OKLAHOMA CITY - Former Line Mountain wrestler and Benton graduate Zain Retherford is part of a group of five Penn State wrestlers who advanced to the NCAA Division I quarterfinals in action Thursday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Retherford, a two-time Pennsylvania state champion and a true freshman at Penn State, opened tourney action at 141 pounds Thursday morning with a 5-0 decision over returning all-American Undrakhbayar Khishignyam of The Citadel. In the night session, made an escape and takedown stand up for a 3-0 victory over Edgar Bright of Pitt. Retherford is the No. 3 seed at the weight.
Nittany Lions joining him in the quarterfinals are 125-pounder Nico Megaludis, along with defending national champions 165-pounder David Taylor and 184-pounder Ed Ruth, and 174-pounder Matt Brown.
Megaludis, second last year, scored an easy 18-3 technical fall over Darian Cruz of Lehigh in opening round, then blanked Edward Klimara of Oklahoma State 6-0 in the second round.
Taylor recorded falls in both of his matches, decking Joseph Brewster of South Dakota in the opening round and Jim Wilson of Stanford in the second round. Taylor now has 52 falls for his career, one shy of the Penn State record of 53.
Ruth registered a first-period fall over Jackson Heim of Wisconsin in the opening round, then scored a second-round technical fall over Lazarus Reyes of Illinois.
Brown scored an opening-round 17-3 major decision over Kyle Meyer of Stanford, then added a 6-1 decision over Tanner Weatherman of Iowa State.
Bloomsburg University had one wrestler advance to the quarterfinal round. Josh Veltre rolled to a 15-7 major decision over No. 5 seed Nick Moore of Iowa in the opening round at 165, then scored a 5-2 victory over Ryan Leblanc of Indiana in the second round.