Scuffle Scores
1. Oklahoma State 116; 2. Missouri 70.5, 3. Lehigh 69.5; 4. Northern Iowa 68.5; 5. Minnesota 68; 6. Virginia 46.5; 7. Stanford 44.5; 8. North Carolina 43.5; 9. Cornell 36.5; 10. Edinboro 33; 11. Northern Colorado 26; 12. Appalachian State 24.5; 12. UTC 24.5; 12. Gardner-Webb 24.5; 15. Campbell 22.5; 15. Drexel 22.5; 17. Utah Valley 21; 18. Duke 20.5; 19. Navy 18.5; 20. Penn 17; 21. Air Force 12; 22. The Citadel 5.5; 23. N.C. State 5; 24. Penn State (unattached) 4.
Oklahoma State, runner-up in three of the past four Southern Scuffles, put all but a vice on the 2017 championship Sunday.
The Cowboys, the nation's top-ranked college wrestling team, rang in the new year in style, lassoing 10 semifinal berths with another five wrestlers still alive in the consolation brackets.
The tournament resumes at 10 this morning at McKenzie Arena with the fifth consolation round. The semifinals and consolation quarterfinals are at noon. Championship finals and medal matches through eighth place are scheduled to start at 7.
Oklahoma State, coached by legendary John Smith, had a commanding 45.5-point lead after the first day. The Cowboys had amassed 116 points to 70.5 for second-place Missouri. Lehigh was in third with 69, Northern Iowa fourth with 68.5 and Minnesota fifth with 68.
"Oklahoma State's pretty good. Obviously they're ranked No. 1 in the country for a reason. They have a lot of firepower and they're so deep," said Heath Eslinger, coach of host University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Southern Conference teams were grouped closely, with Eslinger's Mocs in a three-way knot for 12th (24.5) with Appalachian State and Gardner Webb. Campbell was just two points behind those three.
Three top-seeded wrestlers were knocked off Sunday.
Northern Iowa 125-pounder Dylan Peters lost 9-7 to Stanford's Gabe Townsell and then was knocked from the tournament, 12-6 by Louie Hayes, a Virginia wrestler who's competing unattached.
At 165 pounds, Lehigh's top-seeded Mitch Minotti lost to North Carolina State's Chad Pyke 3-1. And at 174, Penn State freshman Mark Hall, a probable redshirt candidate, bested top seed Casey Kent from Penn 9-3.
"That's really no shock. He's a junior world champ" Eslinger said of the phenom. "You remember Jason Knopf that won it here last year? Hall beat him over the summer. It's his teammate, but he still beat him."
UTC has four wrestlers who will be in action this morning.
Heavyweight Jarred Johnson and Bryce Carr (184) dropped quarterfinal matches, and Sean Mappes (174) and Alonzo Allen (125) continued their fights through the consolation rounds.
Johnson dropped a 3-2 decision to third-seeded Nathan Butler of Stanford while Carr dropped a 6-4 overtime match to Northern Iowa's Drew Foster.
"There were good matches for us. We saw some things we need to get better at, but this is a tough tournament, man," Eslinger said. "His last match tonight was a huge win for Allen, winning in the last 15 seconds, and Mappes had never beaten that kid (Appalachian's Nick Kee).
"We have to get better, but there aren't any bad wrestlers in this gym. There's a small gap between good and great, but there's a lot of work between the two."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.
How the Mocs fared
125 poundsTrey Andrews (NC) dec. Alonzo Allen, 5-1; Allen major dec. Noah Baughman (Corn), 14-2; Nick Piccininni (OkSt) dec. Fabian Gutierrez, 10-3; Gutierrez dec. Patrick Kearney (Cit), 13-8; Allen dec. Taylor Lamont (UtahV), 6-5; Steven Polakowski (Minn) tech. fall Gutierrez, 7:00.133 poundsMark Grey (Corn) major dec. Chris DeBien, 13-5; DeBien dec. P. Russo (Stan), 9-2; Dylan Hyder (AF) dec. DeBien, 9-5; Korbin Myers (Edin) tech. fall Jacob Huffine; Huffine dec. Marshall Brown (NCSt), 9-3; Nathan Boston (Camp) pinned Huffine, 0:17.141 poundsJaydin Eierman (Mo) dec. Mike Pongracz (Una-UTC), 7-2; Jay Prince (Navy) dec. Roman Boylen, 9-3; Pongracz dec. Zach Finesilver (Duke), 3-2; Will Clark (NCSt) dec. Boylen, 6-4; Matt Manley (Mo) dec. Pongracz, 5-1.149 poundsGerald McGinty (AF) dec. Zach Shareef (Una-UTC), 8-1; Michael Monica (Una-Duke) dec. Dylanger Potter, 3-2; Potter pinned F. Stroker (Minn), 0:44; Potter major dec. Miller Clark (APSU), 9-1; Carson Brolsma (Minn) dec. Potter, 12-6; Ben Barton (Camp) default over Shareef.165 poundsJustin Lampe major dec. Joseph Velliquette (Penn), 16-5; Cameron Harrell (Va) dec. Lampe, 9-3; John Vaughn (Cle) dec. Lampe, 7-5.174 poundsSean Mappes dec. Lee Davis (NCSt), 3-2; Mappes tech. fall Ebed Jarrell (Drex), 18-3; Taylor Lujan (NIowa) dec. Sean Mappes, 8-1; Mappes dec. Nick Kee (APSU), 6-4 SV1.184 poundsDominic Lampe (Una-UTC) dec. Paul Dunn (Lehigh), 9-4; Jacob Holschiag (NI) dec. Barrett Walthall, 9-3; Alex Schenk (Duke) dec. Walthall, 12-6; Nolan Boyd (OKSt) major dec. Lampe, 18-4; Lampe dec. Alex Benoit (Navy), 8-3; Max Dean (FLP) dec. Lampe, 5-1; Drew Foster (UNI) dec. Bryce Carr, 6-4 SV1197 poundsBen Haas (Leh) tech. fall D.J. Smith, 4:19; Scottie Boykin (Una-UTC) dec. Dylan Reynolds (Edin), 8-4; Carr dec. Ville Heino (Camp), 12-5; Jake Anderson (Corn) major dec. Boykin, 18-4; Josh Murphy (Drex) dec. Boykin, 6-2; D.J. Smith dec. Randall Diabe (APSU), 3-1; Tanner Orndorff (UtahV) dec. D.J. Smith, 8-1.285 poundsKerry Powers (AF) dec. Connor Tolley, 4-0; Jared Johnson tech. fall Thomas Ott (Navy), 7:00; Johnson dec. Rylee Streifel (Minn), 4-0; Tolley dec. Chuck Boddy (Va), 4-2; Johnson won by default over Craig Scott (Corn); Streifel (Minn) major dec. Tolley, 8-2; Nathan Butler (Stan) dec. Johnson, 3-2.