The two Spartans who made it to the wrestling NCAA Championships came out victorious after the first session of the tournament Thursday afternoon.
Both senior heavyweight Mike McClure and junior 184-pounder John Rizqallah are seeded — McClure got the No. 7 seed, and Rizqallah got No. 14 — and wrestled against unseeded opponents.
Rizqallah wrestled to a 20-10 win over Lock Haven’s Fred Garcia. His opponent, Garcia, beat Indiana’s Luke Sheridan to lock his place at the national championship.
In session two, Rizqallah will wrestle the No. 3 seed from Cornell, Gabriel Dean.
He won his match against Iowa State’s Lelund Weatherspoon, in a major decision of 36-2.
The heavyweight athletes were the last category to start, and McClure and his opponent, Pittsburgh’s Patrick Tasser, went into overtime to decide the winner — they were tied 4-4 at the end of the third period.
With 19 seconds left in the one-minute overtime period, McClure got a takedown over Tasser to win the match, 6-4.
McClure will wrestle No. 11 seed Austin Marsden from Oklahoma State. Marsden beat unseeded Nebraska wrestler Collin Jensen, 10-2, in his session one match.
Overall in the team standings, Penn State is in first with 16.5 points, followed by Oklahoma in second with 13.5 points. Totaling 11 points after the first session, Edinboro and Minnesota are tied for third place.
