Buckeyes regain small lead following All-American round

By Mike Finn

CLEVELAND — The stage is set for Saturday night’s 2018 NCAA Division I Championship finals — literally as workers have installed the raised mat in Quicken Loan Arena this afternoon — as now it’s up to 20 individual wrestlers who will win one of 10 weight classes and eventually decide the team championship.

NCAA Team Scores and Brackets before Finals

Ohio State, by virtue of its six All-American wrestlers compiling a 7-5 record in Saturday morning’s All-American round — led by third-place finishes by Nathan Tomasello (125) and Joey McKenna (141) — currently lead the field with 130.5 points … and feature two finalists: 184-pound Myles Martin and heavyweight Kyle Snyder.

RETURN TO WIN NCAA HOME PAGE

Penn State, meanwhile saw three wrestlers compile a 3-1 mark in the All-American round — a fifth-place finish by Nick Lee and seventh-place finishes by 197-pound Shakur Lee and heavyweight Nick Nevills — trail the Buckeyes by six points. The defending team champions feature five finalists: all returning champions in Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174) and Bo Nickal (184).

A victory in the finals will give the winner’s teams an additional four points (and additional if there are bonus points). The only head-to-head match-up between Ohio State and Penn State will be between Martin and Nickal, respectively. Even though the Lion holds a 6-2 margin over Martin the past two years, the Buckeye did beat Nickal two years ago in the 174-pound championship match.

The final match will feature a rubber match between Ohio State’s two-time NCAA champion Kyle Snyder and Michigan’s Adam Coon, who beat the Buckeye in a regular-season dual but lost to the World/Olympic champ in the Big Ten finals.

Meanwhile, the University of Iowa wrapped up a third-place finish in the team race as four Hawkeyes completed their All-American run this morning: fourth-place by Michael Kemerer (157), fifth-place finishes by Brandon Sorensen (149) and Sam Stoll (Hwt) and sixth-place Alex Marinelli (165). Spencer Lee (125) will try to become Iowa’s second true freshman to win a national championship since Lincoln McIlravy in 1993.

Kent State’s Kyle Conel entered the NCAAs unseeded but leaves with a third-place trophy after beating Ohio State’s top seed Kollin Moore a second time. (Tim Tushla image)

The fourth-place trophy is still up for grabs between Michigan and NC State, which enter the finals with 80 and 76 points, respectively. The Wolverines feature 133-pound Stevan Micic and heavyweight Adam Coon, while the Wolfpack send 157-pound Hayden Hidlay and 197-pound Michael Macchiavello.

Meanwhile, two unseeded wrestlers ended their first NCAA tournaments with third-place finishes: 133-pound Tariq Wilson of NC State and  Kent State’s 197-pound Kyle Conel, who defeated Ohio State’s No. 1- seed Kollin Moore for a second time this tournament.

Here are the finals match-ups, which will be televised live by ESPN:

125 — #3 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. #4 Nick Suriano (Rutgers)

133 — #1 Seth Gross (South Dakota State) vs. #2 Stevan Micic (Michigan)

141 — #1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs. #3 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)

149 — #1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. #15 Ronald Perry (Lock Haven)

157 — #1 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) vs. #3 Jason Nolf (Penn State)

165 — #1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs. #3 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

174 — #1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. #2 Mark Hall (Penn State)

184 — #1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. #2 Myles Martin (Ohio State)

197 — #4 Michael Macchiavello (NC State) vs. #3 Jared Haught (Virginia Tech)

Hwt — #1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) vs. #2 Adam Coon (Michigan)

The following are the Top-15 team standings and placement matches prior to the finals.

Top 15 Team Standings

All-American Matches

125 pounds

3rd Place — Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) dec. Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) 8-6 sv

5th Place — Darian Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern), 7-4

7th Place — Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State) won by medical forfeit over Zeke Moisey (West Virginia)

133 pounds

3rd Place — Tariq Wilson (NC State) major dec. Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 17-8

5th Place — Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) major dec. Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers), 10-1

7th Place — Scott Parker (Lehigh) dec. Montorie Bridges (Wyoming), 5-3

141 pounds

3rd Place — Joey McKenna (Ohio State) dec. Jaydin Eierman (Missouri), 7-2

5th Place — Nick Lee (Penn State) dec. Kevin Jack (NC State) 9-7 sv

7th Place — Chad Red (Nebraska) pinned Sa`Derian Perry (Eastern Michigan), 7:00

149 pounds

3rd Place — Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) dec. Troy Heilmann (North Carolina), 3-2

5th Place — Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) dec. Grant Leeth (Missouri), 4-0

7th Place — Jason Tsirtsis (Arizona State) dec. Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State), 2-1

157 pounds

3rd Place — Tyler Berger (Nebraska) won by injury default over Michael Kemerer (Iowa), 1:36)

5th Place — Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) dec. Micah Jordan (Ohio State), 6-3

7th Place — Joshua Shields (Arizona State) 34-4, . over Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State) 33-11, . (Dec 11-5)

165 pounds

3rd Place — Evan Wick (Wisconsin) pinned Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven), 3:19

5th Place — David McFadden (Virginia Tech) pinned Alex Marinelli (Iowa), 5:14

7th Place — Jonathon Chavez (Cornell) dec. Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State), 10-5

174 pounds

3rd Place — Myles Amine (Michigan) dec. Daniel Lewis (Missouri) 4-2 sv

5th Place — Bo Jordan (Ohio State) won by medical forfeit over Jordan Kutler (Lehigh)

7th Place — David Kocer (South Dakota State) dec. Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State), 7-2

184 pounds

3rd Place — Emory Parker (Illinois) dec. Taylor Venz (Nebraska), 8-1

5th Place — Domenic Abounader (Michigan) dec. Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 8-2

7th Place — Chip Ness (North Carolina) dec. Maxwell Dean (Cornell), 6-3

197 pounds

3rd Place — Kyle Conel (Kent State) dec. Kollin Moore (Ohio State), 5-3

5th Place — Jacob Holschlag (Northern Iowa) pinned Ben Darmstadt (Cornell), 2:37

7th Place — Shakur Rasheed (Penn State) major dec. Willie Miklus (Missouri), 11-3

Heavyweight

3rd Place — Amar Dhesi (Oregon State) pinned Jacob Kasper (Duke), 1:46

5th Place — Samuel Stoll (Iowa) pinned Mike Hughes (Hofstra), 1:57

7th Place — Nick Nevills (Penn State) dec. Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 7-5