Cael Sanderson has guided Penn State to its fourth straight NCAA title (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Link: Team Scores & Brackets
PITTSBURGH -- Penn State clinched its fourth straight NCAA title during Saturday's medal round.
Nittany Lion wrestlers Nick Lee (141) and Roman Bravo-Young (133) capped their NCAA tournaments with fifth and eighth-place finishes respectively. Five Penn State wrestlers will compete for NCAA titles tonight.
The Nittany Lions have totaled 123.5 points through the first five sessions and sit 27 points ahead of second-place Ohio State. Oklahoma State sits in third place with 84 points, followed by Iowa (72) and Michigan (62.5).
Two No. 1 seeds who fell in Friday night's semifinals battled back to finish in third place: Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera (125) and Ohio State's Myles Martin (184).
Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera defeated Vito Arujau of Cornell to place third (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Rivera won a high-scoring affair over Princeton's Patrick Glory in the consolation semifinals before defeating Cornell freshman Vito Arujau 8-3 for third place.
"It's the first time I've ever taken third in my life," said Rivera, a New Jersey native. "In high school I lost in the semis twice. Sixth place every time. I'm not good at losing. I think I found it in myself … There are only two more of these, so I've got to get the best I can."
Ohio State's Myles Martin finished third in his final NCAA tournament (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Martin rebounded from his stunning loss on Friday night to Cornell's Max Dean to pick up wins over Emery Parker of Illinois and Ryan Preisch of Lehigh.
"It was tough just kind of getting motivated to get my body going just after a tough loss yesterday," said Martin, who became the program's seventh four-time All-American. "I think yesterday I was just a little overly confident and a little out of focus when things got a little tough. Today it just hurt. I was just thinking about it. But I just had to do it for my team and for God."
Lock Haven's Chance Marsteller avenged his only loss of the tournament by beating Wisconsin's Evan Wick 6-5 to place third at 165 pounds. Wick pinned Marsteller in Friday's quarterfinals.
"I'm happy to go out on a win," said Marsteller. "I'm happy the way I wrestled on the backside. I'm still pretty devastated that I'm never going to end my career in the national finals, national champ. I think going out and winning that match proves that I was definitely good enough to be in the finals. I beat the guy in the finals, [Mekhi] Lewis, twice."
Last year's NCAA runner-up Stevan Micic of Michigan, the No. 2 seed, was dominant in his two matches on Saturday, outscoring his opponents 23-5. He defeated Big Ten rival Luke Pletcher of Ohio State 6-1 in the third-place match.
Also finishing in third place for Michigan was Myles Amine, who topped Daniel Lewis 4-3 in the third-place match, 7-5.
Missouri's Jaydin Eierman defeated Oklahoma's Dom Demas to place third (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Missouri's Jaydin Eierman shut out freshman Dom Demas of Oklahoma 2-0 to place third at 141 pounds. It's Eierman's highest NCAA finish ever and his third All-America honor.
Eierman, a U.S. Open finalist in freestyle last year, will take an Olympic redshirt in 2019-20.
Two freshmen came back to finish in third place: UNC's Austin O'Connor (149) and Minnesota's Gable Steveson (285).
O'Connor, a redshirt freshman, picked up his second win of the tournament over ACC rival Mitch Finesilver of Duke in the third-place match, 7-5.
Steveson, a true freshman and the nation's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2018, blanked Lehigh's Jordan Wood 4-0 in the third-place match.
Oklahoma State's Preston Weigel claimed third place at 197 pounds with a convincing 7-1 win over Princeton's Patrick Brucki.
Tonight's finals matches are slated for 7 p.m. ET.
Medal-match results
125:
1st: Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. Jack Mueller (Virginia)
3rd: Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) dec. Vito Arujau (Cornell), 8-3
5th: Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State) pinned Pat Glory (Princeton), 5:29
7th: RayVon Foley (Michigan State) dec. Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State), 7-4
133:
1st: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. Nick Suriano (Rutgers)
3rd: Stevan Micic (Michigan) dec. Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 6-1
5th: Austin DeSanto (Iowa) dec. John Erneste (Missouri), 11-6
7th: Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) dec. Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State), 8-5
141:
1st: Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. Joey McKenna (Ohio State)
3rd: Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) dec. Dom Demas (Oklahoma), 2-0
5th: Nick Lee (Penn State) pinned Mitch McKee (Minnesota), 3:22
7th: Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) maj. dec. Chad Red (Nebraska), 11-3
149:
1st: Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) vs. Micah Jordan (Ohio State)
3rd: Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) dec. Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 7-5
5th: Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) dec. Brock Mauller (Missouri), 10-6
7th: Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) dec. Pat Lugo (Iowa), 11-9
157:
1st: Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
3rd: Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) dec. Hayden Hidlay (NC State), 5-3
5th: Kaleb Young (Iowa) dec. Ryan Deakin (Northwestern), 7-5
7th: Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State) dec. Larry Early (Old Dominion), 3-2
165:
1st: Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) vs. Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
3rd: Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) dec. Evan Wick (Wisconsin), 6-5
5th: Isaiah White (Nebraska) dec. Josh Shields (Arizona State), 8-4
7th: Alex Marinelli (Iowa) dec. Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa), 9-3
174:
1st: Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)
3rd: Myles Amine of (Michigan) dec. Daniel Lewis (Missouri), 4-3
5th: David McFadden (Virginia Tech) dec. Mikey Labriola (Nebraska), 4-3
7th: Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) dec. Devin Skatzka (Minnesota), 5-1
184:
1st: Max Dean (Cornell) vs. Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)
3rd: Myles Martin (Ohio State) dec. Ryan Preisch (Lehigh), 5-3
5th: Emery Parker (Illinois) dec. Chip Ness (North Carolina), 11-5
7th: Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) dec. Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 5-4
197:
1st: Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. Kollin Moore (Ohio State)
3rd: Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) dec. Patrick Brucki (Princeton), 7-1
5th: Josh Hokit (Fresno State) dec. William Miklus (Iowa State), 7-2 TB1
7th: Jacob Warner (Iowa) dec. Ben Honis (Cornell), 8-4
285:
1st: Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. Anthony Cassar (Penn State)
3rd: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) dec. Jordan Wood (Lehigh), 4-0
5th: Amar Dhesi (Oregon State) dec. Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 5-2
7th: Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) dec.Trent Hillger (Wisconsin), 3-1
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