Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State works for an escape en route to a 6-3 decision over Sean Russell of Edinboro at 125 pounds.

Mat Notes:

     Iowa stormed out to an early lead at the 88th annual NCAA Wrestling Championships as they tallied 18.5 points and advanced eight wrestlers into the second round at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Hawkeyes were paced by including Spencer Lee (18-2) who posted an 18-0 tech fall at 125 and Brandon Sorensen (22-2) at 149. Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni (23-3) pinned Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) at the 1:37 mark of his 125-pound bout. Other New York natives that won their preliminary bouts were Bryan Lantry (17-5) of Buffao at 133, Yianni Diakomihalis (30-1) who posted a solid 10-1 major decision over Pitt's Nick Zanetta at 141, Binghamton's Steven Schneider (22-5) defeated Penn's Joe Heyob, 4-1, at 184. Also advancing were Shakur Rasheed (21-3) of Penn State with a 13-5 major decision over Sawyer Root (The Citadel) and a pair of 285-pounders: Hofstra's Mike Hughes (35-3) shutout Jake Gunning (Buffalo), 6-0, and Youssif Hemida (28-5) of Maryland who had a 9-1 major decision over Tyler Love (Virginia). 

     All 12 returning NCAA champions advanced including four two-time winners: Okla State's Dean Heil (4-2 at 141), unbeaten Zain Retherford (27-0), an 18-0 tech fall over Kyle Springer (Eastern Michigan) at 149 of defending team champion Penn State, Isaiah Martinez (15-0, 113-2) of Illinois with a 20-5 tech fall over Zachary Carson at 165 pounds and Kyle Snyder (13-1) of Big Ten champion Ohio State who registered a 15-5 major decision over Pitt's Ryan Solomon in the loaded 285-pound class.

     Ohio State took over the team lead with 36 points and has eight wrestlers in the quarterfinal round, including their trio of NCAA champs ; Nathan Tomasello (13-1), Myles Martin (29-2) and Kyle Snyder (14-1, 91-5 career). The  quarterfinals on Friday are slated to begin at 11:00 AM. The attendance for the fist two sessions was an impressive 37, 340 fans.

Team Scores:

  1. Ohio State (36)

  2. Penn State (28.5)

  3. Iowa (27)

  4. Michigan (23)

  5. NC State (20)

  6. Missouri (19)

  7. Cornell (15)

  7. Oklahoma State (15)

  9. Lehigh (14.5)

  9. Virginia Tech (14.5)

Ohio State's Micah Jordan works for his fall over Markus Scheidel of Columbia in second round action at the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland. Ohio State leads with 36 points.

Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell  controls Navy's Nicholas Gill to win 13-4 at 141 pounds.

Maryland's Youssif Hermida upsets Iowa's Samuel Stoll 7-2 at 285 pounds.

Iowa's Michael Kemerer picks up a fall at 157 pounds as the Hawkeyes slipped to third place in the team standings with 27 points.

Shakur Rasheed from Penn State defeated Daniel Chaid from UNC 14-3. The Nittany Lions are currently in second place with 28.5 points.