UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Top-ranked Penn State won six of ten bouts in front of a raucous Rec Hall crowd to grab a convincing win against No. 7 Oklahoma State. More than 6,500 fans, the 18th-consecutive home sellout, cheered as Penn State rolled to a 23-12 victory in a national showcase non-conference dual.
Junior Nico Megaludis, ranked No. 2 nationally at 125, got Penn State off to a hot start once again with a thrilling 11-7 win against No. 13 Eddie Klimara. The Cowboys were able to tie the dual when No. 4 Jon Morrison grabbed a hard-fought 2-0 win against sophomore Jimmy Gulibon, ranked No. 16, at 133.
At 141, true freshman Zain Retherford put Penn State back on top with a win over No. 19 Anthony Collica. Ranked No. 2 nationally, Retherford was just too strong in the second period, using a full ride out and a third period escape to roll to a 2-0 win with 1:50 in riding time. Oklahoma State would win the next two bouts, however, to take a lead into halftime. The Cowboys tied things when No. 9 Josh Kindig posted a tough 5-3 win against red-shirt freshman Zack Beitz, ranked No. 17, at 149. Oklahoma State took a 9-6 lead into halftime off No. 3 Alex Dieringer's 6-4 win at 157 against junior Dylan Alton, ranked No. 6.
Senior David Taylor, unbeaten and ranked No. 1 at 165, posted a hard-fought 5-2 win over No. 5 Tyler Caldwell to tie the dual at 9-9. In a rematch of last year's NCAA title bout at 174, No. 4 Matt Brown nearly gained revenge on No. 2 Chris Perry. But a scramble on the edge of the mat that had Brown nearly pinning Perry ended as a Perry takedown and the defending NCAA champion would escape with a 4-3 (TB2) win.
No. 1 Minnesota 35, North Dakota State 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Top-ranked Minnesota defeated No. 20 North Dakota State in dominating fashion on Sunday evening to advance to the semifinal of the EAS/NWCA National Duals hosted in Columbus, Ohio. The Gophers, who were able to gather 35 team points, won nine bouts on the evening including two falls and two major decisions.
Redshirt freshman Sam Brancale rejoined the lineup and started the dual off with a major decision over Hunter Weber of NDSU, 10-1. The dual allowed Brancale to move to 14-5 on the season and Minnesota started the dual off with a four point lead over North Dakota.
No. 8 David Thorn kept the ball rolling as he defeated Justin LaValle by fall at 3:34. No. 6 Chris Dardanes and No. 3 Nick Dardanes were both able to defeat their NDSU opponents by decision, 6-1 and 4-2 respectively.
After an exciting and much needed fall last weekend in front of a sold out Sports Pavilion, Dylan Ness moved to No. 5 in the InterMat individual rankings. Ness delievered another standout performance on Sunday evening as he defeated Nicholas Olejnik by fall at 4:14, sealing another six points for the Gophers.
The only loss of the evening for Minnesota came at 165 as Danny Zilverberg was defeated by decision by Steven Monk of NDSU and collected the only three points for the Bison on the evening.
No. 6 Logan Storley, No. 8 Kevin Steinhaus and No. 4 Scott Schiller all claimed decision victories and racked up nine points for the Gophers en route to their 35-3 victory.
No. 4 Cornell 34, No. 16 Virginia Tech 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cornell's depth was too much all evening and the Big Red wrestling team opened the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals with a dominant 34-0 win against No. 16 Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals. The fourth-ranked Big Red improved to 11-0 on the season and will meet No. 11 Oklahoma in the semifinals.
Cornell won each of the first seven matches by decision to go up 21-0 with the Big Red winning a pair of matchups between ranked wrestlers. Included was a Chris Villalonga overtime victory over No. 18 Zach Neibert by a 2-1 decision. That was one of three consecutive one-point decisions in Cornell's favor, as Mike Nevinger topped Erik Spujt 1-0 at 141 and Brian Realbuto topped Sal Mastriani 6-5 at 157 thanks to a last-second escape after his Hokie opponent had reversed him to tie the score with six seconds left.
Nahshon Garrett at 125 and Gabe Dean at 184 each gave up early takedowns in the first period before dominating their opponents the rest of the way. Garrett topped No. 20 Joey Dance 7-2, while Dean posted a major decision over No. 17 Nick Vetterlein, 16-7.
In the middle weights, Dylan Palacio controlled his match against Chris Moon at 165, earning an 8-1 decision, while Jesse Shanaman topped John Dickson at 174, 8-4.
Trailing in the third, junior Jace Bennett was able to earn a takedown and cradled No. 20 Chris Penny for the fall at 6:02 for the icing on the cake. Jacob Aiken-Phillips completed the team's second sweep of the season and Virginia Tech's first since 2007 when he topped the Hokies' backup at heavyweight, Brandon Taylor, by a 6-2 decision.
No. 5 UNI 21, No. 24 Purdue 12
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- UNI improved to 12-0 for the first time in the program’s history with a 21-12 win against No. 24 Purdue on Senior Day in front of a sold-out crowd.
It came down to final match with Blaize Cabell at heavyweight for UNI. His 5-3 decision win sealed the Panthers’ perfect record.
Dylan Peters earned his 16th fall of the season over a two-time NCAA qualifier. He pinned Camden Eppert in 3:34 to give UNI a 6-0 lead. Peters entered the weekend fifth in the nation for most falls among Division I wrestlers.
In the only match featuring two ranked wrestlers, No. 1 Colon earned an 8-6 decision over All-American Cashé Quiroga. Quiroga is ranked 12th by InterMat.
At 141 pounds, Joey Lazor fought off a 10-5 deficit, but a last-second reversal helped Danny Sabatello earn the 14-10 decision and give Lazor his first dual loss of the season.
A 2-0 decision for Tyler Patten over NCAA qualifier Brandon Nelsen helped extend UNI’s team lead 12-3 after the 149-pound match.
At 157 pounds, the Boilermakers got their second decision of the day with Alex Griffin, who leads the team in bonus points. Griffin earned a 3-2 decision over Jarrett Jensen.
Cooper Moore earned a 6-1 decision over NCAA qualifier Pat Robinson at 165 pounds. Ryan Loder remains as UNI’s only undefeated wrestler. He kept Lynde scoreless with a 5-0 decision.
Jared Bartel made his dual debut at 197 pounds against two-time NCAA qualifier Braden Atwood. Bartel struck first with a takedown, but it was Atwood who would take the dual, 7-5.
