Penn State sends 8 wrestlers to NCAA semifinals
Penn State entered eight wrestlers in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships at Rocket Arena in Cleveland and advanced all eight to Friday night’s semifinals.
The Nittany Lions had seven No. 1 seeds and third-seeded Marcus Blaze in the semifinals.
The Penn State No. 1 seeds in semifinals were Luke Lilledahl (125), Shayne Van Ness (149), PJ Duke (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr (197).
Braeden Davis and Cole Mirasola are still alive in the consolation bracket for PSU at 141 and 285, respectively.
Welsh, one of four former Waynesburg Central wrestlers competing, is 3-0 in the tournament. In the first round Thursday, Welsh won by technical fall over Caleb Uhlenhopp of Utah Valley, 19-4 in 6:32. He followed that with a 13-4 major decision over Lehigh’s Rylen Rogers in the round of 16.
In the quarterfinals, Welsh was leading eighth-seeded Silas Allred of Nebraska 7-1 when Allred defaulted because of an injury at 5:11.
Welsh (24-0) met No. 5 seed Brock Mantanona of Michigan in the semifinals.
Lock Haven’s Wyatt Henson (141), another Waynesburg Central product, is alive in the consolation bracket after posting a 3-1 record in his first four bouts. Henson, the 13th seed, started with an 11-2 major decision over Julian Tagg of South Dakota State before losing to No. 4 Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State, 14-4 to fall into the consolation rounds.
Henson went 2-0 during Session 3 on Friday morning to earn a trip to the round of 12.
In Henson’s first match of Session 3, he used an escape to build a 1-0 lead in the second period before clinching a 4-0 decision with a takedown in the final period to defeat No. 19 Haiden Drury from Utah Valley.
Advancing to the third round in consolations, Henson faced No. 21 seed Taylor Wells from Oklahoma. It was scoreless through two periods before Henson scored four straight points in the third period. A Wells escape and takedown evened the score, but riding time secured the 6-4 victory for Henson.
Another former Raider, Luca Augustine, of Pitt, went 1-2 at 174 to finish on Friday afternoon.
Augustine (14-9) had a 6-4 loss in his first match, but won by fall (2:16) against Derek Gilcher of Indiana in his next bout before being eliminated following a 4-3 setback.
Waynesburg Central graduate Mac Church (24-14) of Virginia Tech dropped two hard-fought bouts at 165 on Thursday.
Canon-McMillan graduate Andrew Binni (125) of the Naval Academy, lost his two bouts, including a 2-1 decision to Conrad Henricksen of Oklahoma in the consolations.
Penn State had 105.5 team points, putting the Nittany Lions ahead their 90.5 total after three sessions a year ago when they went on to set the record of 177. Nebraska was a distant second with 66, followed by Oklahoma State with 64 Iowa with 48.5 and Ohio State with 43.