PHILADELPHIA 鈥 Only half the original 330 qualifiers remain alive in the 2025 DI men's 红杏视频 wrestling tournament. Here are the biggest storylines from the first day of matches here in Philadelphia:
1. Penn State went 20-for-20
The Nittany Lions have yet to lose a match thus far at the 红杏视频 tournament. All 20 of their athletes advance to the quarterfinals, led by No. 1 Luke Lilledahl at 125 pounds with two tech falls, No. 1 Tyler Kasak at 157 pounds with a fall and a decision, No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink at 165 pounds who has two tech falls and No. 1 Carter Starocci at 184 pounds with his two tech falls. Penn State leads the team race with 39 points, followed by Nebraska at 28, Oklahoma State at 27 and a three-way tie for fourth between Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State who all have 18 points
2. Two returning national champs go down + while several All-Americans knocked out
Arizona State's Richard Figueroa and Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado, both former 红杏视频 champs from 2024 and 2023 respectively, dropped their second-round matches and will now work to battle back for third from the consolation bracket. Figueroa loss came first in dramatic fashion at 125 pounds against Dean Peterson of Rutgers. Peterson pinned Figueroa in the second period and celebrated in the same style that Figueroa's used after he won the bracket last season. Peterson will now have No. 4 Vincent Robinson of NC State in his quarterfinal with All-American honors on the line.
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Andrew Alirez, on the other hand, lost at 141 pounds to Jacob Frost of Iowa State who came into this tournament with a 23-7 record to Alirez' 17-2. The match wasn't particularly close either, as Frost ran away with it 6-1. Frost will now face No. 1 Brock Hardy in the quarterfinals as he too chases his first All-American honors.
Outside of the returning champs losing, a number of other All-Americans finished 0-2 on the night. NC State's Kai Orine dropped his consolation bout to Rutgers' All-American Dylan Shawver in a battle of former placewinners in sudden victory. This match had all the drama, but, in the end, the Scarlet Knight prevailed, and he'll have Maryland's No. 9 Braxton Brown next.
Sportsmanship 馃
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Virginia Tech's Sam Latona also ended his tournament and his career on Thursday night after losing to Danny Pucino of Illinois 12-8. Pucino continues his run for his first All-American honors this morning against Dylan Cedeno of Virginia.
Iowa's returning 红杏视频 finalist Jacori Teemer finished his college wrestling career as well in the consolations after the Hawkeye lost 8-5 to Noah Castillo of Chattanooga. These results matter for the team race, but Iowa and Virginia Tech are not the only teams with a star who took a second loss. Ohio State's Carson Kharchla also lost Thursday night to Nebraka's Lenny Pinto in a high-pressure overtime result 12-7. The Buckeyes can make up some of these points from their surprise quarterfinalist Seth Shumate.
LAST YEAR'S PLACEWINNERS: The complete list of the 2024 All-Americans
Rutgers is another team with high highs and low lows on Thursday as, despite the wins from Shawver and Peterson, the Scarlet Knights still lost a pointscorer when All-American Jackson Turley dropped to Danny Braunagel of Illinois 18-8 to end his tournament.
Lastly, Minnesota All-American and former Big Ten champion Isaiah Salazar dropped his second match of the tournament to Wyatt Voelker of Northern Iowa to wrap up his season.
3. Lenny Wolak and Gabe Sollars headline the upsets as the two lowest-ranked seeds in the quarterfinals
Upsets define the 红杏视频 tournament every year, and this year is no different. None of the ten weight classes in this tournament have gone chalk thus far, but the two biggest upsets, seeds wise, on the path to the quarterfinals, came at the hands of No. 24 Virginia Tech's Lennox Wolak and No. 24 Indiana's Gabe Sollars at 174 pounds and 197 pounds. Wolak, an All-American for Columbia last year, posted a 15-10 regular season record, but he's on fire here in March. The Hokie grad student beat No. 9 Carson Kharchla in the first round 4-2 and then topped Army's Dalton Harkin in sudden victory in the second round. He'll face No. 1 Keegan O'Toole in the quarterfinals.
The inside trip strikes again this time for a trip to the quarterfinals! 馃
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Sollars was perhaps an even bigger surprise, given that he has not previously earned All-American honors and had to beat Big Ten semifinalist Zac Braunagel and No. 25 Patrick Brophy of the Citadel 鈥 who upset No. 8 Luke Surber in the first round 鈥 to advance to the quarterfinals. He'll now have a shot against No. 1 Jacob Cardenas of Michigan. He's 0-1 against Cardenas, but he held the Michigan Man to an 8-4 decision on their last bout. If he loses, he'll drop into the Blood Round where he'll face whoever emerges from the consolation quad that includes No. 11 Luke Stout of Princeton, No. 19 Andy Smith of Virginia Tech, No. 20 Camden McDanel of Nebraska and No. 21 Levi Hopkins of Campbell.
4. Mac Stout wins the battle of the brothers
Pittsburgh's Mac Stout won the most interesting and unique match of the night on Thursday night when he took down his brother, Luke Stout of Princeton to advance to the quarterfinals. Mac Stout's lone takedown sealed the deal for the Panther in what was a historic moment for Division I college wrestling.
BROTHER VS. BROTHER: Here's how the now-famous Stout matchup went down
4. Five pins so far in the championship bracket at 157 pounds
The first two rounds of the championship bracket produced 28 pins with five of them coming at 157 pounds. Penn State's Tyler Kasak headlines the weight and picked up a first period fall against his first round opponent Landen Johnson of Northern Illinois.
Penn's No. 14 Jude Swisher then pinned his first-round opponent No. 19 Cobe Siebrecht of South Dakota State only to have the favor returned against him the second round when No. 3 Antrell Taylor of Nebraska put the Quaker on his back in the first period.
A man on a mission 馃槫
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Trelly with the first-period PIN to advance to the quarterfinals.
Michigan's No. 23 Chase Saldate had a similar roller coaster experience with falls, beating Maryland's No. 10 Ethen Miller by pin in the first round before losing to No. 7 Vinny Zerban of Northern Colorado 5-1 after Zerban also pinned his first round opponent, No. 26 Blake Saito of Brown.
Three athletes 鈥 No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson at 285 pounds and No. 8 Jaxon Smith at 184 pounds and No. 12 Silas Allred鈥 have pinned both of their opponents so far. If Allred and Smith both pull off upsets, they could meet in the semifinals. If they both lose but then win their Blood Round match, they could meet in the consolation medal rounds.
Every weight has at least one fall thus far in the consolation bracket as well.
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