Ten lower-seeded wrestlers earn big NCAA wins in second round

Photo: North Carolina’s Chip Ness put Penn State’s Shakur Rasheed in trouble during their second-round bout. The Tar Heel, seeded 15th, clinched the 8-5 upset of the No. 2 seed, but the Nittany Lions remain the number one team in the standings before Friday’s quarterfinals. (Ashley DeJager photo)

By Mike Finn

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — All 330 wrestlers in the 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships — 33 at 10 weight classes — are ranked for the first time in the history of the tournament … and ten wrestlers — rated No. 10 or lower — made sure they would not be forgotten by scoring upsets during the second round Thursday night in the PPG Paints Arena.

Perhaps the biggest upset came at 184 pounds where North Carolina’s #15 Chip Ness scored late nearfall points to beat Penn State’s second-seed Shakur Rasheed, 8-5, to advance to Friday morning’s quarterfinal round.

2019 NCAA standings and scores before Quarterfinals

Despite that loss, Penn State remained No. 1 in the standings with 32.5 points as six Nittany Lions — Nick Lee (141 pounds), Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174), Bo Nickal (197) and heavyweight Anthony Cassar — all advanced to the quarterfinals. Of this group, Lee and Nickal scored pins, while Nolf and Cassar tallied major decisions.

Ohio State and Iowa enter the quarterfinals ranked second and third in the standings.

The Buckeyes will send five wrestlers — Joey McKenna (141), Micah Jordan (149), Myles Martin (184) and Kollin Moore (197) — to the quarterfinals, while seven Hawkeyes — Spencer Lee (125), Austin DeSanto (133), Max Murin (141), Pat Lugo (149), Kaleb Young (157), Alex Marinelli (165) and heavyweight Sam Stoll — also advance after winning second-round matches.

Iowa, with nine qualifiers, won its first 15 matches over two rounds before two Hawkeyes — Cash Wilcke (184) and Jacob Warner (197) — lost their second-round matches in overtime.

Warner’s loss was a big surprise when Cal Poly’s Thomas Lane (seeded No. 21) upset Warner, who was seeded fifth.

Stoll, who placed fifth in last year’s national tournament, is actually the lowest seed (No. 28) to advance after the Hawkeye defeated Northwestern’s Conan Jennings, 1-0.  His teammate, Murin, meanwhile, ignored his No. 22 seed to defeat Illinois No. 6 Mike Carr, 4-3.

Meanwhile, another wrestler seeded 22^ndwas Army’s Ben Harvey, who upset Virginia Tech’s No. 6 David McFadden, 5-3, in sudden victory at 174 pouds.

The following is a list of other wrestlers, seeded No. 10 or lower to win second-round bouts over higher-seeded wrestlers:

• #13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) defeated #4 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa), 19-10, at 141 pounds;
• #11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa) edged #6 Logan Massa (Michigan), 2-1, at 165 pounds;
• #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) defeated Illinois’ #4 Emery Parker, 9-7, at 184 pounds;
• #11 Christian Brunner (Purdue) knocked off Iowa State’s No. 6 seed Willie Miklus, 6-2, at 197 pounds.
• #10 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) edged Virginia’s #7 Sam Aiello, 9-8, at 197 pounds.

Top 15 Team Standings before Quarterfinals

The following are the quarterfinals, which are set to begin Friday 11 a.m. EDT.

125 pounds

#1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) vs. #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell)

#5 Jack Mueller (Virginia) vs. #4 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State)

#3 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. #6 Sean Russell (Minnesota)

#7 Pat Glory (Princeton) vs.  #2 Nicholas Piccininni (Oklahoma State)

133 pounds

#1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #8 John Erneste (Missouri)

#5 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) vs. #4 Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh)

#3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) vs. #6 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)

#7 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. #2 Stevan Micic (Michigan)

141 pounds

#1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. #9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) 31-7

#5 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) vs. #13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven)

#3 Nick Lee (Penn State) vs. #22 Max Murin (Iowa)

#7 Mitch McKee (Minnesota) vs. #2 Joey McKenna (Ohio State)

149 pounds

#1 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) vs. #8 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State)

#5 Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) vs. #4 Brock Mauller (Missouri)

#3 Mitch Finesilver (Duke) vs. #6 Austin O`Connor (North Carolina)

#7 Pat Lugo (Iowa) vs. #2 Micah Jordan (Ohio State)

157 pounds

#1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. #9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State)

#5 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) vs. #4 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)

#3 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) vs.#6 Kaleb Young (Iowa)

#7 Larry Early (Old Dominion) vs. #2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)

165 pounds

#1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #8 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)

#5 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) vs. #4 Evan Wick (Wisconsin)

#3 Joshua Shields (Arizona State) vs. #11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa

#7 Isaiah White (Nebraska) vs. #2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

174 pounds

#1 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. #8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa)

#5 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) vs. #4 Myles Amine (Michigan)

#3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. #22 Ben Harvey (Army West Point)

#7 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) vs. #2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri)

184 pounds

#1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) vs. #8 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)

#5 Maxwell Dean (Cornell) vs. #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)

#3 Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) vs. 6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

#7 Samuel Colbray (Iowa State) vs. #15 Chip Ness (North Carolina)

197 pounds

#1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. #8 Nathan Traxler (Stanford)

#21 Thomas Lane (Cal Poly) vs. #4 Patrick Brucki (Princeton

#3 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) vs. #11 Christian Brunner (Purdue)

#10 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) vs. #2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State)

Heavyweight

#1 Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. #9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)

#28 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs. #4 Jordan Wood (Lehigh)

#3 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #6 Amar Dhesi (Oregon State)

#7 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) vs. #2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)