The Southern Scuffle still has a day left of competition.
But by most measures it's over.
Top-ranked Penn State built a 19.5-point lead after Monday's first day of the college wrestling tournament at McKenzie Arena. The Nittany Lions - the defending national champions - have 101 points, with their closest competitor after a day being Northern Iowa with 81.5. Penn State, which won six consecutive Scuffles before missing last year's event, has eight wrestlers in the semifinals and three others alive in the consolations.
Lehigh (68), Navy (50.5) and Duke (49) round out the top five.
"It's over," University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Heath Eslinger said.
Action starts this morning with the consolation semifinals at 10 and the championship semifinals starting at noon. The championship finals and medal matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Host UTC is 11th with 33 points. The Mocs still have six wrestlers remaining, with one - 184-pounder Bryce Carr - in the championship semifinals. Carr, ranked 15th in the country at 184 pounds, was dominant Monday, with a pair of pins and a technical-fall victory in the quarterfinals. He will face 10th-ranked Drew Foster of Northern Iowa this afternoon.
The Mocs' Alonzo Allen and Fabian Gutierrez (125), Roman Boylen (149), Rodney Jones (184) and Scottie Boykin (197) are alive in the consolation rounds.
"It's athletics," Eslinger said. "There are ups and there are downs. It's an emotional roller coaster. We have some guys we're super proud of, some guys that are frustrated because we don't think things went the way we or they wanted it to, and some places where we're just disappointed.
"It's an extremely grueling sport. There's some sick part of you that has to like it. This is not an event you can wrestle good in and do well - you have to wrestle great - and it proved itself true, not just our team but every team here. The good news is we wake up tomorrow, it's Tuesday and the guys it really matters to will maximize the time on Tuesday."
Allen and Boykin advanced to the quarterfinals before dropping matches. Allen fell to Northern Iowa's Jay Schwarm - ranked No. 11 at 125 pounds - while Boykin was pinned by Penn State's Shakur Rasheed.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.
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Southern Scuffle team scores
1. Penn State 101; 2. Northern Iowa 81.5; 3. Lehigh 68; 4. Navy 50.5; 5. Duke 49; 6. (tie) CSU-Bakersfield 46, Virginia 46; 8. Drexel 42. 9. Stanford 37.5; 10. Lock Haven 36.5; 11. UTC 33; 12. Northern Colorado 25; 13. (tie) Applachian State 23, Hofstra 23; 15. Air Force 20.5; 16. (tie) Campbell 20, Oklahoma State 20; 18. Cleveland State U. 18; 19. North Carolina State 17.5; 20. Gardner-Webb 9.5; 21. North Carolina 9; 22. The Citadel 8; 23. George Mason 6; 24. Virginia Tech 3.5.