March 16, 2018
CLEVELAND - Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson noted last night that today's opening session would prove critical in the team standings. Headed into the evening, the Nittany Lions are still in the thick of the NCAA Championships team race, with five advancing to tonight's semifinal round.
Penn State will also have three additional Nittany Lions in consolations, with eight of an original nine qualifiers still in action headed into session four action, which begins at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
NCAA Championships Team
Standings 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-seeded Zain Retherford was the first Nittany Lion to earn a spot in the NCAA semifinals, powering past Oklahoma State's No. 8 seed Boo Lewallen. Picking up a quick take down, Retherford surged to a 20-2 tech fall at the 5-minute mark.
With two tech falls and a pin across two days, Retherford is only growing more comfortable with each passing session, now Penn State's 10th four-time All-American.
"The bow and arrow last night was the first time I hit it in a while and I hit it a few times that match so it's awesome finally getting some top offense going, definitely a confidence builder," Retherford said.
Third-seeded Jason Nolf followed Retherford into the semifinals for his third consecutive All-America honor, defeating Iowa's sixth-seeded Michael Kemerer in a 6-2 decision.
Among a tight race in the team standings, Retherford noted the mood was actually just the opposite of tense headed into the important day.
"I know coach Cael was keeping it pretty light this morning," Retherford said. "I know 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 are staring at you, so it's good to smile at these tournaments. Even though we want to win, this is fun, this is the NCAA Championships."
Penn State's No. 3 seed Vincenzo Joseph also has reason to smile, defeating Nebraska's No. 11 seed Isaiah White in sudden victory. It was a matchup he didn't think would happen this year against an opponent he knows all too well.
"I wrestled him twice in high school actually and he beat me both times," Joseph said. "I was kind of really looking forward to that match. I didn't really think 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 grown as a wrestler because in high school he whooped my butt at Fargo and then he beat me at Ironman, it was an overtime match but it wasn't really that close I was just backing up the whole time."
With the score tied at 1-1, both Joseph and White exchanged escapes in the tie-breaker. As quickly as the sudden victory period began, a Joseph takedown ended it, as he earns his second consecutive All-America honor.
"I knew he was going to keep shooting," Joseph said. "He felt like he could get me on that but I knew he wouldn't so just letting him shoot, getting to my re-attacks and I knew I would score eventually."
No. 2 seed Mark Hall and top-seeded Bo Nickal also followed with a pair of decisions to earn All-America honors and move on to the semifinals.
Wrapping up consolation action for the Nittany Lions was eighth-seeded freshman Nick lee, who posted a 5-0 decision against Central Michigan's No. 10 seed Mason Smith before a 13-5 major decision against Indiana's No. 16 Cole Weaver.
"I feel good, doing it for myself, my teammates and my coaches," Lee said.
Earning some key bonus points for his team for the first time in NCAA Championships action, it was all business as usual for the Nittany Lion.
"That's what we want to do, open up offense, that's what we came here for and it's more fun too," Lee said.
Penn State gets underway in yet another critical session later this evening in Quicken Loans Arena.
Up Next
in Session IV
141:
#8 seed Nick Lee, Fr. - Round 12
vs.
#12 Tyler Smith, Bucknell
149: #1 seed Zain
Retherford, Sr. - Semifinals
vs.
#4 Troy Heilmann, North Carolina
157: #3 seed Jason
Nolf, Jr. - Semifinals
vs.
#7 Micah Jordan, Ohio State
165: #3 seed Vincenzo
Joseph, 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 Shakur
Rasheed, Jr. - Round 12
vs.
#7 Frank Mattiace, Penn
285: #3 seed Nick
Nevills, Jr. - Round 12
vs.
Jere Heino, Campbell