Wrestling

DES MOINES, IOWA - After ending day one with a 3.5 point lead over Oklahoma State, the Nittany Lions have pushed that advantage to a 77.5-65.5 lead over the Cowboys after session three at the NCAA championships.

Of the Lions' six quarter-finalists, five advanced to the semifinal round tonight and earned themselves All-American status.

After losing in the final last season to Matt McDonough, 125-pounder Nico Megaludis has set himself up with the potential for another title run. After earning a 12-4 major decision over Appalachian State's Dominic Parisi, Megaludis will face No. 1 seed Alan Waters of Missouri in the national semifinal tonight.

The 165-pound through 197-pound wrestlers continued to be dominant for Penn State as David Taylor, Matt Brown, Ed Ruth, and Quentin Wright all earned All-American status with a trip to the semifinals.

Taylor faced a familiar quarter-final opponent in Conrad Polz of Illinois, getting the Illini wrestler in a cradle just 24 seconds to achieve three-time All-American status. After pinning his way to the semifinals, Taylor will be matched up against No. 3-seeded Peter Yates of Virginia Tech.

Thanks to an upset falling his way, Brown is into the semifinals after three consecutive wins over unseeded opponents. The sophomore continued his run with a dominating 13-5 performance over Iowa State's Tanner Weatherman. Iowa's Mike Evans was upset so Brown will face No. 6 Logan Storley in the semifinals.

Ed Ruth picked up his 100th career win with a 11-1 major decision to book his ticket to the semifinals. Ruth, a three-time All-American, will face the defending champion at 184 pounds tonight in Cornell's Steve Bosak.

Wright closed the Lions' session three with a matchup against No. 10 Scott Schiller of Minnesota. Like the four wrestlers before him, the senior earned bonus points for his team. Wright notched a first-period pin at 2:48 after two minutes of back-and-forth action. The win means Wright becomes Penn State's sixth four time All-American and has earned himself a meeting with No. 3 Matt Wilps of Pittsburgh in the semifinals.

Over in the consolation bracket, Jordan Conaway and Dylan Alton are still standing for Penn State. Conaway can achieve All-American status tonight with a victory after going 2-0 in session 3 of the consolations. To achieve that, he will have to defeat No. 8 Cory Brewer of Oklahoma State, a match that could be key in the team points race.

Dylan Alton was the lone Lion to lose his quarterfinal bout as he dropped an 8-3 decision against No. 1-seeded Jason Welch of Northwestern. Alton will start his consolation round journey tonight against No. 4-seeded James Green of Nebraska.

Session four will start at 7 pm eastern with the national semifinals and more consolation action.