TULSA —  The Iowa men’s wrestling team went 7-3 in Session II of the 2023 NCAA Championships on Thursday night. Five Hawkeyes advanced to the quarterfinal round in their respective weight classes. Iowa is in second place in the team race with 21.5 points, trailing Penn State’s 26. The Nittany Lions sent seven grapplers to the quarterfinals.

After the conclusion of Session II, Iowa head coach Tom Brands emphasized that there’s a lot of wrestling left and they are turning the page to day two.

Iowa’s No. 1 seeds Spencer Lee and Real Woods advanced to the 125-pound and 141-pound quarterfinal rounds, respectively. Lee dominated Michigan’s No. 16 seed Jack Medley, 17-0. The victory marked Lee’s 57th consecutive victory. He has been on the mat for a total of 3:06 in his two matches.

Woods had a tough bout against Ohio State’s No. 17 seed Dylan D’Emilio but prevailed, 7-5. Woods led, 6-5, in the final minute. D’Emilio fought for a takedown on the edge in the final seconds, but it wasn’t called — even after an extensive review. The takedown would have knotted it at seven and sent the bout into sudden victory, as Woods had 1:13 of riding time.

During the review, Iowa head coach Tom Brands made sure Woods stayed warm by massaging his legs and arms and told him that he “has to be ready for everything.”

Iowa’s Max Murin won, 3-1, against Stanford’s No. 9 seed Jaden Abas in the 149-pound bout.  Murin moved on to the quarterfinals with the victory, where he will face three-time national champion and No. 1 seed Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell.

RELATED: Iowa men’s wrestling notebook | NCAA Tournament Session I recap, Session II preview

Hawkeye Nelson Brands earned his second gritty win of the day over Ohio State’s sixth-seeded Ethan Smith. Nelson Brands started the scoring with a takedown in the first period and earned an escape with 1:38 left in the bout to seal a 3-1 victory. Brands will face Virginia Tech’s No. 3 seed Mekhi Lewis in the quarterfinals on Friday.

“He scored a takedown in the first period, that’s a good thing,” Tom Brands said of Nelson Brands. “He has a lot of scoring ability, and that’s what we want to see. We want to see more scoring ability come out. As the tournament gets deeper, we have to get tougher.”

Heavyweight Tony Cassioppi was the final Hawkeye to earn a berth to the quarterfinal round. Cassioppi shut out Northern Iowa 13th-seed Tyrell Gordon, 9-0, for his second major decision victory of the tournament.

Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy and Abe Assad lost their second-round matches at 165 pounds and 184 pounds, respectively, to push them into the consolation bracket. The pair can still wrestle their way back to a third-place finish.

Kennedy faced Michigan’s No. 11 seed Cameron Amine in the second round in a rematch of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament semifinals. At the conference tournament, Kennedy won, 3-2, with a clutch takedown in the final 30 seconds. Amine flipped the script on Thursday night and beat Kennedy, 3-2.

Kennedy will meet Minnesota’s No. 28 seed Andrew Sparks in the second round of consolations on Friday. Kennedy is 1-0 all-time against Sparks via medical forfeit.

RELATED: Live results | Iowa men’s wrestling competes in Session II of 2023 NCAA Championships

Assad fell in overtime to Iowa State’s fifth-seeded Marcus Coleman, 2-1. The first two minutes of sudden victory were scoreless. Assad started on bottom in the tiebreaker and couldn’t escape. Then, he let Coleman up easily to try and score a takedown for the win, but he couldn’t finish.

The defeat marked Assad’s second loss of the season to Coleman, as he fell, 3-2, in this year’s CyHawk dual meet. Assad will face North Carolina’s No. 11 seed Gavin Kane in the second round of wrestlebacks tomorrow.

Iowa’s Brody Teske and Cobe Siebrecht bounced back from their losses in Session I to stay in the running for third place. Teske came out firing in the first period against Missouri No. 26 seed Andrew Brown, scoring three takedowns and two back points. The 133-pounder held on to win, 11-5, for his second career victory over Brown.

Siebrecht beat Oklahoma’s No. 30 seed Jared Hill, 10-2. Hill scored the first two points of the match, but Siebrecht took control the rest of the way. He will battle Northwestern 13th-seed Trevor Chumbley in the second round of consolations on Friday. Siebrecht defeated Chumbley, 6-3, in the Hawkeyes’ dual meet against the Wildcats this season.

“We needed that, and [resiliency] is a good characteristic to have,” Brands said of Teske and Siebrecht bouncing back from their Session I defeats. “Anything that’s thrown at you that’s a curveball, you have to stay in there and deal with it. They did a good job. We have to keep it going.”

Team scores through Session II

1. Penn State, 26

2. Iowa, 21.5

3. Missouri, 17.5

T4. Minnesota, 16.5

T4. NC State, 16.5

T6. Nebraska, 15.5

T6. Cornell, 15.5

T8. Michigan, 14.5

T8. Ohio State, 14.5

T10. Arizona State, 13

T10. Wisconsin, 13

T10. Virginia Tech, 13