Behind by a handful of points after Thursday's morning session, reigning national champion Penn State powered back to take the Southern Scuffle lead Thursday night at McKenzie Arena.
In what is termed the nation's toughest collegiate wrestling tournament prior to March's NCAA shootout, Cael Sanderson's Nittany Lions put up 52 first-day points.
The 31-team tournament has been pared to a four-team race for the title, which Penn State has won four straight years. Nebraska is on the Lions' heels with 48 points, a half-point ahead of Missouri and just a point better than fourth-place Oklahoma State.
Southern Scuffle Team Scores
1. Penn State 52, 2. Nebraska 48, 33. Missouri 47.5, 4. Oklahoma State 47, 5. Michigan 32, 6. Pittsburgh 31, 7. Virginia 31, 8. Cornell 29, 9. Lehigh 27.5, 10. UT-Chattanooga 25.5, 11. Stanford 25, 12. Army 24, 12. Wyoming 24, 14. Central Michigan 21, 14. Iowa State 21, 16. North Carolina 20, 17. The Citadel 19.5, 18. Kent State 19, 19. Appalachian State 18.5, 20. Cleveland State 17.5, 21. Gardner-Webb 17, 22. Drexel 16.5, 23. Duke 15, 23. Navy 15, 25. Northern Colorado 14.5, 26. Boise State 9, 27. Buffalo 7, 28. George Mason 5, 29. Campbell 2.Quarterfinalists(Quarterfinals begin at 9 a.m. at McKenzie Arena)Army: Russell Parsons (157), Chandler Smith (165), Bryce Barnes (197)Boise State: Geo Martinez (141)Central Michigan: Zachary Horan (141)UTC: Sean Boyle (125), Jared Johnson (285)The Citadel: Aaron Walker (157)Cleveland State: Ben Willeford (125)Cornell: Nahshon Garrett (125), Mark Grey (133), Nick Arujau (141), Dylan Palacio (165), Gabriel Dean (184)Duke: Conner Hartmann (197)Iowa State: Earl Hall (133), Gabe Moreno (149), Tanner Weatherman (174)Lehigh: Mason Beckman (133), Nate Brown 9184), Elliott Riddick (197)Michigan: Rossi Bruno (133), Dominic Abounader (184), Max Huntley (197), Adam Coon (285)Missouri: Alan Waters (125), Lavion Mayes (141), Drake Houdashelt (149), John Eblen (174) Willie Miklus (184), J'Den Cox (197), Devin Mellon (285)Navy: Peyton Walsh (165)Nebraska: Tim Lambert (125), Anthony Abidin (141), James Green (157), Robert Kokesh (174), Spencer Johnson (197), Collin Jensen (285)North Carolina: Troy Heilmann (133), Joseph Ward (141)North Carolina State: Tommy Gantt (157)Oklahoma State: Eddie Klimara (125), Dean Heil (141), Joshua Kindig (149), Anthony Collica (157), Alex Dierringer (165), Chandler Marstellar (165), Jordan Rogers (174), Kyle Crutcher (174), Nolan Boyd (184), Austin Marsden (285)Penn State: James Bulibon (133), Luke Frey (149), Zack Beitz (149), Dylan Alton (157), Jason Nolf (157), Matt Brown (174), Matt McCutchens (184), Morgan McIntosh (197), Nick Nevills (285)Pittsburgh: Dom Forys (125), Edgar Bright (149), Mike Racciato (149), Tyler Wilps (174), Max Thomusseit (184)Stanford: Isaiah Locsin (141), Max Hvolbek (157), Jim Wilson (165)Virginia: George DiCamillo (133), Nick Sulzer (165), Zach Nye (197), Ethan Hayes (285)Wyoming: Tyler Cox (125), Dakota Friesth (165), Andy McColley (174), Ben Stroh (184)
"I hope it's exciting tomorrow. The tighter the team race, the more exciting the matches will be," host coach Heath Eslinger said. "I thought one team might come in and get hot, but there are four or five still hanging around."
The tournament resumes at 9 this morning with the quarterfinals and fourth round of consolation matches. Championship semifinals are set for 1:30 p.m., and the medal matches are to begin at 7 p.m. on four mats.
Eslinger's University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs rounded out the top 10 with 25.5 points.
"As realists we want to come in and compete well," Eslinger said. "I thought we did in some spots, but I thought we absolutely left some (wins) on the table. We had some close losses where we lost some positions we have to get better at. But it's midyear and we have seven guys going tomorrow, the event has been great and we were exposed in some areas that we know now we have to improve on."
Michigan stands fifth with 32 points, 15 behind Oklahoma State. Pittsburgh and Virginia are tied for sixth with 31, Cornell is eighth with 29 and Lehigh is ninth with 27.5.
There are 23 teams with at least one participant in this morning's quarterfinal round. Oklahoma State has 10, Penn State nine, Missouri seven, Nebraska six and Pittsburgh five.
"The reason teams come here is for this type of competition, so it will be good for us because the competition will be heightened," Eslinger said.
His Mocs got two into the quarters: 125-pound Sean Boyle and heavyweight Jared Johnson.
UTC also has several wrestlers alive in the consolations: Nick Soto, who dropped an overtime round-of-16 match to North Carolina's Troy Heilmann, and Jared Browning at 133, Shawn Greevy at 149, Austin Sams at 157, McCoy Newberg and Levi Clemons at 174 and John Lampe and Barrett Walthall at 184.
Boyle and Johnson, who bumped up to heavyweight from 197, were UTC's highlights, though.
Boyle had a first-round bye and then won two matches, including a technical fall.
"That second match I could've opened up a little more, maybe scored a major decision," Boyle said. "All in all it was a good day, but it's a bigger day tomorrow and I'm excited about that.
"This is a great tournament. It simulates the NCAA tournament -- multiple weigh-ins, a lot of different teams, a lot of different styles -- and it's important for me to finish this tournament well in order to help my positioning at the NCAA tournament."
Seeded 11th for this tournament, Boyle will tackle No. 2 seed Alan Waters of Missouri. Waters won 4-2 when they met at the 2013 NCAA tournament.
"You want to be mistake-free. One mistake could mean the match," Boyle said. "I wrestle better when I open up and let it fly. The more I can have fun with it is when I seem to wrestle well."
Johnson won three matches, including a first-round pin.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.