St. Louis, Mo. - Many  wrestling fans thought that the 125-pound weight class at the 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships was the deepest in the country. That theory was proven in the first round of action on Thursday morning.    Four seeded wrestlers dropped their first-round bouts at 125 lbs., including a 2-2 tiebreaker win by freshman Mark McKnight of Buffalo over third seed Matt Valenti of Penn.    Both McKnight and Valenti battled, trading offensive opportunities and defensive stops. After both wrestlers earned escapes in the first tiebreaker, and a second scoreless overtime period, McKnight rode Valenti out in the second tiebreaker, earning the win.    "This is a huge win for me," McKnight said following the match. "It was a good match for both of us. I just wanted to stay aggressive throughout the entire match and not let up one bit. To not be aggressive would be to not wrestle my style."    McKnight will next meet Mike Mormile of Cornell in this evening's second round.    Another high seed dropping a match was Big Ten champion Tom Clum of Wisconsin, who lost 8-2 to 2001 All-American Mario Stuart of Lehigh.    Stuart controlled the bout from start to finish, but he took control of the match in the second period when he put Clum to his back, taking an insurmountable 6-1 lead.    Stuart will face Christian Bowerman of Fresno State in the second round.    Other seeded wrestlers losing at 125 lbs. Were No. 6 Joe Dubuque of Indiana, who was pinned by Matt Pitts of Tennessee-Chattanooga in the pigtail round, and No. 9 Mark Moos of Michigan, who was defeated by Jeremy Hartum of North Carolina State 5-4.    In the team race, Illinois sits in first place with 22 points. Oklahoma State is in second place with 18 points, followed by Iowa (15). Three teams are tied for fourth place with 14 team points: Cornell, Michigan, and Oklahoma.    Iowa, the only team with 10 wrestlers in this year's tournament, took a big hit when 149-pound Ty Eustice was defeated by David Dies of Brown, 6-5.    Also at 149 lbs., No. 5 seed Trent Paulson of Iowa State lost a 7-6 decision to Mike Torriero of West Virginia. Torriero scored a reversal with 20 seconds remaining in the match to win.    Another No. 5 seed, Travis Pascoe of Nebraska, lost a 4-3 decision to Blake Kaplan of Ohio State at 184 lbs.    All seven former NCAA champions are still alive following the first round, including all four defending champions.    133-pound Travis Lee of Cornell pinned Derek Moore of California-Davis in the second period to advance. Lee will face Pat Dowty of Eastern Illinois in the second round.    Also at 133 lbs., two-time national champion Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State hung on for a 4-2 win over Mike Messina of Sacred Heart. Thompson scored a first period takedown, but was unable to score any other offensive points, using an escape and riding time to tally four points.    Thompson will next face Josh Keefe of Tennessee-Chattanooga in the second round. Keefe defeated Thompson 11-9 in a dual on November 14.    Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, the defending 141-pound NCAA champion, also squeaked out a win, defeating Anthony Coleman of Cleveland State 5-3 in overtime. In the overtime period, Coleman shot a single-leg, but Ware countered, and following a scramble, came out on top for the win.    Ware will meet up with Jesse Brock of Boise State in the second round.    Michigan's Ryan Bertin won by a 14-5 major decision over Andrew Shuler of Wyoming at 157 lbs. Bertin will face Scott Garren of North Carolina State in the second round.    2002 NCAA champion Greg Jones of West Virginia scored a 22-7 technical fall over Frank Cornely of Duke at 184 lbs. Jones will next face Josh McLay of Minnesota.    Also at 184 lbs., defending champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State hung on for a 5-4 win over Sam Wendland of Wyoming. Rosholt will meet up with Dan Pitsch of Oregon State in the second round.     Also a 2002 NCAA champion, heavyweight Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State handled Bill Stouffer of Central Michigan in the first round, 18-6.    Rowlands will face Matt Wilcox of Clarion in the second round.    Five wrestlers entered this year's NCAA Tournament undefeated. All five won their first-round bouts: Matt Gentry of Stanford (37-0), Greg Jones of West Virginia (22-0), Scott Moore of Virginia (47-0), Jake Percival of Ohio (35-0) and Alex Tirapelle of Illinois (31-0).    Overall, 17 seeded wrestlers lost their first bout. Of those, 10 were seeded in the top eight of their respective weight classes.    The second round and first consolation round will begin at 6:30 p.m. (EST).    Notes: 174-pound Anthony Rubalcava of Fresno State did not make weight, giving Chris Pendleton of Oklahoma State a win by forfeit in the first round… Michael Martin of Illinois won the first match of this year's tournament with a 26-second pin… Minnesota was penalized one team point when Matt Nagel slapped Kenny Burleson… Tyrone Lewis of Oklahoma State recorded the tournament's fastest fall, pinning Christian Arellano in 22 seconds…