Penn State rolls, but is historic NCAA Wrestling Championships out of reach?
Frank BodaniPenn State dominated, once again, on the second day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
And yet there was a bit of an underwhelming feeling when everything wrapped up late Friday night.
The Nittany Lions sent five wrestlers to Saturday evening's finals.
But the best they can now hope for is to tie the all-time record for individual titles. The points record of 170 set by Iowa seems out of reach.
While Penn State is the safe bet to win its eighth national title in nine years tonight, it appears that staking its claim as arguably the best team ever will come up short.
That, in a sense, reveals its continued dominance, as much as anything.
The Lions comfortably led the team race after two days with 120.5 points. Ohio State was a distant second (88.5 points), followed by Oklahoma State (73.5) and Iowa (68).
Jason Nolf, 157 pounds
Penn State's undefeated machine nearly was broke in the semifinals.
The senior fended off two razor-sharp takedown attempts by North Carolina State's Hayden Hidlay to hold on, 3-2.
Hidlay had Nolf's leg and took him to the mat at the very end but could not control it for the critical two points.
Nonetheless, Nolf advanced to the finals to seek his third national title.
Nolf's close victory came after Penn State freshman Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds) held on for a 4-3 consolation victory over No. 4 seed Mickey Phillippi of Pitt to earn All-America honors.
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Bravo-Young dropped his next consolation match, however, to fall to Saturday's seventh-place bout.
The Lions then lost their critical national title hope at 141 pounds. Nick Lee fought hard against No. 2 seed Joey McKenna of Ohio State but lost, in the end, by a riding time point.
Vincenzo Joseph, 165 pounds
The two-time defending national champ needed overtime to defeat No. 7 Isaiah White of Nebraska just to make it to the semifinals.
Then, he held off Arizona State No. 3 seed Josh Shields, 3-2, to earn his shot at yet another title.
Joseph was the second of three straight one-point victories for the Lions in the semifinals — and the fourth in the round, overall.
He will now meet surprising Virginia Tech freshman Mekhi Lewis in the finals.
Mark Hall, 174 pounds
Yet another defending national champ was pushed to the limit.
Michigan's Myles Amine took Hall into overtime before falling by a point — unable to free himself and produce the needed escape as time ran out.
Hall will now face Arizona State's Zahid Valencia (No. 3 seed) in the finals.
Penn State's toughest blow of the tournament followed at 184 pounds.
Fifth-year senior Shakur Rasheed came to Pittsburgh as the No. 2 seed but was upset in Thursday's second found. Then, as he attempted to earn All-America status in the consolations, he was knocked off again.
The only other Penn State wrestler eliminated before the semifinals was Brady Berge at 149 pounds. He lost his consolation match in overtime to No. 20 Thomas Thorn of Minnesota.
Bo Nickal, 197 pounds
The most dominating performance of the night, as expected.
The senior pinned his way to another NCAA finals — joining Nolf and David Taylor as the only four-time finalists in school history. Nickal took down Princeton's Patrick Brucki with relative ease.
The undefeated showman is expected to win his third title and then be honored as the nation's top wrestler of the year.
Anthony Cassar, heavyweight
Maybe the toughest draw of Penn State's potential title winners. He was forced to beat Minnesota's Gable Steveson for the second time in two weeks.
Steveson was the undefeated rookie before Cassar surprised him with a late takedown in the Big Ten Championships.
On Friday night, Cassar scored late again then held off Steveson, winning on riding time, 4-3.
Cassar will now seek to avenge his only loss of the season, a finals showdown with Oklahoma State's Derek White.
