CLEVELAND- Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson noted last night that today's openingsession would prove critical in the team standings. Headed into the evening, theNittany Lions are still in the thick of the NCAA Championships team race, with fiveadvancing to tonight's semifinal round.
PennState will also have three additional Nittany Lions in consolations, with eightof an original nine qualifiers still in action headed into session four action,which begins at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
NCAA Championships TeamStandings after Session III (Semifinals Participants)
1.- Ohio State - 80.5 (6)
2.- Penn State - 67 (5)
3.- Michigan - 59.5 (5)
4.- Iowa - 53.5 (2)
5.- NC State - 43 (3)
Top-seededZain Retherford was the first Nittany Lion to earn a spot in the NCAAsemifinals, powering past Oklahoma State's No. 8 seed Boo Lewallen. Picking upa quick take down, Retherford surged to a 20-2 tech fall at the 5-minute mark.
Withtwo tech falls and a pin across two days, Retherford is only growing morecomfortable with each passing session, now Penn State's 10thfour-time All-American.
"Thebow and arrow last night was the first time I hit it in a while and I hit it afew times that match so it's awesome finally getting some top offense going, definitelya confidence builder," Retherford said.
Third-seededJason Nolf followed Retherford into the semifinals for his third consecutiveAll-America honor, defeating Iowa's sixth-seeded Michael Kemerer in a 6-2decision.
Amonga tight race in the team standings, Retherford noted the mood was actually justthe opposite of tense headed into the important day.
"Iknow coach Cael was keeping it pretty light this morning," Retherford said. "Iknow our coaches were trying to make us laugh a little bit so it's good,especially when you walk around here and you see a lot of faces that arestaring at you, so it's good to smile at these tournaments. Even though we wantto win, this is fun, this is the NCAA Championships."
PennState's No. 3 seed Vincenzo Joseph also has reason to smile, defeating Nebraska'sNo. 11 seed Isaiah White in sudden victory. It was a matchup he didn't thinkwould happen this year against an opponent he knows all too well.
"Iwrestled him twice in high school actually and he beat me both times," Josephsaid. "I was kind of really looking forward to that match. I didn't reallythink it was going to happen this year but it did and I'm grateful for that.It's not like a vendetta type of thing, I'm just trying to see where I've grownas a wrestler because in high school he whooped my butt at Fargo and then hebeat me at Ironman, it was an overtime match but it wasn't really that close Iwas just backing up the whole time."
Withthe score tied at 1-1, both Joseph and White exchanged escapes in thetie-breaker. As quickly as the sudden victory period began, a Joseph takedownended it, as he earns his second consecutive All-America honor.
"Iknew he was going to keep shooting," Joseph said. "He felt like he could get meon that but I knew he wouldn't so just letting him shoot, getting to myre-attacks and I knew I would score eventually."
No.2 seed Mark Hall and top-seeded Bo Nickal also followed with a pair of decisionsto earn All-America honors and move on to the semifinals.
Wrappingup consolation action for the Nittany Lions was eighth-seeded freshman Nicklee, who posted a 5-0 decision against Central Michigan's No. 10 seed MasonSmith before a 13-5 major decision against Indiana's No. 16 Cole Weaver.
"Ifeel good, doing it for myself, my teammates and my coaches," Lee said.
Earningsome key bonus points for his team for the first time in NCAA Championshipsaction, it was all business as usual for the Nittany Lion.
"That'swhat we want to do, open up offense, that's what we came here for and it's morefun too," Lee said.
PennState gets underway in yet another critical session later this evening inQuicken Loans Arena.
Up Nextin Session IV
141:#8 seed Nick Lee, Fr. - Round 12
vs.#12 Tyler Smith, Bucknell
149: #1 seed ZainRetherford, Sr. - Semifinals
vs.#4 Troy Heilmann, North Carolina
157: #3 seed JasonNolf, Jr. - Semifinals
vs.#7 Micah Jordan, Ohio State
165: #3 seed VincenzoJoseph, So. - Semifinals
vs.#2 David McFadden, Virginia Tech
174: #2 seed Mark Hall,So. - Semifinals
vs.#3 Daniel Lewis, Missouri
184: #1 seed Bo Nickal,Jr. - Semifinals
vs.#5 Domenic Abounader, Michigan
197: #5 seed ShakurRasheed, Jr. - Round 12
vs.#7 Frank Mattiace, Penn
285: #3 seed NickNevills, Jr. - Round 12
vs.Jere Heino, Campbell