CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's been said you can't win an NCAA Wrestling Championship in the opening rounds of a tournament, but you can lose it.
Losing that early won't be the case for Big Ten powers Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State and Michigan. The four occupy the top four spots after two championship rounds Thursday at the Division I National Championships at the sold-out Quicken Loans Arena.
Pre-tournament favorite Ohio State occupies the top spot with 36 points. Powerhouse Penn State is second with 27.5 points while the Hawkeyes, who went 9-1 in first-round matches, trail by a half point. Michigan is fourth (22.5), while North Carolina State is the lone non-Big Ten school in the top five with 18.
The Buckeyes won all 10 first-round matches Thursday and nine of 10 in the evening second-round session, with Te'shan Campbell (165) being the lone OSU wrestler to lose -- although he can win more matches in Friday's consolation round bouts.
"We had to gut out some of our (first round) matches," Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said. "Some of our guys were victims of nerves and nutrition ... they had no fuel and yet were expending too much energy. Winning 19 of 20 matches is fantastic.
"The big points come in the quarterfinals and semifinals (on Friday). I was sure we'd wrestle a lot better (Thursday night). These guys all want to win and be part of a legacy.
"It also helps to have two great bookends in Nathan Tomasello (OSU lightest wrestler) and Kyle Snyder (the heaviest). They're great team leaders."
OSU got off to a rousing start when 2016 NCAA champion Tomasello, a native of Middleburg Heights, smothered the shoulders of Stanford's Gabe Townsell in 2:19.
But lest the Buckeyes were figuring that Stanford opponents were automatic advances, OSU's third-seeded Luke Pletcher (133) barely edged Mason Pengilly, 2-1, in a first-round bout. The unseeded Pengilly entered the tournament having wrestled only five matches, but was scrappy and fought off a tenacious third period single-leg takedown effort by Pletcher.
True to Ryan's earlier words, Pletcher looked much better in beating Korbin Myers of Edinboro, 4-3. Though the score was close, Pletcher had a takedown and reversal for his points, while Myers was given three escapes.
Certainly no Buckeye wrestler had a harder-fought victory Thursday than Ke-Shawn Hayes (149), who needed a reversal with three seconds left in double overtime to edge rival Malik Amine of Michigan, 6-5. Hayes appeared to win in regulation, 5-3, with a takedown in the final two seconds, but Wolverines coaches challenged the official's call and won it, sending the match into overtime.
"The official is from Kansas City where I also grew up, and I'm sure he went out of his way to show he wasn't biased in my favor," Hayes said. "But it was my fault ... I should have wrestled better so that the officiating wasn't a factor. The match was close because Amine and I have wrestled each other before and we know each other's styles."
Hayes had no such struggle in his second-round match, using several strong single-leg takedowns to whip Ryan Blees of Virginia Tech, 12-6.
Snyder, who posted a major decision and technical fall, is optimistic about the Buckeyes chances to win the title trophy.
"I'm friends with most of the Penn State wrestlers, and they obviously are a great team," Snyder said. "But I feel real good about our matches we'll have (Friday)."
Iowa, coached by Olympic gold medal winner Tom Brands, took the first-round lead thanks to bonus points from Spencer Lee (125) with a technical fall, and pins from Mike Kemerer (157) and heavyweight Sam Stoll, plus a thrilling 4-3 victory from Vincent Turk (141) in a rattail match over Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven when Turk got a takedown and near fall at the final buzzer.
Cornell, with 13.5 team points, was aided by two-time Elyria High state champ and freshman Ben Darmstadt (197), who scored a 3-0 decision over Jacob Smith of West Virginia in his NCAA debut as a freshman. Darmstadt, the No. 2 seed, was a Junior National Freestyle Champion two years ago in Fargo, N.D., where he was unscored on.
"It was cool to wrestle in this arena," Darmstadt beamed.
How tough is Division I wrestling? Michigan's Drew Mattin (125), who comes from a family of good wrestlers from Delta, Ohio, had an impressive first-round pin. Last night, he had an unfortunate bracket with No. 1 seed and reigning NCAA champ Darian Cruz of Lehigh and although Mattin wrestled well, he lost, 1-0, when Cruz got a second-period escape.
The biggest second-round upset saw 15th seeded Ronald Perry of Lock Haven stun second-seeded Brandon Sorenson of Iowa at 149, 3-2, with the match's lone takedown.
"No big deal," Perry said afterwards. "He's only human. If I wrestle to my capabilities, I can beat anybody here."
Although Penn State has won six of the last seven NCAA team titles, no Nittany Lion -- coach or wrestler -- made themselves available for comment.