Top seeds Rivera and Martin come back to claim third place at NCAAs

Photo: Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera (top) had to rally to beat Cornell’s Vitali Arujau for this place at 125 pounds. (Ashley DeJager photo)

PITTSBURGH, PA. — Someone in wrestling once said, “If you can’t get what you want, get what you can get,” and that’s what several Division I wrestlers did Saturday morning during the All-American round at the PPG Paints Arena.

That was especially true for Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera and Ohio State’s Myles Martin, who were ranked No. 1 at 125 and 184 pounds, respectively, and came back to claim third place after suffering semifinal losses Friday night.

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Rivera (30-2 on the season) defeated Vitali Arujau (Cornell), 8-3, to claim the consolation championship at the lightest weight less than 24 hours after he lost to Virginia’s Jack Mueller in the semifinals. This also came one year after the Wildcat finished sixth in 2018.

Martin (25-1), who lost to Cornell’s Max Dean in a semifinal, settled for third place when the Buckeye senior defeated Ryan Preisch of Lehigh, 5-3. Martin, who won a national title at 174 pounds as a freshman, ended his career as a four-time All-American. That included a fifth place finish in 2017 and a second place a year ago.

Penn State officially clinched its fourth straight team championship, heading into Saturday night’s final with 123.5 points. The Nittany Lions, who saw 133-pound Roman Bravo-Young finish eighth and Nick Lee claim fifth at 141 pounds, will send five wrestlers into the finals.

Ohio State also holds a 12.5 point over Oklahoma State (96.5-84) in its bid to claim a second straight runner-up trophy. The Buckeyes send three wrestlers to the finals, compared to two by Oklahoma State.

Championship Matches (set to begin in this order at 7 p.m. EDT)

Hwt — #1 Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. #2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)

125 — #3 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. #5 Jack Mueller (Virginia)

133 — #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers)

141 — #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. Joey McKenna (Ohio State)

149 — #1 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) vs. #2 Micah Jordan (Ohio State)

157 — #1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. #2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)

165 — #2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) vs. #8 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)

174 — #1 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. #3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)

184 — #5 Maxwell Dean (Cornell) vs. #6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

197 — #1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. #2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State)

Top 20 Team Standings (before finals)

Lock Haven’s Chance Marstellar closed out his career with a second All-American honor and third place finish with a 6-5 victory over Wisconsin’s Evan Wick at 165 pounds. (Ginger Robinson photo)

All-American Matches

125 pounds

3rd – #1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) dec. #8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell), 8-3

5th – #2 Nicholas Piccininni (Oklahoma State) pinned #7 Pat Glory (Princeton), 5:29

7th – #9 RayVon Foley (Michigan State) dec. #4 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State), 7-4

133 pounds

3rd – #2 Stevan Micic (Michigan) dec. #5 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 6-1

5th – #7 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) dec. #8 John Erneste (Missouri), 11-6

7th – #6 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) dec. #10 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State), 8-5)

141 pounds

3rd – #5 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) dec. #9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma),  2-0

5th – #3 Nick Lee (Penn State) pinned #7 Mitch McKee (Minnesota), 3:22

7th – #13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) major dec. #16 Chad Red (Nebraska), 11-3

149 pounds

3rd – #6 Austin O`Connor (North Carolina) dec. #3 Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 7-5

5th – #5 Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) dec. #4 Brock Mauller (Missouri), 10-6

7th – #8 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) dec. #10 Pat Lugo (Iowa), 11-9

157 pounds

3rd – #4 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) dec. #5 Hayden Hidlay (NC State), 5-3

5th – #6 Kaleb Young (Iowa) dec. #3 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) 7-5 sv

7th – #9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State) dec. #7 Larry Early (Old Dominion), 3-2

165 pounds

3rd – #5 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) dec. #4 Evan Wick (Wisconsin), 6-5

5th – #7 Isaiah White (Nebraska) dec. #3 Joshua Shields (Arizona State), 8-4

7th – #1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) dec. #11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa), 9-3

174 pounds

3rd – #4 Myles Amine (Michigan) dec. #2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri), 4-3

5th – #6 David McFadden (Virginia Tech) dec. #10 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska), 4-3

7th – #5 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) dec. #9 Devin Skatzka (Minnesota), 5-1

184 pounds

3rd – #1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) dec. #8 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh), 5-3

5th – #4 Emery Parker (Illinois) dec. #15 Chip Ness (North Carolina), 11-5

7th – #26 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) dec. #3 Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 5-4

197 pounds

3rd – #3 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) dec. #4 Patrick Brucki (Princeton), 7-1

5th – #16 Josh Hokit (Fresno State) dec. #6 William Miklus (Iowa State), 7-2 tb

7th – #5 Jacob Warner (Iowa) dec. #9 Benjamin Honis (Cornell), 8-4

Heavyweight

3rd – #3 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) dec. #4 Jordan Wood (Lehigh), 4-0

5th – #6 Amar Dhesi (Oregon State) dec. #10 Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 5-2

7th – #9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) dec. #7 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin), 3-1