Albany, N.Y., March 21, 2002 - Junior co-captain Doc Vecchio (165) continued his impressive season Thursday during the opening session of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Albany, N.Y., as he won his first two matches and advanced into Friday morning's quarterfinal round. Vecchio, who improved his record to a team leading 33-11, needs just one more victory in either the championship or consolation bracket to earn his first career All-America honor.

Meanwhile, Penn State kept five wrestlers alive in the All-America hunt, four in consolation action, and stood tied for 25th place with 8.5 points in the team scoring. Oklahoma took the first day lead with a score of 37.5 followed by Minnesota (35.5) and Iowa (31).

Penn State posted its best opening round in three years as the Nittany Lions seven qualifiers went 4-3 in the morning's opening bouts. Sophomore Marat Tomaev (133) had the distinction of pulling off the tournament's first upset as he downed No. 12 seed Rad Martinez of Clarion, 5-4. Tomaev never trailed in the match against Martinez who had defeated him earlier this year, 8-1, in dual meet action.

Junior Mark Becks (184) and sophomore Pat Cummins (Hwt.) also posted opening round wins, but Vecchio, the No. 11 seed at 165, was the story of the day. In his first match he posted a third period takedown and just over a minute in riding time to seal a 4-2 victory over Chris Carlino for his first career NCAA win.

He met Burt Pierson of the University of California-Davis in the second round. Pierson upset No. 6 seed Chris Vitale of Lehigh in first round action. Vecchio controlled the action in a low scoring bout as he posted a second period takedown and a third period escape for a 3-1 win. He will face No. 3 seed Tyrone Lewis of Oklahoma State in Friday morning's quarterfinals.

Becks controlled the action but failed to score through the first two periods of his opening bout with Oregon State's Isaac Weber. Then he hit a reversal in the third period and turned Weber to his back for the pin at 5:51. With the win, Becks advanced to face No. 2 seed and Big Ten Champion Damion Hahn of Minnesota In a tightly contested match, neither wrestler was able to produce a takedown and split a pair of escapes, but Hahn was able to get off the bottom sooner and used a slim 1:01 riding time advantage for a 2-1 victory. Hahn had the down position in the third period and slipped out just before his riding time advantage went under the crucial minute mark.

Cummins wrapped up the first round success with a solid 4-2 effort over Drexel's Mike Carroll. The win earned him a second round match-up with No. 1 seed and Big Ten Champion Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State. Rowlands dominated that match-up posting a 14-6 major decision victory.

After his first round upset, Tomaev took on No. 5 seed David Douglas of Arizona State in the second round. It was a 2-1 match in favor of Douglas heading into the third period. Douglas took down and got a reversal and with riding time went on to a 5-1 win.

Cummins, Becks, Tomaev and junior Nate Wachter (149) all will wrestle in consolation action Friday morning.

Sophomore Scott Moore (141), Wachter and senior Pete Mielnik (197) all fell in their opening round bouts. Moore never got into his match with No. 5 seed Aaron Holker of Iowa State as the Cyclone posted a 17-1 technical fall at 6:48. Meanwhile, Wachter also could not get any offense going as he fell 3-2 to Boise State's Collin Robertson. Mielnik also struggled falling 10-2 to a tough No. 8 seed, Jason Payne of Northern Iowa.

Wachter returned to post and 8-1 decision over Jon Garvin of Northern Iowa in the consolation round to keep himself alive in the tournament. He will face No. 10 seed Joe Henson of Pennsylvania Friday. Meanwhile, Moore and Mielnik had their seasons ended with losses in the consolation round. Moore fell, 7-3, to Central Michigan's Jason Mester. He went 0-2 in the tournament and ends the season 30-14. Mielnik dropped a 12-5 decision to No. 9 seed Erik Gladish of Arizona State to go 0-2 in the tournament and end his season with a 20-14 record. Mielnik ends his Penn State career with a 56-39 record and two NCAA tournament appearances.

Action resumes tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.

Penn State NCAA Scores

 7 Penn State qualifiers First Round: 4-3 Second Round: 1-2 Consolations: 1-2 133 - Marat Tomaev 1st Round: W, 5-4 over (12) Rad Martinez, Clarion 2nd Round: L, 5-1 to (5) David Douglas, Arizona State Consolation Friday: vs. Shawn Amistade, Pittsburgh Tournament: 1-1; Season: 21-12 141 - Scott Moore 1st Round: L, TF17-1;6:48 to (5) Aaron Holker, Iowa State Consolation: L, 7-3 to Jason Mester, Central Michigan Tournament: 0-2; Season: 30-14 149 - Nate Wachter 1st Round: L, 3-2 to Collin Robertson, Boise State Consolation: W, 8-1 over Jon Garvin, N. Iowa Consolation Friday: vs. (10) Joe Henson, Pennsylvania Tournament: 1-1; Season: 24-13 165 - (11) Doc Vecchio 1st Round: W, 4-2 over Chris Carlino, Cal. St. Fullerton 2nd Round: W, 3-1 over Burt Pierson, UC Davis Quarterfinal: vs. (3) Tyrone Lewis, Oklahoma State Tournament: 2-0; Season: 33-11 184 - Mark Becks 1st Round: W, F;5:51 over Isaac Weber, Oregon State 2nd Round: L, 2-1 to (2) Damion Hahn, Minnesota Consolation Friday: vs. David Colabella, James Madison Tournament: 1-1; Season: 21-6 197 - Pete Mielnik 1st Round: L, 10-2 to (8) Jason Payne, Northern Iowa Consolation: L, 12-5 to (9) Erik Gladish, Arizona State Tournament: 0-2; Season: 20-14 Hwt. - Pat Cummins 1st Round: W, 4-2 over Mike Carroll, Drexel 2nd Round: L, 14-6 to (1) Tommy Rowlands, Ohio State Consolation Friday: vs. Dawid Rechul, Harvard Tournament: 1-1; Season: 13-11