Luke Pletcher (133) is one of nine quarterfinalists for Ohio State (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)CLEVELAND -- The first day of the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland started with 330 wrestlers, each with dreams of bringing home a national title. By the end of the day Thursday, 250 of those competitors had their championship dreams dashed.
Some of these wrestlers now out of title contention were victims of major upsets. Heading up that list were two No. 2 seeds who fell on opening day. In Session I, Missouri 157-pounder Joey Lavallee was toppled by unseeded Kennedy Monday of North Carolina, 8-6 ... while, in a 149-pound bout in Session II, Iowa senior Brandon Sorensen lost to No. 15 seed Ronnie Perry of Lock Haven, 3-2.
The second round saw additional upsets, as Arizona State's Josh Shields, the No. 4 seed at 157, lost to No. 13 Luke Zilverberg of South Dakota State, 9-6 ... while, at 165, Michigan's No. 7 seed, Logan Massa, fell to No. 10 Evan Wick of Wisconsin, 9-6. A trio of No. 5 seeds were knocked out of title contention: N.C. State 125-pounder Sean Fausz and Kevin Jack at 141 ... and Iowa's Sam Stoll at heavyweight.
Penn State's team title aspirations took a hit in the first session, as unseeded Ryan Diehl of Maryland pinned No. 8 Nick Lee of the Nittany Lions at 2:13 of their match at 141 pounds.
Nebraska's Jason Renteria got upsetting news before a single wrestler stepped onto the mat. The 133-pound freshman failed to make weight Thursday morning. Northwestern's Colin Valdivez, designated first alternate in that weight class, took Renteria's place in the bracket.
At the end of the first day of the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Ohio State was in first place in the team standings with 36 points ... followed by Penn State with 28.5 team points. Iowa placed third with 27 points, with Michigan in fourth place with 23 points, and, in fifth, N.C. State with 20 team points.
The stats looked good for the host venue "the Q" and the city of Cleveland. Attendance at Session I was 18,660 ... while 18,860 fans were in attendance for Session II.
Here are the matchups for the quarterfinals on Friday. Session III begins at 11 a.m. ET.
125:
No. 1 Darian Cruz (Lehigh) vs. No. 9 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State)
No. 4 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) vs. No. 12 Louie Hayes (Virginia)
No. 3 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. No. 6 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State)
No. 2 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) vs. No. 7 Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley)
133:
No. 1 Seth Gross (South Dakota State) vs. No. 8 Montorie Bridges (Wyoming)
No. 4 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) vs. Tariq Wilson (NC State)
No. 3 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) vs. No. 6 Scott Parker (Lehigh)
No. 2 Stevan Micic (Michigan) vs. No. 7 Austin DeSanto (Drexel)
141:
No. 1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs. Sa'Deria Perry (Eastern Michigan)
No. 4 Joey McKenna (Ohio State) vs. No. 12 Tyler Smith (Bucknell)
No. 3 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. No. 6 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State)
No. 2 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) vs. No. 7 Brock Zacherl (Clarion)
149:
No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. No. 8 Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State)
No. 4 Troy Heilmann (North Carolina) vs. No. 5 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State)
No. 3 Grant Leeth (Missouri) vs. No. 11 Matt Kolodzik (Princeton)
No. 10 Jason Tsirtsis (Arizona State) vs. No. 15 Ronnie Perry (Lock Haven)
157:
No. 1 Hayden Hidlay (North Carolina State) vs. No. 8 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
No. 5 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) vs. No. 13 Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State)
No. 3 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
No. 7 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) vs. No. 15 John Van Brill (Rutgers)
165:
No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs. No. 9 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven)
No. 4 Chad Walsh (Rider) vs. No. 5 Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
No. 3 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) vs. No. 11 Isaiah White (Nebraska)
No. 2 David McFadden (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 10 Evan Wick (Wisconsin)
174:
No. 1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. No. 8 Jadaen Bernstein (Navy)
No. 4 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) vs. No. 5 Myles Amine (Michigan)
No. 3 Daniel Lewis (Missouri) vs. No. 6 Bo Jordan (Ohio State)
No. 2 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. No. 7 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa)
184:
No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. No. 9 Max Dean (Cornell)
No. 4 Pete Renda (North Carolina State) vs. No. 5 Domenic Abounader (Michigan)
No. 3 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech)
No. 2 Myles Martin (Ohio State) vs. Chip Ness (North Carolina)
197:
No. 1 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) vs. Kyle Conel (Kent State)
No. 4 Mike Macchiavello (North Carolina State) vs. No. 5 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State)
No. 3 Jared Haught (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 6 Willie Miklus (Missouri)
No. 2 Ben Darmstadt (Cornell) vs. Chris Weiler (Lehigh)
285:
No. 1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) vs. No. 9 Derek White (Oklahoma State)
No. 4 Jacob Kasper (Duke) vs. No. 12 Youssif Hemida (Maryland)
No. 3 Nick Nevills (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Amarveer Dhesi (Oregon State)
No. 2 Adam Coon (Michigan) vs. No. 7 Nathan Butler (Stanford)
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