State), 3-2 TB No. 4 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska) maj. dec. No. 5 Josh Asper (Maryland), 11-3 No. 6 Logan Storley (Minnesota) dec. No. 3 Mike Evans (Iowa), 3-2 No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State) maj. dec. Tanner Weatherman (Iowa State), 13-5 184: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) maj. dec. Max Thomusseit (Pitt), 11-1 No. 4 Steve Bosak (Cornell) dec. No. 12 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa), 4-1 No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) dec. No. 6 Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa), 2-1 No. 2 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan) dec. No. 7 Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland),1-0 197: No. 1 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) dec. No. 8 Micah Burak (Penn), 7-0 No. 5 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State) pinned No. 4 Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming), 4:54 No. 3 Matt Wilps (Pitt) dec. No. 11 Blake Rosholt (Oklahoma State), 7-1 No. 2 Quentin Wright (Penn State) pinned No. 10 Scott Schiller (Minnesota), 2:49 285: No. 1 Dom Bradley (Missouri) dec. No. 9 Zac Thomusseit (Pitt), 2-1 TB No. 5 Mike McMullan (Northwestern) dec. No. 4 Chad Hanke (Oregon State), 5-3 No. 3 Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 11 J.T. Felix (Boise State), 10-5 No. 2 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. No. 10 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan), 1-0

Related: Coverage Section DES MOINES, Iowa -- Two-time defending national champion Penn State extended its lead at Session II of the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships after four Nittany Lion wrestlers from 157 pounds through 184 pounds earned bonus points in their second-round matches. Penn State has six quarterfinalists and sits 3.5 points in front of second-place Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have seven quarterfinalists, which is more than any other school, and have all ten wrestlers alive heading into Friday's competition. Minnesota remained in third place in the team standings, five points behind Oklahoma State, despite a tough second round that saw All-Americans Dylan Ness (149) and Kevin Steinhaus (184) lose. The Gophers advanced five wrestlers to the quarterfinals. Iowa put six wrestlers in the quarterfinals and sits in fourth place, two points behind third-place Minnesota and 10.5 points behind first-place Penn State. Oregon State is in fifth place, six points behind Iowa. Missouri and Ohio State are tied for sixth. The 157-pound weight class saw its third top-five seed fall on Thursday when fifth-seeded James Fleming lost 4-0 to Virginia's Jedd Moore. No. 3 Joey Napoli of Lehigh and No. 4 James Green of Nebraska lost in Thursday morning's Session I. Napoli was knocked out the tournament in Session II when Minnesota's Danny Zilverberg defeated the Lehigh wrestler 7-1. Eight unseeded wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals. Nahshon Garrett was one of six freshmen to advance to the quarterfinals (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Six freshmen earned berths in the quarterfinals: Nahshon Garrett of Cornell (125), Nathan Kraisser of North Carolina (125), Cody Brewer of Oklahoma (133), Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State (157), Taylor Massa of Michigan (165), and Tanner Weatherman of Iowa State (174). Thursday's total attendance was 32,262. Below is a weight class-by-weight class summary of results from the second round. 125: Unseeded Dominic Parisi of Appalachian State picked up his second win over a seeded wrestler when he downed Wyoming Tyler Cox, 5-4. Parisi's quarterfinal opponent will be Penn State's Nico Megaludis, who advanced with a 5-2 victory over Central Michigan's Christian Cullinan. The rest of the 125-pound matches were won by higher seeded wrestlers. Top-seeded and undefeated Alan Waters of Missouri was pushed by Michigan's Sean Boyle, but came away with the 4-2 victory. 133: All eight higher seeded wrestlers moved onto the quarterfinals. The top two seeds, Logan Stieber of Ohio State and Tony Ramos of Iowa picked up pins. Stieber will meet Oklahoma's Cody Brewer in the quarterfinals. Brewer notched a win over Stieber in freestyle two years ago at the FILA Junior Nationals. Ramos will meet Oklahoma State's Jon Morrison, who reached the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory over Central Michigan's Scotti Sentes. 141: Richard Durso of Franklin & Marshall's punched his ticket to the quarterfinals by edging Minnesota's Nick Dardanes 5-4 in tiebreaker. With the win, Durso improved to 39-3 on the season. Durso will face a tall order in his next match as he meets top-seeded and undefeated Hunter Stieber of Ohio State. Stieber advanced with a 7-3 win over All-American Steven Keith of Harvard. Missouri's Drake Houdashelt defeated NCAA runner-up Dylan Ness of Minnesota (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)149: Missouri's unseeded Drake Houdashelt picked up his second win of the day over a seeded Big Ten wrestler by beating NCAA runner-up Dylan Ness of Minnesota. Houdashelt and Ness were tied 2-2 in the third period before the Missouri Tiger earned a takedown with 12 seconds left to get the 5-2 victory after securing a riding time point in the closing seconds. Interestingly, Houdashelt will face another unseeded wrestler, Kevin Tao of American, in the quarterfinals. Tao, who knocked off third-seeded Donnie Vinson of Binghamton in the opening round, moved on with a 9-3 win over Raymond Borja of Navy. 157: Virginia's Jedd Moore, seeded 12th, upset fifth-seeded James Fleming of Clarion, 4-0. He will meet surprise quarterfinalist David Bonin of Northern Iowa, who advanced with a 4-0 victory over Missouri's Kyle Bradley. Bonin was one of three unseeded wrestlers to reach the quarterfinals at this weight class, along with Boise State's Georgi Ivanov and Ohio State's Josh Demas. Kyle Dake (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)165: Michigan freshman Taylor Massa moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-5 victory over fifth-seeded Steven Monk of North Dakota State. Massa, the nation's No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2012, is one of six freshmen who advanced to the quarterfinals, and one of only two true freshmen to advance. The top two seeds, Kyle Dake of Cornell and David Taylor Penn State, earned bonus-point victories. Dake blanked Indian's Ryan LeBlanc 10-0, which was his second shutout victory of the day. Taylor earned his second first-period pin of the day by decking Appalachian State's Zac Strickland at 2:42. 174: Iowa State's unseeded Tanner Weatherman earned a thrilling 16-14 victory over seventh-seeded Jordan Blanton. It marked Weatherman's second straight win over a seeded Big Ten wrestler after beating Michigan's Dan Yates in the opening round. Blanton was the only top-eight seeded who failed to advance to the quarterfinals at 174 pounds. 184: Pitt's Max Thomusseit continued his impressive run in the bracket by defeating Nebraska All-American Josh Ihnen, 3-1. (Thomusseit defeated ninth-seeded Chris Chionuma of Oklahoma State earlier in the day. Iowa's Ethen Lofthouse earned a takedown in the finals 25 seconds to edge Minnesota's Kevin Steinhaus 3-2 in a battle of returning All-Americans. The top four seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. 197: Oklahoma State's Blake Rosholt, seeded 11th, won a tight battle, 8-7, over Iowa State's Kyven Gadson. Rosholt had lost three previous meetings this season to Gadson. Tenth-seeded Scott Schiller of Minnesota defeated seventh-seeded Nate Scheidel of Binghamton, 9-5. 285: It was chalk at the top of the heavyweight division as the top five seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. Iowa's Bobby Telford, seeded sixth, lost by injury default to Boise State's J.T. Felix. Tenth-seeded Jarod Trice of Central Michigan topped Wisconsin's seventh-seeded Connor Medbery, 6-4. Team Standings (Top Ten) 1. Penn State 32.5 2. Oklahoma State 29 3. Minnesota 24 4. Iowa 22 5. Oregon State 16 6. Missouri 14.5 6. Ohio State 14.5 8. Nebraska 13.5 9. Oklahoma 13 10. Boise State 12 10. Cornell 12

Related: Coverage Section Below is a selection of key matches to watch in Friday's quarterfinals, which get underway at 10 a.m. CT. 125: Dominic Parisi (Appalachian State) is looking to be the tournament's first Bracket Buster after wins against No. 5 Jarrod Garnett and No. 12 Tyler Cox. Up next for Mountaineer is No. 4 seed Nico Megaludis who looked solid in a decision victory against Christian Cullinan (CMU). I still like Nico to pull out the win, but the Iowa fans will be pulling for the App State Cinderella to help their push for a title in Des Moines. 133: In a subplot that won't likely influence the outcome of the overall bracket, you should know that No. 8 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma) has beaten No. 1 Logan Stieber (tOSU). It wasn't recent, and it wasn't folkstyle, but it happened at Fila Jr. Nationals when Brewer won back-to-back periods. Otherwise the matches are all pretty static predictions. Ramos is on a tear and should be able to handle Morrison in the bottom quarterfinals. Look for McCormick to try and earn the upset over Graff. 141: Richard Durso became the crowd favorite in his second round win over Nick Dardanes of Minnesota. The Franklin & Marshall wrestler isn't a tricky one-off who was able to cement job his way through the EIWA tournament. He'll have Hunter Stieber (tOSU) but that's not as lopsided as the schools suggest. Durso is an All-American quality wrestler, and if Hunter doesn't respect his tank, skills and crowd appeal, it'll be a long seven minutes. 149: Steve Santos and Cole VonOhlen are meeting in the 4/5 match-up in the bottom side of the top bracket. VonOhlen was injured at the Western Regional tournament and gritted out a won against Dan Osterman (Michigan State), but he'll need more tomorrow to get past Santos who put a definitive well-wrestled match against Eric Grajales (Michigan). This will be entertaining, and also historic -- should Santos win he'll become the first semifinalist in modern Columbia wrestling history. Also Drake Houdashelt continues his run after beating No. 6 Dylan Ness of Minnesota in the second round. He'll face fellow unseeded wrestler Kevin Tao (American) for the right to be the tournament's first Bracket Buster! Look for Houdashelt to have his way. 157: Jason Welch of Northwestern squeezed past longtime nemesis Scotty Winston of Rutgers in an unimpressive second-round match. He'll need to be at his best tomorrow morning when he faces No 8 Dylan Alton of Penn State, the man he lost to in consolation finals last year. Just down the line is an on-fire No. 12 Jedd Moore of Virginia who bested No. 5 James Fleming of Clarion. He'll face unseeded David Bonin (UNI) for the other semifinal spot. Also keep an eye on Josh Demas (Ohio State) who wrestled No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa) tight earlier in the year. Demas is unseeded and was able to get past Jesse Dong of Virginia Tech in the second round. Unseeded Georgi Ivanov (Boise State) and No. 6 Alex Dierenger (Oklahoma State) face off in the other quarterfinals. Ivanov was my Bracket Buster. 165: While Kyle Dake and David Taylor eye each other up from across the gym, the battle to meet them in the semifinals is happening with two very competitive quarterfinals. The leader of the Dake lottery is No. 12 Taylor Massa who is wrestling lights out and will face Oklahoma State's No. 4 Tyler Caldwell. I like Massa. Also, be sure to see if No. 3 Peter Yates will be able to wrestle from his knees and make it past No. 11 Cody Yohn, who will work the front headlock series many have thought would work 174: If the first meeting of Iowa and Minnesota on Thursday night was any indication (Ethan Lofthouse beating Kevin Steinhaus), the best match of the morning might be Mike Evans (Iowa) and Logan Storley (Minnesota). They're evenly matched and have a tradition, but when it comes to the brightest lights, Evans will have the edge in front of a very home crowd. The other match to watch is Matt Brown (Penn State) to see how he handles the upset special Tanner Weatherman who has beaten the No. 10 and No. 7 wrestler to make the quarterfinals. Superman Brown has it all figured out, earning a fall in his last match and looking like the best in the weight class. 184: It could be argued that No. 7 Jimmy Sheptock is wrestling the most impressive tournament at 184 outside of Ed Ruth. He'll face undefeated No. 2 Ben Bennett (CMU) in the bottom quarterfinal. Bennett is a monster of a human, as is Sheptock, so it'll come down to who can show some grit in getting off bottom, or staying off bottom in the case of Sheptock. To win, he'll need to earn takedowns, keep up the pressure and remain off his belly. I also like No. 6 Ryan Loder (UNI) to find the upset against No. 3 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), mostly by working Hamlin on the mat. 197: Planet Kilgore. Watch and learn what domination and enjoyment look like on the wrestling mat. But lurking is Penn State's Quentin Wright, who would love to earn another title. Collision Course, people. BOOM. 285: Minnesota's Tony Nelson knew it would be a tough tournament, but he probably didn't think he'd be facing Jarrod Trice of Central Michigan in the quarterfinals. Expect Nelson to control the action on his feet and possibly even find a ride time point, but also know that Trice doesn't stop. If there's an opening late, then Trice will be attacking all angles. Another fun matchup will be No. 11 J.T. Felix of Boise State and No. 3 Alan Gelogaev of Oklahoma State, who opened up the tournament with an 18-second fall over Ben Apland of Michigan, a record time for the heavyweight division at the NCAA tournament.

Related: Coverage Section DES MOINES, Iowa -- The 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships kicked off at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines shortly after 11 a.m. CT with 330 wrestlers representing 72 schools. Two-time defending national champion Penn State sits in first place with 14.5 points after the opening session despite having four wrestlers suffer losses, with two of those wrestlers being seeded. Oklahoma State is in second place with 13 points. Minnesota (11) and Iowa (10) sit in third and fourth place respectively. Host Iowa State is tied for fifth with Northern Iowa and Oregon State. Two No. 3 seeds suffered losses in the opening session: Donnie Vinson of Binghamton (149) and Joey Napoli of Lehigh (157). Of the 120 seeded wrestlers, 20 lost in the opening session. Below is a weight class-by-weight-class summary. 125: The highest seeded wrestler to lose was No. 5 Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech, who fell to Dominic Parisi of Appalachian State, 7-6. The other seeded wrestlers to lose at 125 pounds were No. 10 Josh Martinez of Air Force and No. 11 Nikko Triggas of Ohio State. Martinez's loss came to unseeded All-American Steve Bonanno of Hofstra, 9-2. Triggas, a past All-American, fell 5-2 to Stanford's Evan Silver. 133: The No. 11 and No. 12 seeds, George DiCamillo of Virginia and Jordan Conway of Penn State, fell in the first round. It was Boston's Dane Harlowe who knocked off DiCamillo, 9-7, while Vincent Dellafave of Rutgers defeated Conaway in sudden victory, 3-1. 141: Zach Neibert of Virginia Tech used a reversal in tiebreaker to defeat No. 11 Mike Nevinger of Cornell, a returning All-American, 3-1. 149: Third-seeded Donnie Vinson of Binghamton fell 3-2 in tiebreaker to American's Kevin Tao. Tao used a reversal in the tiebreaker to propel him to the victory. Penn State's Andrew Alton, seeded 11th, lost to Missouri's Drake Houdashelt 4-1. Indiana's Taylor Walsh upset No. 3 Joey Napoli of Lehigh (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)157: Five of the 12 seeds lost in the first round, including No. 3 Joey Napoli of Lehigh and No. 4 James Green of Nebraska. Napoli was blanked 6-0 by Indiana's Taylor Walsh, while Green's loss came to Missouri's Kyle Bradley in tiebreaker, 4-3. The No. 9 and No. 11 seeds, Bloomsburg's Frank Hickman and Harvard's Walter Peppelman, were pinned. Hickman was decked in the first period by Rider's Zac Cibula. Peppelman, a two-time All-American, was pinned in the first period by Ohio's Spartacus Chino. R.J. Pena of Oregon State, seeded 10th, lost a tight match, 7-6, Ohio State's Josh Demas. 165: Tenth-seeded Nick Moore of Iowa lost 5-3 to instate rival Michael Moreno of Iowa State , reversing a result from earlier this season. Tanner Weatherman upset No. 10 Dan Yates at 174 (Photo/Simon Jimenez, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)174: Four seeded wrestlers lost in this weight class: No. 9 Nathaniel Brown of Lehigh, No. 10 Dan Yates of Michigan, No. 11 Blake Stauffer of Arizona State, and Matt Miller of Navy. Brown dropped a 5-3 match to Gardner-Webb's Hunter Gamble. Yates fell to Iowa State's Tanner Weatherman, 6-4. Stauffer was upended by Northern Illinois' Matt Mougin, 4-2. Miller was edged 5-4 by Buffalo's John-Martin Cannon. 184: Ninth-seeded Chris Chionuma of Oklahoma State, an NAIA national champion, lost 4-1 to Pitt's Max Thomusseit. 197: Missouri's Brent Haynes, seeded 12th, was taken down in sudden victory to lose to Wisconsin's Jackson Hein, 6-4. 285: No seeded wrestlers lost first-round matches at heavyweight. Team Standings (Top Ten): 1. Penn State 14.5 2. Oklahoma State 13 3. Minnesota 11 4. Iowa 10 5. Iowa State 9 5. Northern Iowa 9 5. Oregon State 9 8. Missouri 8 8. North Carolina 8 10. Oklahoma 7.5

Related: Coverage Section Below is a look at some key matches in tonight's Session II, which gets underway at 6:30 p.m. CT. 125: Alan Waters had trouble handling David Thorn (Minnesota) in the first round, a compliment to the Gopher wrestler, but also a possible indication of how Waters will wrestler early. To that point, watch the match between No. 9 Trent Sprenkle (NDSU) and No. 8 Matt Snyder (Virginia) to give Waters trouble. Both are funky, big-point wrestlers with unique styles that could endanger the Tigers' title run. 133: The matchup to meet No. 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) will be between No. 7 Jon Morrison (Oklahoma State) and No. 10 Scotti Sentes (CMU). While the 7/10 matchup is always entertaining, Sentes is also a two-time All-American. Watch to see if either of these guys is showing something exceptional, because they'll need it to beat Ramos in Iowa (He has a banner of I-80!) 141: The weight's No. 3 Mike Mangrum (Oregon State) had to battle to get past Nick Hucke (Missouri) in the first round, using a challenge en route to an overtime win. That's compelling in how it might effect the winner of the second-round match between Virginia Tech's Zach Neibert who beat No. 11 Mike Nevinger Ugi (Citadel) in a second-round matchup that could give the Hokie a winnable match. Ugi won their first meeting 3-1, but look for Neibert to give him a battle and work from top. 149: The marquee second-round matchup will be Drake Houdashelt (Missouri) versus No. 5 Dylan Ness (Minnesota). The Gopher wrestler squeaked by Daniel Young (Army), while Houdashelt looked complete in upsetting No. 11 Andrew Alton (Penn State). The winner will face Kevin Tao (American) who upset No. 3 Donnie Vinson (Binghamton) in the first round. 157: The matchup that's five years in the making, No. 1 Jason Welch (Northwestern) versus Scotty Winston (Rutgers). The duo have met twice in college, splitting their matches with Welch winning their 2009 NCAA matchup 9-1. Since then Welch has placed the past two seasons at the NCAA tournament, while Winston has been the face of Rutgers' frustrations at the Big Show. Could be interesting considering their history. Also keep an eye on Georgi Ivanov (Boise State) versus Taylor Walsh (Indiana), who upset No. 3 Joey Napoli, and No. 5 James Fleming versus No. 12 Jedd Moore. The winner of that bout will face whoever comes out of the former No. 4 seed helped by James Green (Nebraska) who lost first round. 165: The No. 12 and No.5 matchup is always the upset in NCAA men's basketball. Could it happen at 165 pounds Taylor Massa, the No. 12 from Michigan, has caught fire at the end of the year and was a stud in the first round. He'll be facing Steven Monk of North Dakota State who is salty on his feet and a backpack on the mat. 174: There were a few upsets in the first round (No. 9 - No. 12), but nothing was as surprising as No. 1 Chris Perry's awful mat wrestling against Cody Weishoff (Oregon State) in the first round. He'll face Jonathan Fausey (Virginia) in the second round. Fausey won a convincing 3-0 decision against Stephen West (Columbia) in the first round. Interesting matchup because Perry and Fausey split in high school postseason all-star events as seniors, and Fausey is a hammer on top. 184: Watch Ed Ruth wrestle lonely and perfect on his own planet on dominance. Poetry. 197: Iowa State's No. 6 Kyven Gadson and Oklahoma State's No. 11 Blake Rosholt will meet in the second round, who the Cyclone has beaten three times this season. Gadson recently lost his father and as a strong No. 6 seed would be an emotional favorite to get past Wilps and Wright to make the finals. 285: The top four are secure, so the interesting matches will be in the middle seeds where No. 9 Zac Thomusseit (Pitt) meets No. 8 Mike McClure (Michigan State). The winner will take on Dom Bradley in the first session tomorrow morning.