NCAA Wrestling Championships 2019: Results, Updated Team Standings After Friday

Penn State is well on its way toward winning its fourth straight NCAA Division I wrestling championship and eighth in nine years.

The Nittany Lions hold a commanding lead on top of the ledger thanks to 120.5 points after the semifinals ended Friday.

Ohio State, which has been the runner-up the past two years and won it all in 2015, is second with 88.5 points.

PSU's dominant championship performance has been the story, but a few underdogs have also taken the stage at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

You can find commentary on those two storylines below. In addition, here's a look at the latest standings prior to the individual weight class championship matches Saturday via trackwrestling.com.

The championship matchups, which will begin at 7 p.m. ET Saturday, are listed as well.

Latest Top-20 Standings

1. Penn State: 120.5 points

2. Ohio State: 88.5 points

3. Oklahoma State: 73.5 points

4. Iowa: 68.0 points

5. Missouri: 54.0 points

6. Cornell: 52.0 points

7. Nebraska: 51.0 points

8. Michigan: 48.0 points

8. Minnesota: 48.0 points

10. Virginia Tech: 45.0 points

11. Rutgers: 43.5 points

12. Arizona State: 37.0 points

13. Northern Iowa: 36.5 points

14. Lehigh: 32.5 points

15. Iowa State: 31.0 points

Full standings can be found on trackwrestling.com.

Championship Matches

125-Pound: No. 5 Jack Mueller (Virginia) vs. No. 3 Spencer Lee (Iowa)

133-Pound: No. 1 Dalton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers)

141-Pound: No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Joey McKenna (Ohio State)

149-Pound: No. 1 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) vs. No. 2 Micah Jordan (Ohio State)

157-Pound: No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)

165-Pound: No. 8 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)

174-Pound: No. 1 Mark Hall (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)

184-Pound: No. 5 Maxwell Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)

197-Pound: No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State)

285-Pound: No. 1 Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)

Penn State En Route to Another Title

Head coach Cael Sanderson is almost certain to lead the Nittany Lions to their eighth NCAA title thanks to some excellent performances from a few No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.

Undefeated 157-pounder Jason Nolf hasn't encountered any issues in his run to the finals, winning his opening-round match by fall and his next two via technical fall.

He had a fierce semifinal challenge against No. 5 Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State, however, emerging with a 3-2 victory.

Hidlay appeared to go up 2-0 after a takedown, but an official's review took the points away. Eventually, Nolf went up 3-2, but he had to hang on for life at the tail end of the third period when Hidlay went on the attack. He couldn't muster any points, however, and Nolf emerged victorious.

Nolf, who has made the championship during all four years of eligibility, is looking for his third straight title. He'll see No. 2 Tyler Berger of Nebraska.

In the 165-pound bracket, Vicenzo Joseph squeaked out two tough Saturday wins. He beat No. 7 Isaiah White of Nebraska 3-1 in overtime before taking holding off No. 3 Joshua Shields of Arizona State 3-2:

Mark Hall, a 2017 NCAA champion, won by the closest margin of any Nittany Lion on Friday thanks to his 2-1 tiebreaker win versus No. 4 Myles Amine of Michigan:

Bo Nickal continued his tournament dominance with his third pin in his semifinal win over No. 4 Patrick Brucki of Princeton:

Nickal is a two-time NCAA champion and three-time finalist.

Finally, Anthony Cassar eked out a close 4-3 win over No. 3 Gable Stevenson of Minnesota:

Cassar, who used to wrestle at the 197-pound class, spoke about the move up to ESPN's Quint Kessenich after the match in addition to other topics:

Overall, PSU has competitors in five of 11 championship matches Sunday. 

Underdogs Make Deep Runs

Chip Ness of UNC and Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech have been the two most notable underdog stories in this year's championship.

Ness, a No. 15 seed in the 184-pound bracket, defeated previously undefeated No. 2 Shakur Rasheed of Penn State by decision 8-5 on Thursday. However, Hess proved he was here to stay on Saturday with a 6-4 overtime victory over No. 10 Samuel Colbray of Iowa State thanks to a late two-point takedown:

Ness has made a habit of beating higher-ranked opponents, as UNC Wrestling pointed out:

Ness lost to No. 6 Drew Foster of Northern Iowa in the semifinal, but he's earned All-American status for his excellent efforts.

Foster is an underdog story himself, having beaten No. 3 Zachary Zavetsky of Virginia Tech by 6-2 earlier in the day. He'll be facing No. 5 Maxwell Dean of Cornell in the finals.

Dean beat Myles Martin of Ohio State 5-4 after being down earlier in the match. The feat was made more impressive considering that Martin, a four-time All-American, was undefeated entering the semis:

Dean, whose brother Gabe was a two-time NCAA champion at Cornell, explained his mindset to Kessenich after the match:

Ness wasn't the only ACC wrestler to turn heads with his upset specials. Lewis pulled off the stunner of the 165-pound tournament when he defeated No. 1 Alex Marinelli of Iowa in the quarterfinals thanks to a walk-off takedown.

Marinelli, a sophomore, entered the tournament with a 25-0 record.

FloWrestling provided footage of a tired but happy Lewis walking to the locker room post-victory:

Lewis credited a positive attitude toward his victory in a post-match interview with Kessenich:

The freshman then continued his amazing run by beating No. 4 Evan Wick of Wisconsin 5-2:

Lewis spoke with Kessenich again after the match, in particular noting the difficulty of facing the 6'2" Wick:

Another No. 1 seed went down in the semifinal as No. 5 Jack Mueller of Virginia beat No. 1 Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern by an 8-2 decision in the 125-pound bracket.

He provided a post-match interview that was relayed on the UVA Wrestling Twitter account:

Mueller also gave further comments in a talk with more reporters, including trackwrestling.com:

He'll see No. 3 Spencer Lee of Iowa in the final.