It wasn’t easy, but Penn State wrestling star Luke Lilledahl moved on to the quarterfinals against a nationally-ranked opponent by beating West Virginia’s Jett Strickenberger 4-2.
Lilledahl is still undefeated, moving to 21-0 with wins in both his both on the first day of this year’s NCAA Championships.
Now, he’ll look to advance to the semis for the first time in his career.
Last season, Lilledahl won the Big Ten Championship at 125 as a true freshman, and as a result, earned the No. 1 seed in that year’s NCAA championships.
Lilledahl won his first two matches in Philadelphia, then took on Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour, seeded eighth. Seymour upset him in a second tiebreaker, winning riding time. Lilledahl and Seymour could indeed meet again, with Seymour being seeded fourth and Lilledahl first.
But for the that to be possible, both must take care of business in their respective quarterfinal matchups.
Lilledahl will take on Iowa’s Dean Peterson, seeded eight. Lilledahl is 2-0 against Peterson this season.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Seymour will face Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley, seeded fifth.
The whole bracket at 125 got a lot more interesting when Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis got upset by No. 14 Jacob Moran of Indiana.
Bouzakis was the one who gave Lilledahl his toughest match of the dual meet season, taking him to sudden victory before Lilledahl pulled out a 4-1 win at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Lilledahl’s biggest competition seeding-wise is Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca. Ventresca is 19-2 with a 33.33% bonus rate, meaning most of his matches come down to the wire.
Lilledahl is one of seven Penn Staters seeded No. 1, an NCAA record.
