NCAA Wrestling Championships -- Live Updates (Session 3)

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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.