Senior heavyweight Mike McClure advanced to the quarterfinals in the session two of the NCAA Wrestling Championships Thursday night at the Chesapeke Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is set to continue wrestling on Friday evening.
McClure, who is seeded seventh, defeated No. 10 seed Jeremy Johnson from Ohio State. It was a 2-1 decision and the first tiebreaker of the tournament.
In the quarterfinals — which happened in session three of the competition at 11 a.m. on Friday — McClure suffered a 4-1 loss to second-seeded North Carolina State's Nick Gwiazdowski.
After a scoreless first period in the match, Gwiazdowski and McClure were tied 1-1 in the third period. With 15 seconds left in the third and final period, Gwiazdowski won the match by getting a takedown.
Continuing the tournament, McClure still has a shot at placing third. In session four, at 8 p.m. on Friday, he will wrestle Ohio State's Nick Tavanello — the consolation fourth round.
McClure can seal All-American honors with a win over Tavanello.
Junior 184-pounder John Rizqallah, on the other hand, suffered a loss to No. 3 seed Gabriel Dean from Cornell, 11-4, in session two Thursday night after defeating Lock Haven's Fred Garcia in session one.
In session three, Rizqallah defeated Rider's Clint Morrison, 9-2 — the Spartan was in complete control of the match — in his first match of the day.
Continuing to the consolation third round, he fell to No. 11 seed Lawrence Thomas from Penn State in a 4-3 decision.
Rizqallah finishes his junior-year season with a 22-12 record.
Session four of the NCAA Championships is set for 8 p.m. on Friday and all matches will be streamed live at WatchESPN.com and the semifinals will be shown on ESPN.
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