Penn State and Ohio State will finish 1-2 as All-American Round Ends
ST. LOUIS — Penn State only had one wrestler in the All-American round Saturday morning in the Scottrade Center and heavyweight Nick Nevills’ fifth-place finish was enough to help the Nittany Lions clinch a second straight team title and sixth in the past seven years.
All Penn State — which leads second-place Ohio State by a 122-106 margin — needs to know heading into Saturday night’s finals — which begin at 7 p.m. CDT — is how many champions the Big Ten powerhouse will earn before leaving the Arch City. Five Nittany Lions — Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174) and Bo Nickal (184) — will compete in the finals.
While Ohio State did not repeat what the Buckeyes accomplished at the Big Ten tournament two weeks ago — when the Bucks surprised the Nittany Lions — coach Tom Ryan’s wrestlers clinched second place when Nathan Tomasello (133) and Kollin Moore (197) finished third at their weight class. Two Buckeyes — Bo Jordan (174) and heavyweight Kyle Snyder — will also wrestle for championships tonight.
Oklahoma State — which features one finalist in 141-pound Dean Heil — clinched at least a tie for third place as seven Cowboys competed on Saturday in a year when OSU tied a school record with eight All-Americans and enter the finals with 99 points. The highest finish among the Cowboys today were a pair of fourth-place finishes by Nick Piccininni (125) and Joe Smith (157).
Iowa, meanwhile, went 7-1 on Saturday morning and has scored 93 points as three of the five Hawkeye All-Americans placed third: Thomas Gilman (125), Brandon Sorensen (149) and Michael Kemerer (157). The only way for Iowa to catch Oklahoma State would be for Heil to lose and for Iowa’s lone finalist Cory Clark to score a pin in the 133-pound championship bout.
Missouri, which has three finalists — Lavion Mayes (149), Joey Lavallee (157) and J’den Cox (197) — has a chance to catch the Hawkeyes, but did not get any help Saturday morning when All-Americans Jaydin Eierman (fifth at 141) and Daniel Lewis (sixth at 174) combined to win one of four wrestle backs.
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Top 10 Teams Heading Into Saturday Finals
Rk | School (Finalists/AAs) | Points |
1 | Penn State (5/6) | 122 |
2 | Ohio State (2/6) | 106 |
3 | Oklahoma State (1/8) | 99 |
4 | Iowa (1/5) | 93 |
5 | Missouri (3/5) | 82.5 |
6 | Virginia Tech (0/5) | 63.5 |
7 | Minnesota (2/4) | 62.5 |
8 | Cornell (1/4) | 60.5 |
9 | Nebraska (0/4) | 59.5 |
10 | Michigan (0/3) | 47.5 |