St. Louis, MO - Senior P.J. Gillespie and junior Justin Accordino have advanced to the quarterfinals  in their respective weight classes at the 2012 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center Thursday night.

The Pride are tied for 15th place in the team standings with 14 points through session two. Penn State leads the pack with 38.5 points and is followed by Minnesota with 33, Oklahoma State with 28.5, Cornell with 27.5, and Iowa with 26 points to round out the top five.

Gillespie (Long Beach, NY), a 2011 All-American and the 12th seed at 165-pounds this year, scored a 3-2 victory over Iowa's fifth-seeded freshman Michael Evans in the round of 16 Thursday night. The CAA champion won his 13th straight match to improve to 30-5 on the year. It is the second 30-win season in his career after a 31-victory year in 2009-10. Gillespie will face Clarion's fourth-seeded senior Bekzod Abdurakhmonov in Friday morning's quarterfinals.

Accordino (Wilkes-Barre, PA), who posted an 8-4 upset victory over 12th-seeded Ivan Lopouchanski from Purdue in the morning session, did one better in the evening session with a second period win by fall over Kent State's fifth-ranked freshman Ian Miller in 3:33. Acoordino, who boosted his record to 25-11, will face Oklahoma's unseeded sophomore Nick Lester in the quarterfinals Friday morning.

Three other Pride wrestlers remain alive in the Friday's consolation bracket following losses in the round of 16 Thursday night. Junior Steve Bonanno (Wantagh, NY) dropped a 10-7 decision to Kent State's fifth-seeded Nicholas Bedelyon at 125 pounds. Bonanno had the match tied at 6-6 but Bedelyon pulled away in the third period for the win. Bonanno (28-7) will face Appalachian State sophomore Antonio Gravely in the second round of the consolations Friday morning.

Sophomore Luke Vaith (Hastings, MN) was also sent to the consolation bracket Thursday night with a 10-2 major decision loss to Michigan's top-seeded senior Kellen Russell at 141 pounds. Vaith (23-10), who saw his eight match winning streak come to an end, will square off against Penn's Zach Kemmerer in the second round of the consolations Friday morning. The two wrestlers met in late January with Vaith posting a 2-1 overtime decision.

Senior Ben Clymer (Germansville, PA) also dropped a match in the championship round of 16, losing to Penn State's sixth-seeded junior Quentin Wright, 10-2 at 184 pounds. Clymer (30-7), who saw his seven-match winning streak come to an end, will face Missouri's Mike Larson in second round consolation match Friday morning.

Sophomore Jamie Franco (Monroe, NY) saw his NCAA Championship participation come to an end Thursday night with a 6-2 loss to Virginia in the 133-pound consolation round. Franco, who placed second in the CAA and recorded the best-season of his young career, ends his season with a 21-13 mark.

Session three of the 2012 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships begin at 10 a.m. (CT) with quarterfinals and consolation matches. Session four will begin at 6 p.m. Friday evening with semifinals and more consolation matches.