Good morning! It’s Day 2 of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia. Yesterday was an incredible day for Penn State. It doesn’t get any better than going 20-0 in the first two rounds. We’ll see about today as action starts with the quarterfinals.
Just like yesterday, Andy Stine is at home in central Pennsylvania running the live file, while Joe Smeltzer is at the Wells Fargo Center bringing you everything you need. Follow along here throughout the day for updates.
12:19 p.m. – The streak is over. Luke Lilledahl falls in a classic in the riding time periods, 3-2. Lilledahl had his chances, but Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymore fought off every attempt. Truly a thriller.
12:33 p.m. – No real surprise here. Braeden Davis falls to No. 1 seed Lucas Byrd of Illinois by major decision, 12-1. Byrd and Iowa’s Drake Ayala appear to be on a collision course for the finals.
12:48 p.m. – Penn State has its first semifinalist later tonight at 141 pounds as Beau Bartlett defeated Penn’s CJ Composto, 5-0. He will get another rematch with Ohio State’s returning national champion Jesse Mendez. Bartlett is 2-0 against Mendez this season.
1:08 p.m. – It’s now two semifinalists for the Nittany Lions as Shayne Van Ness defeated North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil, 7-2. It will be a good one in the semis as Van Ness gets Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett.
1:25 p.m. – It’s another PSU 1-seed knocked off as Tyler Kasak drops a 5-4 match to Purdue’s Joey Blaze.
1:44 p.m. – Mitchell Mesenbrink defeats Oklahoma State’s Cameron Amine, 5-0, to reach the 165-pound semis. It will not be a match with former PSU wrestler Terrell Barraclough as he was knocked off by Nebraska’s Christopher Minto. It will be Mesenbrink and Minto in the semis.
2:01 p.m. – Levi Haines is Penn State’s fourth in the semis as he beat Navy’s Danny Wask, 7-2, at 174 pounds. He will face Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti. PSU fans will remember the excellent match last year in the Big Ten 165-pound finals between Mesenbrink and Hamiti. Hamiti wrestled for Wisconsin then.
2:23 p.m. – Carter Starocci is moving on with a 9-1 major decision over Maryland’s Jaxon Smith. He will meet up with Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott in the semifinals.
2:39 p.m. – Josh Barr picks up a 14-3 major decision at 197 pounds over former Penn State wrestler Michael Beard, who is now competing at Lehigh. Barr will meet up with top-seed Jacob Cardenas of Michigan.
2:56 p.m. – Greg Kerkvliet beats Michigan’s Joshua Heindselman, 5-0, to advance to the semis. He will get a big one against Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson. Penn State goes 7-3 in the quarterfinals and is done for the session.
8:00 p.m. – Welcome back! Penn State has 90.5 points at the beginning of Session 4! Nebraska follows in second place with 65.5 points, while Oklahoma State is third with 63 points. Enjoy the night session!
8:15 p.m. – Luke Lilledahl is an All-American. He starts the session with a 7-3 win over Wisconsin’s Nicolar Rivera.
8:30 p.m. – Braeden Davis makes it nine All-Americans for Penn State. Davis picked up a 4-2 victory over Iowa State’s Evan Frost. If Tyler Kasak wins his consolation match coming up, the Nittany Lions will have all 10 coming home as All-Americans.
9:05 p.m. – Good news and bad news: The good news is Tyler Kasak is an All-American after beating Penn wrestler and Bellefonte native Jude Swisher, 5-4. That makes it 10 All-Americans for Penn State. The bad news was Beau Bartlett lost on riding time in the semis. It’s the second time today that PSU lost on riding time. That’s tough, but 10 All-Americans is just ridiculous.
9:20 p.m. – Shayne Van Ness got down a little too much after the first period. He trailed 10-0 against Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett after the first period, and battled back, but it was too little too late as Van Ness lost, 14-8. Penn State is still searching for their first finalist on Saturday night.
9:52 p.m. – The Lions finally have their first finalist as Mitchell Mesenbrink put up an easy 13-2 major decision on Nebraska’s Christopher Minto. It will be Mesenbrink’s second straight NCAA finals appearance.
10:08 p.m. – Another one goes down in a tough day for PSU wrestling. This time, it’s Levi Haines falling to Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti, 4-2.
10:30 – Another day for Carter Starocci. He will wrestle for his fifth NCAA title tomorrow night after beating Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott, 9-3, in the 184-pound semis. He will wrestle Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, who won a thriller over Minnesota’s Max McEnelly in the other semi.
10:45 p.m. – Not bad for a guy that it wasn’t positive how favorable his health was at the start of the weekend. Josh Barr is going to the NCAA finals after knocking off top-seed Jacob Cardenas of Michigan, 5-3. He’s going to face Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan for the 197-pound title.
11:05 p.m. – Greg Kerkvliet was visibly hurting in his semifinal match with Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson. He fell to Hendrickson, 8-2.
11:08 p.m. – At the end of the night, Penn State leads the team standings at 135.5 points. Nebraska follows in second with 101.5 points, while Oklahoma State is third with 91. See you tomorrow!
