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Senator Pat Toomey chairs hearing on bill aimed at curbing opioid abuse

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Penn State spring preview: A position-by-position look at the Nittany Lions

<p>NEW YORK &#8212; Penn State sent five wrestlers to the semifinals of the NCAA Wrestling Championship and extended its lead in the team standings at the tournament&#8217;s halfway point Friday.</p><p>The No. 1 Nittany Lions went 5-1 in their championship matches during the third session inside Madison Square Garden and led No. 7 Ohio State 68.5-54 in the team race.</p><p>Ohio State and No. 4 Iowa have four wrestlers in the semifinals and No. 5 Oklahoma State has three. The Hawkeyes and Cowboys are third and fourth in the team standings with 47 and 45.5 points.</p><p>But Penn State, looking to win its fifth team championship in six years, continued to rack up bonus-point victories to pull closer to that goal and earn a comfortable cushion.</p><p>Top-seeded 149-pounder Zain Retherford continued his torrid pace with his third bonus-point win in as many tries. He pinned Central Michigan&#8217;s Justin Oliver in 2:13 to spark the Nittany Lions&#8217; quarterfinal push. Top seeds Bo Nickal (174) and Morgan McIntosh (197) picked up major decisions in their quarterfinal bouts and Jason Nolf (157) added another major. Nico Megaludis (125) advanced to the semis for the fourth time with a decision.</p><p>Nolf and Nickal helped Penn State&#8217;s cause by beating Oklahoma State wrestlers in the quarters.</p><p>Although Dean Heil (141), Anthony Collica (149) and Alex Dieringer (165) advanced to the semis for the No. 5 Cowboys, Oklahoma State&#8217;s team title hopes took hits when Nolf beat Joseph Smith 11-3 and Nickal bounced Chandler Rogers from championship contention with a 15-4 win.</p><p>Ohio State&#8217;s Nathan Tomasello (125), Bo Jordan (165), Myles Martin (174) and Kyle Snyder (285) advanced, while Iowa&#8217;s Thomas Gilman (125), Cory Clark (133), Brandon Sorensen (149) and Nathan Burak (197) moved on to the semis.</p><p><strong>Family feud</strong></p><p>For the fourth time in his career, Ohio State&#8217;s Jordan will wrestle his cousin Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin. This time, a trip to the 165-pound finals is on the line. Isaac is 3-0 in their collegiate head-to-head matchup.</p><p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t say it&#8217;s super bad blood, but it&#8217;s tough,&#8221; Bo Jordan said. &#8220;If you try to picture it, you have two people in the family wrestling each other, we&#8217;ve trained together since we were 5, 6 years old and we&#8217;re trying to beat each other and steal each other&#8217;s dream. I love him. He&#8217;s a great wrestler but when we&#8217;re on the mat, I think you can tell from both of us that we really, really want to win.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Nearing three-peats</strong></p><p>Dieringer and North Carolina State&#8217;s Nick Gwiazdowski (285) are two matches away from winning their third individual titles, a feat accomplished by just 24 others.</p><p>Dieringer, the No. 1 seed at 165, will face No. 4 Daniel Lewis of Missouri in the semis. Gwiazdowski, also a No. 1 seed, will face Michigan&#8217;s No. 5 Adam Coon next.</p><p><strong>Longshots make waves</strong></p><p>The Top 4 seeds advanced to the semis at 133, 165, 197 and 285, but the other six weight classes were peppered with upsets along the way.</p><p>Unseeded Lelund Witherspoon of Iowa State busted the 174-pound bracket when he upended No. 2 Brian Realbuto of Cornell on Thursday. Witherspoon advanced to the semis by knocking off seventh-seeded Cody Walters of Ohio.</p><p>Meanwhile, two 15 seeds and a 14 also wrestled into the semis. American&#8217;s David Terao (125), Rider&#8217;s Chad Walsh (157) and Wyoming&#8217;s Bryce Meredith (141) are all still alive for titles.</p><p><strong>Champs still alive</strong></p><p>In addition to Tomasello, Dieringer and Gwiazdowski, all returning champions from last season will wrestle in the semis Friday night.</p><p>Oklahoma&#8217;s Cody Brewer (133), Illinois&#8217; Isaiah Martinez (157) and Cornell&#8217;s Gabe Dean (184) moved on with wins Friday afternoon.</p><p>Missouri&#8217;s J&#8217;Den Cox, champion at 197 pounds two years ago, also advanced.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State&#8217;s Zain Retherford, top, grapples with Central Michigan&#8217;s Justin Oliver in a 149-pound match during the NCAA Division 1 wrestling championship in New York, Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_NCAA-Wrestling-Champi_Sopr.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State&#8217;s Zain Retherford, top, grapples with Central Michigan&#8217;s Justin Oliver in a 149-pound match during the NCAA Division 1 wrestling championship in New York, Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Johnson</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Penn State takes lead in chase for team championship