125: No. 1 seed Jesse Delgado (Illinois) as in tournament shape in the quarterfinals, and has to be the heavy favorite against No. 5 seed Dylan Peters (Northern Iowa). Though he'd recently been hounded for a lack of offense, the defending NCAA champion has rediscovered his offense. His scrambling is also near perfect. On the other side, Penn State's No. 3 seed Nico Megaludis and No. 2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) are lining up for what should be an exciting match filled with twists, bends and tweaks.
133: Iowa's No. 3 Tony Ramos needed 6:30 to earn the takedown against No. 6 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) in the quarters. He'll be pushed to his limit against No. 2 A.J. Schopp who rode Cashe Quiroga (Purdue) for five minutes, though limped out fighting off successive attacks by the All-American. Wisconsin's Tyler Graff looked solid, though never pushed his pace en route to a convincing 9-6 win over Oklahoma's Cody Brewer. He'll need help against top-seeded Joe Colon (Northern Iowa), who looked dominant in a 19-9 quarterfinal win.
141: No. 2 Logan Stieber only needed 1:28 to pin Harvard's Todd Preston and will meet No. 3 Zain Retherford (PSU) in the bottom semifinals. Look for Retherford to have a better performance here than he did in the Big Ten finals. Better, but likely not enough. In a big upset, No. 9 Evan Henderson (UNC) beat No. 1 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) 5-3 which means he'll face ACC opponent No. 4 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) in the semifinals. Carter will be the heavy favorite, though he was sluggish in his narrow 4-3 win over Richard Durso (Franklin & Marshall).
149: Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis came out of the No. 5 seed to beat No. 4 Kendric Maple in sudden victory. He'll face No. 1 Drake Houdasheldt (Missouri) in the semifinals in a very even set match. On the other side No. 15 seed Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) earned a 4-3 decision, over Virginia Tech's Zach Neibert and will face an impressive Josh Kindig (Oklahoma State) for a spot in the NCAA finals. Expect to see Tsirtsis push Houdasheldt to the last frame, and for Kindig to have little issue with Minotti.
157: Dylan Ness (Minn) pinned James Green (Nebraska) and made it known that he the single most dangerous wrestler in the history of the NCAA. Absolutely unbelievable outlook on the sport that optimizes pinning first and always. He'll face Kent State's Ian Miller in the semifinals, but everyone can expect to see a lot more of what they saw against Green, with Ness searching for the fall. Miller did pin Ness at the Southern Scuffle, though. Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) got past No. 6 Nestor Taffur (Boston U.) in a match with 29 points. He'll face Brian Realbuto (Cornell) who had no trouble with St. John. It's as much a tossup as any match in the round, but it look like Realbuto has a favorable matchup on the mat.
165: No. 3 Nick Sulzer looked bad against No. 11 Turtogokh and needed tiebreaker rideout to squeak out the 4-3 win. He'll face Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma State), but if he doesn't improve his attacks, Caldwell will enjoy the same type of dominance he put on in the quarterfinals. No. 1 David Taylor (Penn State) faces No. 4 seed Steven Monk of North Dakota State. Don't expect too many dramatics, though Monk is known to ride and turn.
174: No. 4 Mike Evans (Iowa) found an escape in tiebreaker to beat No. 5 Matt Brown (Penn State), but he'll need more than a nice ride to catch No. 1 Chris Perry was aggressive in the quarterfinals. Perry will ride Evans, and if he gets the takedown early it'll be too much for Evans to overcome. Finalist favorite No. 2 Andrew Howe looked crisp against Pitt's Tyler Wilps and will face No. 6 Logan Storley (Minnesota), who after putting the crowd to sleep in a double tiebreaker snoreride session, found the absolute last-second takedown against No. 3 Robert Kokesh (Nebraska). Howe is a heavy favorite, and fans are likely to see the rubber match everyone expected.
Ed Ruth (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)197: No. 1 Nick Heflin was offensive in his quarterfinal win and will face No. 4 Scott Schiller (Minnesota) in the semifinals, who pushed past No. 5 Kyven Gadson (Iowa State), 6-4. Heflin has the stuff to beat Schiller again and if he gets the early takedown it won't be easy for Schiller to find the escape. No. 13 seed Chris Penny will face No. 2 J'den Cox (Missouri), who has looked unbelievable in his first three matches. Expect Penny's run to end and Cox to make a statement.
285: He's not the biggest of heavyweights, but No. 3 Adam Chalfant (Indiana) looked incredible in his match against No. 11 Austin Marsden (Oklahoma State). He was active on his feet, which is something he'll need when facing NC State's Nick Gwiazdowski. Looking tough as well is No. 1 seed Tony Nelson (Minnesota), who found the quick fall over Spencer Myers (Maryland), which puts him on a collision course with No. 5 Bobby Telford (Iowa). Expect a fun heavyweight match if Telford can make it inside and find shots. If not, he'll be relegated to playing the edge with Nelson. Ahh, who are we kidding? #SNORERIDE
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