Just a few notes before tomorrow’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinal between No. 2 Penn and Boston University.

*Read my preview here and a feature on the senior class here.

*Tomorrow’s 1 p.m. game will be played at Drexel’s Vidas Field due to graduation setup at Franklin Field. However, Vidas does not have any internet connections, so I won’t be able to do my live blog updates (I’m sure the NCAA won’t mind, though). So what I’ll do is type up game notes offline, and then as soon as I get a chance, I’ll post them. So while you won’t get live updates, you will get a rough goal-by-goal account later Saturday.

Then sometime Sunday, maybe Monday, I’ll post a full recap with quotes.

*With only eight teams left in the tournament, clearly every game is important. But looking at the NCAA bracket, two of the three other games should interest Quaker fans.

The first one of course is the game in Penn’s half of the bracket: Duke at No. 3 Maryland. Duke might be unseeded, but the Blue Devils did give the Terrapins one of their two losses on the season. First draw is at 1pm.

The other is at the top of the bracket. While the winner of game wouldn’t face Penn until the finals, it does pit two of Penn’s most familiar — and disliked — opponents: Northwestern and Princeton. The No. 8 Tigers will travel to the Wildcats, who are the top seed in the tournament. The game is slated to start at 2pm ET.

The third matchup, while not as interesting for Quaker fans as the others, sees No. 5 Syracuse hosting unseeded North Carolina. The Tar Heels upset No. 4 Virginia in the first round. The game also will start at 1pm.

When Penn women’s lacrosse coach Karin Brower first found out that the No.2-seeded Quakers (14-1, 7-0 Ivy) would be playing Colgate in the first round of the NCAA tournament, she literally had no clue what kind of team Colgate is, saying “we don’t know anything about Colgate.” While she’s certainly scouted the Raiders since then, most readers probably have not. So here it is, a preview on the Colgate women’s lacrosse team:

Despite starting slow at 7-9, the Raiders have whipped off four straight victories to earn their spot in the NCAA tournament. But the run to get here certainly was pressure-filled, as their last three games all were single elimination ones. First they had the Patriot League Tournament semifinal against Lehigh, which they won 22-12. Then came the championship game at regular season champion American who they had previously lost to 13-10. But they exacted revenge winning 13-8. But their spot in the NCAAs wasn’t clinched yet. They still had to win the play-in game against MAAC champion Marist. Yet they won that 19-18 to earn an NCAA bid.

They’ll look to their recent stretch for inspiration.

“We’ve definitely already had that [pressure] experience with the play-in game,” coach Heather Bliss said. “It was able to get some people to really focus for the week at hand. It was good to get some experience under our belt. Obviously we were successful in that game so that should give us a lot of confidence against Penn.”

With the win the they are now in their third NCAA tournament in five years. (Penn meanwhile is only playing in its second since 1984 and fourth all-time.) However, the experience of playing in the tournament will be new to all but one player and one assistant coach.

“We actually have a really young team right now,” Bliss said. “And with that our coaching staff is only in its second year. So for a lot of girls on the team it’s going to be our first time. So as a program Colgate has been there three times in the past five year, but … we only have two seniors on the team and actually one wasn’t here freshmen year because she transferred. So it’ll be a new experience for a lot of the girls. It’s something we’re definitely enjoying; we’re soaking it all up.”

Senior Jessica Van der Meulen and assistant coach Heidi Ross (a Colgate ‘06 alum) are the only two tournament veterans.

Van der Muelen has 14 assists and 32 goals (which would lead the Quakers), putting her third on the team in points. But in addition to the senior captain, the Raiders are led by sophomores Brie Moran and Meghan Lawler who have 53 points apiece.

This balance on offense is one of the teams biggest strengths.

“Some of our biggest strengths are on our attack,” Bliss said. “We have seven girls that can be put the ball in the back of the net. Having that balance is really great for us. When teams mark up on two of us, we still have other girls who can get it done. We have a lot of depth.”

If their offensive balance is their strength, their schedule was one of their weaknesses, according to Bliss.

“One of the weaker points is that we haven’t played as many top teams as Penn has played this season,” Bliss said. “But I don’t think that’s anything that will hurt us going into the game. We’ll still be really excited about it. But they’ve definitely faced some tougher competition than us this season.”

So how do the Raiders matchup with the Quakers?

Looking at Colgate’s past performance, they should watch out.  The Raiders are 4-7 on the road, and they’re 0-5 when they score less than 10 goals.  Considering that the game is at Franklin Field and that Penn not only averages only six goals allowed per game, but its only given up as many as 10 goals once, the Raiders better hope their past performance is just that, in the past.

Knowing this, Bliss wants her team to focus.

“We have to be very patient with the attack,” she said. “They have some very good one-on-one defenders. We’re going to try to get some feeds.  We need to be disciplined and get control of the ball when its on our end.”

The Raiders are aware that Penn has had a great season, and as such they will try to elevate their play to Penn’s level.

“They’ve definitely had a great season,” Bliss said.  “They’re on a great run, and we know they obviously can get it done and be very successful against numerous teams. It’s something that we’re keeping in on the back of our minds, trying to come  in there  and step up our play and hopefully get a win against them.”

In less than 15 hours we’ll know if the Raiders can do just that and score one of the biggest first round upsets in women’s lacrosse history.

The Penn men’s lacrosse team is young, but it’s learning how to win close games.

After getting trounced by No. 8 Cornell at Franklin Field, the Quakers scored 28 seconds into overtime to beat Dartmouth, 9-8.

The Red and Blue have allowed three more goals than they have scored in the Ivy league, yet have come out with a 3-1 Ivy record. In all, Penn has played in four one-goal games, and has won four games (three in the league) by two goals or less.

After building up a 7-1 lead, Dartmouth stormed back by netting four goals in a row, and then tying it up at eight with just over two minutes to go. In overtime, though, Justin Lynch won the opening faceoff, and Penn called timeout to set up a play. A shot went awry, but just seconds later, Corey Winkoff found Garvey Heiderman for the game-winner.

The Quakers have a nice conference record, but have tough tests to go against Brown and Princeton if they want to win the league or make the NCAA Tournament.

I was surprised that Villanova made the NCAA Tournament, let alone won two games. The comeback against Clemson, a team that I though had Final 4 potential, was astounding. Then, the Wildcats certainly made Siena look like a mid-major in the second round, using good guard play to gain the lead, and an inside presence (14 after halftime from Dante Cunningham) to seal the deal.

Still, there are some other interesting Penn connections having success in the Tournament that you might not know about.

First, No. 13 Siena coach Fran McCaffery not only played for Penn in the early 80s, but was an assistant under current Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage a year later.

As a player, he let the Quakers to two Ivy titles and one NIT berth. He led the Ivies in steals in the 1981-82 season, and earned the coveted MIP, which, of course, translates to Most Inspirational Player. Don’t ask me what that actually means.

Also, Stanford’s Josh Owens, who had narrowed down his choices to Penn, Vanderbilt and the Cardinal, sees his club in the Sweet 16. In addition, Owens scored seven points in the rout of Cornell.

Owens has, in fact, been a monster against Ivy teams. In 75 minutes against everyone else, he’s scored 11 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. but in only 29 minutes against the Ancient Eight (Harvard and Cornell, he didn’t get minutes in the 11-point win over Yale) he scored 19 points on 62 percent shooting and corralled nine boards.

And finally, this isn’t exactly a connection, but a record that could be broken. Penn is the only team to have ever beaten North Carolina in the state of North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament - in 1979 the year the 9th-seeded Quakers went to the Final 4. This season, the Tar Heels won two games at North Carolina State, and now play Washington State and potentially the winner of Louisville-Tennessee in the Sweet 16 in Charlotte.

After beating Iona by four, the ‘79 Quakers went into Raleigh and knocked off No. 1 UNC, 72-71, as first-team all-East regional players Tony Price and Tim Smith carried the Quakers to the Final 4 in Salt Lake City.

With all Penn wrestlers eliminated from the tournament, I won’t be providing any bout summaries for the finals.  However here are some interesting stats from the tournament surrounding the Penn team.

First, I’d like to provide an analysis of Penn’s record vs. the various conferences.  Of the 74 teams here, Penn has faced wrestlers from a total of 19 teams. These teams, with Penn’s results against them: Duquense (W), Northwestern (L), Ohio St (W), North Dakota State (W), Old Dominion (L), Michigan (L), Ohio (L), Nebraska (0-2), Stanford (W), Central Michigan (L), Oklahoma. St (1-2), American (L), Illinois (1-2), Pittsburgh (W), Minnesota (L), Iowa St. (L), Liberty (W), Virginia (L) and Army (L).

These 19 teams represent eight conferences, plus three (ND St., Liberty and Duquense) are independent.  Penn’s record by conference: Big 10: 2-5, Big 12: 1-5, Pac-10: 1-0, EIWA: 0-2, Indepenents: 3-0, CAA: 0-1, MAC: 0-2, EWL: 1-0, ACC: 0-1.

 So overall, Quaker wrestlers were 8-16.

But of those eight wins, three came from Big 10 and Big 12 schools.  That’s impressive since the Big 10 and Big 12 have dominated this tournament (just like they do every year).  Looking at the team results you can see this.  Of the top 16 teams coming into the finals, 13 were from these two conferences. (Cornell, at nine, was one of the three others).  Looking at the individual results you can see this.  Of the 10 weightclasses, the Big 10 has a wrestler in the finals of every single one, and four of the finals are All-Big 10 matches. And in the remaining six matches, two involve a Big 10 vs Big 12 wrestler. And looking at the fan base you can see this.  Of all the fans here, the largest and most vocal sections are (in no particular order) Iowa, Ohio State, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Minnesota and Iowa St.  Cornell, again proving an exception, has a large one as well.  (As for the Penn cheering section, this weekend has given them little to cheer about, so I actually didn’t know it existed until Penn Coach Zeke Jones told me they were in section 120.)

 So for Penn to earn three wins against the two best conferences in America is pretty good (of course, they also had 10 losses to the two conferences).

In other news, Jordan Leen from Cornell won the 157 pound championship. He was the only EIWA wrestler in the finals.

St. LOUIS — Welcome to the nightcap of day two here at the NCAA Wrestling Championships from Scottrade Center. Only two Penn wrestlers remain, sophomore No. 9 Rollie Peterkin (125 pounds) and junior Zack Shanaman (165). Both need a win in their first bout to earn All-American status. Peterkin faces No. 10 James Nicholson of Old Dominion and Shanaman No. 5 Stephen Dwyer.

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Peterkin starts off the fourth session for Penn, looking to earn his first All-American honor. The majority of the first period is even, but with just :07 left, Peterkin earns a takedown. Nicholson earns an escape in the second, but gets injured doing so. However, after roughly 1:30 of his 2:00 of injury time, he bounces back up. In the third, Peterkin, starting from the bottom position, escapes just eight seconds in, pushing his lead to 3-1. However, with just :25 showing Nicholson earns a takedown to tie it up. And Sudden Victory it is. After thirty seconds of close, but scoreless wrestling, Nicholson breaks through, earning a takedown with :28 to go. And just like that Peterkin’s season is over. Immediately after the call, Penn coach Zeke Jones gets furious, jumping out of his chair with his arms raised in anger. Peterkin also is visibly upset, as he throws down his headgear in disgust. [NB I saw Jones a few minutes after the loss, and he had calmed down.]

Right as Peterkin lost, another 125-pounder captivated the attention of the crowd. Arizona State sophomore Anthony Robles was born with one leg, yet he was a state champion in high school, and has made a splash in the NCAA’s. Just like Peterkin, he came into tonight’s session needing one win to claim All-American status. But just like Peterkin, he lost a 5-3 sudden victory decision. Right as he lost on mat six, people around mat six started clapping as a sign of respect, and as news of his exit — so close to All-American status — spread, the entire stadium started clapping, rising to give him a standing ovation.

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The last match of the day, Shanaman vs Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska, was a back and forth affair. But in the end, Shanaman didn’t get enough. Dwyer paced the first with a takedown at 2:05 and an escape at :41, until Shanaman finally broke through with a takedown around :10. In the second, Shanaman continued his success with an escape at 1:00 to tie it up. In the third period both wrestlers scored. But it was Dwyer, with a takedown around 1:00, and not Shanaman with an escape towards the end of the period, that determined the match. Final score: 5-4 Dwyer.

With the loss, all Penn wrestlers have been eliminated. However, Coach Jones did say the team would stay tomorrow and watch the finals “so they can get the whole experience.”

This year marks the first time since 1996 that Penn left the national tournament without an All-American.

As for myself, I’ll continue blogging tomorrow, even without any Penn wrestlers in action. I’ll probably provide some statistical analysis, such as Penn’s record vs teams for various conferences, as well as updates on how Cornell is doing. (eighth place last time they updated it).

ST. LOUIS —With the graduation of Matt Valenti and Matt Herrington, Penn had no returning All-Americans in wrestling this year. But with a win tonight in the third round of the NCAA tournament, both sophomore Rollie Peterkin ad junior Zack Shanaman will become All-Americans. However, if either of them lose tonight here at the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis, they will be eliminated from the tournament, despite coming so close to entering the history books. No pressure, right? “I just need to focus on this next match and ignore all of the implications,” the 125-pounder Peterkin said. “Every match is going to be tough. It was tough losing [yesterday] but I’ve got momentum.” Both Shanaman — who wrestles at 165 — and Peterkin lost their second round bout yesterday after winning in the first round, so they’re in the wrestleback portion of the bracket. Even though, losing yesterday wasn’t ideal, Shanaman is still fine with his current status. Being a win away from All-American “is good,” he said. “It’s where I want to be. Hopefully I can win one more. Actually hopefully I win a lot more.” A win clinches All-American status, but after that there are still three more matches to determine the third through eighth place winners. While Shanaman did qualify last year for Nationals, this is the first national tournament for Peterkin. “It’s a different mindset,” Peterkin said of the NCAA’s. “It’s a whole new experience, the big crowds. There’s lots of pressure every match since it’s a new level of competition.” And with an All-American spot up for grabs tonight, that competition will be even higher.

And welcome back to the Scottrade in St. Louis, where the NCAA wrestling championships have reached day 2. I’m Zach Klitzman and I’ll be providing updates throughout the day.

Here are the standings heading into today’s action. Penn is currently in 27th place with 8.5 points (Iowa paces the field with 29.5, and Cornell is tied for ninth with 17.5). The Quakers have had four of their wrestlers eliminated, and the remaining four (Sophomore No. 9 Rollie Peterkin at 125, Junior Cesar Grajales at 149, Junior Zack Shanaman at 165, and Senior Lior Zamir at 184) are in the consolation bracket after going 1-1 yesterday. A loss for any of these four will eliminate them.

And after a rousing rendition of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck (the Wisconsin SID just turned to me and said, nothing like a little AC/DC to start a wrestling match), we’re ready for some grappling.

First up is Peterkin, facing unseeded Nikko Triggas of Ohio State. The match is actually pretty boring, as Rollie gets an Early takedown in the first, and then a reversal half way through the second. He also dominates riding time, on way to a 5-0 win. He will face Eric Hoffman of North Dakota State later this session, so stayed tuned for that match.

Previewing the later matches, we have Grajales vs. Brandon Carter of Central Michigan, Shanaman vs. Roger Smith-Bergsrud of Illinois, and finally Zamir vs No. 11 Rocco Caponi of Virginia.

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In the second match of the day, another wrestler got shutout. But this time it was Penn’s. Carter got a takedown on Grajales with just :07 left in first, and he then doubled his lead in the second with a reverse Down 4-0 going into the third, Grajales needed a strong comeback, as he was also down in riding time. But with zero points either way in third, that’s it for Grajales. After the final whistle sounded, Penn Coach Zeke Jones hung his head, probably not in shame, but he certainly wasn’t happy.

The third Penn match of the day, Shanaman v Smith-Bergsrud, was intriguing. The first period was a dead heat with zero riding time seconds at any point. The second was the exact opposite. With Shanaman starting in the top position, he literally rode for the entire period, yet he earned ero points. However, in the third he earned an escape just ten seconds in, as he got away from the down position. Bolstering his lead with a takedown at :50, despite a Smith-Bergsrud escape around :30, Shanaman advacned, finishing with enough riding time to get a 4-1 win. He will face Ethan Headlee of Pittsburgh later this session.

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Zamir vs Rocco Caponi: In the last Penn match of the second round of the wrestleback portion, Zamir took on the 11 seed Caponi.  Zamir actually took an early lead (something Coach Jones said the team had to do), getting a takedown. However, at the 1:50 makr Caponi tied it up with a reversal. The two then continued to roll around on the matt, until Caponi suddenly pinned Zamir in a time of 2:11. However, there was some debate as to how long Caponi actually held down Zamir.  Regardless, the result stood, and Zamir ended his career on a sour note.

However, while Penn went 2-2 in the thrid consolation round, the Quakers went 2-0 in the fourth. In the first match, Peterkin faced  Eric Hoffman of NDSU, and he earned a takedown around 1:30 left in the first. The second was scoreless, but by the end of period, despite being only up 2, he had 3:33 of riding time. The third was also scorelesss, but with 1:33 total riding time, Peterkin earned a 3-0 victory and is now one away from being an All-American.

The second consolation fourth round matchup was even more exciting. Shanaman and Ethan Headlee of Pittsburgh wrestled even, as it was 0-0 after the first, with zero accumulated riding time. In the second Shanaman broke out the scoring with an escape. In the third Headlee earned an escape, tying the bout as it went down to its last minute. However, with just 22 seconds left in the meet, Shanaman earned a takedown, and with the 3-1 win he also is a win away from reaching All-American status.

Welcome back to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis for the 2008 Division I wrestling championships. We started this session by being asked to “rise as one nation” and “join together in singing our national anthem.” Well it wasn’t purely a capella, as they did have an organ accompainment.

Back to wrestling. To recap the first session, Penn went 2-6, with No. 9 125-pounder Rollie Peterkin and 165-pounder Zack Shanaman the only winners. As such Penn will send six wreslters to the “wrestlebacks” the consolation portion of the tournament. However, first tonight will be the championship brackets, with Peterkin to face No. 8 Brandon Precin of Northwestern and Shanaman to face No. 10 Michael Cannon of American.

In the wrestleback portions, which will directly follow the completion of the second round of the championship half of the bracket, the six Quaker wrestlers will face single elimination. Junior Rick Rappo (141) will face Germane Lindsey of Ohio, junior Cesar Grajales (149) will face Lucas Espericueta of Stanford, Redshirt Freshman Scott Giffin (174) will face No. 8 seed Gabriel Dretsch

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The first match in session two for Penn was a nail bitter, as No. 9 Peterkin and No. 8 Precin were neck and neck for the majority of the bout. With :55 to go in the first, Precin got a takedown, but Peterkin immediately earned a reversal to keep it tied at 2. Then with just over a minute left in the second, Peterkin earned an escape to take a lead. However, with :30 seconds left Precin got a takedown. So heading into the third it was 4-3 Precin. Peterkin wouldn’t score again. Precin earned both a near fall 2 and a reversal to clinch the win, advancing 8-3. Peterkin must now win at least three in a row if he wishes to place eighth or better.

Meanwhile the bout of the first day is going on at 133 pounds. Top seed Franklin Gomez of Michigan State faces Big 10 rival and unseeded Reece Humphrey of Ohio State. The bout was 4-3 humphrey before Gomez pulled out a miracle escape, starting with the bottom position with 8 seconds left. The 4-4 match went to two one minute, and two thirty second overtimes. Before in the third thirty-second OT both grapplers earned an escape point. However, Gomez had four extra seconds of riding time, giving him the win. But it was not without controversy. With only a second left, it appeared Humphrey had earned a takedown of Gomez, but the ref had called them out of bounds right before the apparent winning move.

Penn’s second matchup at the championship level was delayed, as a two sudden victory and four thirty second overtime periods match between No. 11 Tyler Sherfey of Boise State and No. 6 Matt Kochler of Pittsburgh occured on the same mat. In the end Kochler got an escape, but with :08 seconds left Sherfey tied it up. However, Kochler had superior riding time.

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Back to Penn wrestling. Zack Shanaman was up next, facing 10th seeded Cannon. The first was back and fort tie, as an early takedown by Cannon and a late reverse for Shanaman knotted the score up at 2 apiece. However, Cannon got a last second escape so it was 3-2 Cannon at end of first. In the second a stall warning gave Shanaman a point to tie around 1:00 left. 3-3 going into third. But in the third Cannon got both an escape and a takedown to take a 6-3 lead. Although Shanaman got an escape point with :15 to go, it wasn’t enough. With Shanaman and Peterkin losing, all Penn wrestlers are now down to single elimination. So Penn’s streak of two years with a national champion has come to a close.

For more information, including coach and player reactions, see tomorrow’s DP.

Coming live from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, this is the NCAA Wrestling Championships. I’m Zach Klitzman and I’ll be providing updates as through Saturday, as eight Penn wrestlers look to advance in the national tournament. 330 wrestlers are competing from now until the Finals Saturday evening, representing 74 schools.

Interestingly, the Penn squad has switched uniforms. Instead of going with the solid blue singlets they’ve used throughout the season, they’ve switched up to solid red ones. I’ve yet to had a chance to interview any players or coach Zeke Jones about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re special NCAA-only singlets.

(Before I get in much farther, let me say that the internet is spotty at best here in the St. Louis Blues’ home stadium, so apologies there).

It’s roughly 1:30 Central time, and three Penn wrestlers have already competed in the opening round. Ninth-seeded sophomore Rollie Peterkin (125 pounds) dominated his first round opponent, unseeded Jonathan Bittinger of Duquesne, winning with a technical fall 17-1.

However, the second Penn match of the day was less favorable for the Quakers. Junior Rick Rappo (141) faced #3-seed, Kellen Russell of Michigan. The bout went scoreless through two periods, although Rappo forced some injury time in the first when Russell went down with a head injury. But the 25-5 freshman bounced back from the injury, and scored a quick takedown 10 seconds into the third. Russell held on, scoring another takedown and escape, advancing with the 5-0 decision. However, despite the close score, and the zero-zero tie throughout the first two periods, Russell pretty much dominated the match, as Rappo was on bottom throughout most of the bout.
The third bout went similar to Rappo’s. Junior captain Cesar Grajales (149) faced a high seed, Jordan Burroughs, the fourth-seed from Nebraska. And just like Rappo’s it was scoreless after the first period. However Burroughs drew first blood, earning an escape point with :45 seconds to go in the second. However, just six seconds into the third, Grajales tied it up with an escape of his own. But there’s a reason why Burroughs is seeded and Grajales is not. With just under 25 seconds, Grajales had the Cornhusker in a hold, but Burroughs escaped, and then got the reversal, earning three points. With so little time left, Grajales couldn’t earn any points, losing the bout 4-1.

I’ll stop for now, as there are no Penn wrestlers at 157 pounds. The next Penn wrestler is 165-pounder Zack Shanaman.

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First, I should add that at one point the jumbotron revealed team scores. At that point Penn was in 22nd with 3.5, but that was before Shanaman’s upset. (last year the Quakers came in 25 with 28 points).

After the break for the 157 weightclass, I’m back. The second half started with two bouts against ranked Oklahoma State wrestlers. First was junior Shanaman going up against the seventh-seed, Jake Dieffenbach. Dieffenbach had a lead of 4-2 right before the second period was to end, but Shanaman tied it up at the buzzer with a takedown. Finally, with an escape point just fifteen seconds in, Shanaman took the lead. He then played steady defense, holding on for the 5-4 upset win.

While the Shanaman win was the highlight for the team so far, the second Penn-OSU matchup was not as favorable to the Quakers. Redshirt Freshman Scott Giffin (174) faced ninth seed, Brendan Mason of OSU, but the match was more similar to Rappo’s then Shanamans. Mason earned a quick takedown n in 1st, and with an escape and another takedown again, he earned a 5-0 win to even the heads up records of Penn and Oklahoma state wrestlers.

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The next bout, though not against a Cowboy wrestler, was against a Big 12, seeded wrestler. Senior captain Lior Zamir (184) (who was incorrectly called a junior over the PA system) faced top-seed Jake Varner of Iowa State. Varner was 25-0 on the season and was runner-up at the 2007 NCAA Championships. during which he defeated Zamir, 5-0, in the first round of the NCAA Championships. And this year it wasn’t any different.

With :47 left in the first, Varner earned a takedown. and while the scoreless second kept the match close heading into the third, Varner got both a escape around 1:20 and a takedown at 1:01. In the end it was yet another 5-0 shutout loss for Penn.

The next match saw Thomas Shovlin (197) face off against Patrick Bond of Illinois, the 9 seed. It was scoreless in first and second, but just 12 seconds into the third Bond got an escape. However, an escape from Shovlin tied it up. And with both wrestlers not willing to give up any points, we got our first Sudden Victory match for Penn. But Bond got a takedown with just eight seconds left, even though he was dangerously close to being out of the circle. So Bond advanced with a 3-1 win.

Finally in heavyweight there was Trey Mclean against Jared Rosholt, the number five seed from Oklahoma State. And Rosholt just dominated. He got a quick takedown in first minute, and followed that up with a near fall three. And with just one second left in first, he earned the fall against the junior from Penn. With the win OSU is now 2-1 against the Quakers.

Also, they announced the attendance for session one as 15, 513 which is higher than the average attendance from last year’s meet.

That’s it for the first sesssion. The second round will commence at 6:30, so look for more updates then. I’m off to enjoy the comp dinner, as well as watch some sweet NCAA tournament basketball games.