Penn State Starts Out Perfect in the Drive for Five

Penn State's wrestlers:

125: Jordan Conaway won a wild decision over unseeded Joaquin Marquez of The Citadel, 12-7. Next up for Jordan is a third try vs Iowa's 6-seed Thomas Gilman.

133: Jimmy Gulibon continued the recent Penn State tradition of Bonus Point scoring when he earned a takedown in the final seconds to secure the Major Decision win, 11-3. Next up he'll face unseeded Jade Rauser of Utah Valley, a surprise winner over Lehigh's 10-seed Mason Beckman (5-3).

149: Zach Beitz dominated unseeded Shawn Greevey of Chattanooga 10-1 and will next face Cornell's 5-seed Chris Villalonga in what many PSU fans consider a very winnable bout.

174: Matt Brown also advanced with a Major Decision, over unseeded Pete Renda of UVA. He'll get 15-seed Santiago Martinez, a former club wrestler who made the Lehigh team and is 22-12 this year.

184: Matt McCutcheon looked awesome in dismantling unseeded Nick Fiegener from Cal Poly to the tune of a 20-5 Technical Fall. He gets one-loss 3-seed Blake Stauffer from Arizona State up next.

197: Morgan McIntosh ran into a heavy staller in UVA's Zach Nye, so he put in a workmanlike 3-0 shutout. It's good practice, as that might not be the only such opponent he'll face this weekend. Next up is Nebraska's 15-seed Aaron Studebaker.

HWT: Many times in this match it looked like Jimmy Lawson might pin Cornell's Jacob Aiken-Phillips, but in the end he had to settle for a 9-3 Decision. That we can slightly lament Lawson not having scored Bonus Points is a testament to the stellar round the boys in blue had. Lawson has a match vs 9-seed Michael Kroells of Minnesota that is a very important and winnable bout. Win that, and Lawson is one win from the podium.

TEAM SCORE:

Penn State sits in second to Ohio State headed into tonight's second round and wrestlebacks, with 11.5 points

Totally Unrelated & Useless Thoughts

- Access to the floor halls and matside has been a real treat for this fan

- Press photographers are friendly and have nice manners.

- EVERY single wrestler looks huge in person. I knew this would happen but it's still shocking. Nathan Tomasell weighed in for 125 pounds and the dude looks like a truck.

- The veteran nationals-goers I'm with took us to an excellent Irish bar for mid-afternoon snack. Food & beers were yum.