COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Senior heavyweight Youssif Hemida tallied a win in his opening match before falling in his second contest of the day to close out the first day of competition at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

Hemida topped Cornell's Jeramy Sweany in his first-round bout, before falling to Wisconsin's seventh-seeded Trent Hillger in the second championship round. 

The Mamaroneck, New York native got off to a fast start in his opening match, securing the first takedown of the contest after getting in deep on a single leg. The then rode Sweany for over a minute before the Cornell heavyweight escaped toward the end of the first. 

Leading by a point entering the second, Hemida scored a reversal off a restart to extend his lead to 4-1. He then carried that lead into the third period where he used his second takedown of the match to secure the 7-1 victory. 

Hemida and Hillger met for the third time this season, with each wrestler claiming one of the first two meetings. Hillger bested Hemida in Maryland's regular season dual against Wisconsin, but Hemida leveled the score with a win in the third-place match at the Big Ten Championships. 

The two top-10 seeded wrestlers went scoreless through two periods, with Hillger gaining a slight advantage following a second-period ride out of Hemida. The Wisconsin heavyweight was then able to escape at the beginning of the third, which proved to be the difference as he topped Hemida 2-0 with riding time in the rubber match. 

Hemida will continue his path to the podium on Friday morning, taking on Iowa State's Gannon Gremmel in a second-round consolation contest. The winner will wrestle an additional consolation bout later in Friday morning's session.