Semifinalists set as NWCA/USMC Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championship roll on in Cedar Falls

Cedar Falls, Iowa – Five of the six returning champions were still in contention to repeat as the action at the NWCA/USMC Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championships presented by A Better Way Athletics, Capital Construction and Defense Soap hosted by NUWAY came to a close on Friday evening at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.
 
St. Cloud State, Augsburg, Grand View and Bellarmine pushed through to Saturday without any issues on the men's side of the competition, while King reached the semifinals of the NCAA Women's Division. Last year's NAIA Women's Division champion, Southern Oregon, wasn't as fortunate as the Raiders were topped in the quarterfinals by Texas Wesleyan.
 
There were a number of upsets across the field, with the biggest coming in the Division II Men's bracket where Northern State topped second-seeded West Liberty in the opening round.
 
NAIA and NCAA women's semifinals begin at 10:30 a.m. Central, with the men's divisions in Division II, Division III and the NAIA starting at 11 a.m. The NCWA round-robin bracket continues at 9 a.m.
 
Here's a breakdown of each of the divisions from Friday.
 
Division II Men's Bracket
Top-seeded Central Oklahoma got pushed, but ultimately prevailed in two bouts to reach the semifinals. The Bronchos opened up with a 28-9 victory over Upper Iowa before needing back-to-back wins from retuning national champions Dalton Abney at 197 pounds and Shawn Streck at 285 pounds to rally past No. 8 McKendree.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a 13-7 lead after winning four of the first six bouts, but that's where the upset bid would end. No. 12 Anthony DesVigne knocked off No. 7 Matt Ortiz 5-2 at 174 to start the UCO roll. Third-ranked Garrett Wells tied the dual at 13-all with an 8-3 win over Zeke Waltz before Abney and Streck finished things off. Streck is unranked and just returned to the UCO lineup.
 
The Bronchos will face fifth-seeded St. Cloud State. The Huskies cruised past Newberry 28-9 in the first round and then took out Northern Sun Conference rival UMary 26-9. UMary upset fourth-seeded Lake Erie 21-17 in the opening round. The key bout there came at 174 pounds where UMary's Max Bruss defeated top-ranked James Penfold of Lake Erie. The Huskies led start-to-finish with the only ranked head-to-head going the way of St. Cloud State's 11th-ranked 184-pounder Bryce FitzPatrick, who pinned No. 8 Matt Kaylor.
In the bottom half of the bracket, third-seeded Lander beat Tiffin 38-8 in the opening round before beating sixth-seeded Nebraska-Kearney 20-13 in the quarterfinals. Much like UCO, Lander needed big wins from its final two wrestlers to pull out the victory.
 
At 197 pounds, No. 10 Anthony Yacovetti topped fifth-ranked Jackson Kinsella 6-4 before fourth-ranked heavyweight Juan Edmond-Holmes finished things up for Lander, earning a 4-1 win over second-ranked Crew Howard of Nebraska-Kearney. The win pushes Lander in to the semifinals for the first time in school history, assuring this set of Bearcats the best finish in school history to date.
 
Lander will face unseeded Augustana (S.D.) in the semifinals. That matchup was set into motion after unseeded Northern State upset second-seeded West Liberty in the opening round 30-14. The Wolves won five of the first six bouts en route to the victory, including top-ranked Wyatt Turnquist's win over No. 5 Nico Taddy at 149.
 
Augustana (S.D.) had little trouble pushing past the upset-minded Wolves with a 29-9 victory with 10th-ranked Cael Larson knocking top-ranked Turnquist 3-2.
 
With the abundance of ranked wrestlers in the field, there was no shortage of highly ranked wrestlers colliding. At 141, second-ranked Dylan Lucas of Central Oklahoma had one of the most difficult assignments on the day. He beat Upper Iowa's fourth-ranked Tate Murty 10-2 in the opening round, but was beaten in the next round by No. 5 Ronan Schuelke of McKendree.

Division III Men's Bracket
The top four seeds held in the Division III men's portion of the event with top-seeded Augsburg advancing to face fourth-seeded North Central in one semifinal, while second-seeded Wartburg advanced to face third-seeded UW-La Crosse.
 
UW-La Crosse had to come-from-behind to beat unseeded UW-Whitewater 21-20. The Warhawks went up early, winning five of the first seven bouts to build a 20-7 lead after 174 pounds. After that, UW-La Crosse relied on the power of its three ranked upper weights. No. 11 Marcus Orlandoni kept the Eagles hopes alive, winning 4-1 in sudden victory at 184 pounds over Gavin Koehl. At 197 pounds, No. 9 Ben Kawczynski wasted virtually no time, pinning Jordan Lewis in just 19 seconds to set the stage for third-ranked heavyweight Michael Douglas. Needing at least a technical fall to lift UW-Lax into the semis, Douglas obliged, beating Cadin Koeppel 21-6 to earn the right to face second-seeded Wartburg.
 
Wartburg got a pretty good fight from unseeded Loras, but ultimately prevailed 29-18. The Knights slammed on the accelerator in the quarterfinals, blanking Wabash 54-0. Wartburg reached the semifinals for the 21st time in school history. The Knights have never finished worse than third in the event. Returning national champions Zane Mulder (174) and Massoma "Mo" Endene (197) each picked up two bonus victories on the day.
 
Top-seeded Augsburg blanked Cornell College 49-0 to start the day and then earned a berth into the semifinals with a 35-10 over Johnson & Wales in a rematch of last year's final. The Wildcats went up 10-0 after the first two weights with wins by No. 11 Harrison Gordon at 125 and top-ranked returning national champion Joziah Fry at 133. Then came the run of eight Auggie wins, highlighted by top-ranked Bentley Schwanebeck-Osterman's 11-1 major decision over No. 8 Ryan DeVivo at 184 pounds.
 
Augsburg will face fourth-seeded North Central, which beat Dubuque 25-15 in the opening round and then won nine of 10 bouts against fifth-seeded Baldwin Wallace 34-4. Two-time national champion Robbie Precin returned to the North Central lineup after sitting out the first semester and and picked up a fall and a major decision. There were two No. 1 vs. No. 2 bouts in this one as second-ranked Christian Guzman of North Central beat top-ranked and past national champion Jacob Decatur 4-2 at 125 pounds. Baldwin Wallace's lone win came from returning 157-pound national champion Michael Petrella. The top-ranked Petrella majored second-ranked Javen Estrada 9-1. North Central's Bradley Rosen also upended fourth-ranked Jaden Hinton in sudden victory at 141 pounds.
 
In addition to Rosen's upset, there were three other unranked winners over fourth-ranked wrestlers on the day. At 197, Coe's Matthieu Arsenault beat fourth-ranked Dylan Harr of Johnson & Wales, while Millikin's Dejon Glaster and UW-Whitewater's Ryan Riser both beat fourth-ranked Desmond McLaughlin of Vermont State University Castleton.

NAIA Men's Bracket
Grand View's quest for a record 12th-straight championship at the National Duals stayed strong as the Vikings extended its NAIA men's wrestling dual meet win streak to 161 in a row with a 49-0 win over William Penn and a 45-3 win over Ottawa on Friday. The Vikings won 19 of 20 bouts with 15 bonus victories. The Vikings will face fifth-seeded Menlo. The Oaks opened up with a 47-3 win over Oklahoma City before knocking off fourth-seeded Campbellsville 20-15 in the quarterfinals.
 
Trailing 15-3 after the dual's first five weights, Menlo swept the final five bouts, highlighted by fourth-ranked Rysan Leong's 8-2 win over second-ranked Shadrick Slone in a battle of returning All-Americans. All five Menlo wins came over ranked opponents, including unranked Hunter James' 6-1 win at 197 pounds over No. 17 Grayson Stevens.
 
Two of the Southeast's dominant NAIA men's programs – Life and aptly named Southeastern – reached the semifinals with a pair of wins. Second-seeded Life blanked Graceland 49-0 in the opening round and then took out seventh-seeded Indiana Tech 45-6. Southeastern had more of a battle in its quarterfinal win. The Fire got a fall from All-American and third-ranked Gabe Jacobs at 285 pounds to pick off unseeded Southern Oregon 20-16. Southeastern won three of the four head-to-head ranked matchups in the dual. In the opening round, unranked Graham Calhoun of Southeastern knocked off Marian's Elliot Rodgers, who came into the tournament ranked seventh at 174 pounds.
 
Top-ranked wrestlers went 9-0 on the day, but only one saw another ranked opponent. Southern Oregon 141-pounder Evan Potter beat Southeastern's 14th-ranked Kael Brisker 12-6.

NCAA Women's Bracket
The top four seeds held in the NCAA Women's Division as No. 1 North Central, No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 King and No. 4 McKendree reached Saturday's semifinals. North Central reached the semifinals by winning their only dual of the day. The Cardinals dispatched with Lindenwood 42-3. Tied atop the national rankings with Iowa, North Central saw the return of two-time national champion Yelena Makoyed to the lineup at 170 pounds. Her 2024 dual meet debut lasted 80 seconds as she pinned Emma Thomas.
 
North Central will face fourth-seeded McKendree. The Bearcats ran past Gannon 40-6 to open the day and then won six of the first seven matches to cruise by fifth-seeded Colorado Mesa 31-12. A big McKendree win came at 143 pounds where seventh-ranked Viktorya Torres picked off Dalia Garibay 5-4. Garibay was ranked second up at 155 pounds. McKendree's Tristan Kelly, a transfer from Colorado Mesa, won at 170 pounds in her first dual for the Bearcats.
 
King, the returning champion, opened with a solid 36-8 win over Aurora before moving past No. 6 Saced Heart 32-12 to reach the semifinals. King won the first seven bouts of the dual, with six coming via technical fall or fall. The Tornado won all three ranked head-to-head matches as sixth-ranked 101 pounder Mia Zuniga teched No. 10 Aaliyah Payne Parris 14-4, third-ranked 123-pounder Montana Delawder pinned sixth-ranked Alexandra Fitzgerald and sixth-ranked 191-pounder Alexa Garcia beat fifth-ranked Madeline Hodges 5-0.
 
King will face second-seeded Iowa, which made its National Duals debut in impressive fashion. The Hawkeyes swept Adrian 49-1 in the opening round and then beat seventh-seeded Presbyterian 39-4 in the quarterfinals.
 
Iowa went 19-1 on the day and collected 10 falls. King and Iowa have 25 ranked individuals, making Saturday's semifinal a loaded one.
 
Individually, the biggest upset of the day, at least on paper, came in the opening round where King's Victoria Baez-Dilone, a 2022 junior college national champion while at Umpqua Community College, beat second-ranked Alexis Janiak of Aurora 8-0 at 130 pounds.

NAIA Women's Bracket
In the opening round, top-seeded Life earned a 36-10 victory over Missouri Baptist and then topped the University of the Cumberlands 29-16 to reach Saturday's semifinal round. The Running Eagles will face fifth-seeded Providence (Mont.), which defeated Oklahoma City 30-18 and returning champion and fourth-seeded Southern Oregon 22-21.
 
After opening up with a 30-18 win over Indiana Tech, sixth-seeded Texas Wesleyan topped third-seeded Grand View to reach the semifinals. The Rams will face second-seeded Menlo, which defeated No. 7 Campbellsville 32-12 in the quarterfinals. Menlo opened with a 40-6 win over Baker.
 
Life led 20-9 heading into 143 pounds before Cumberlands' Micah Fisher pinned top-ranked Jamilah McBryde at 143 pounds to draw the match within four. Life rebounded with a fall from Latifah McBryde at 155 and a technical fall from Margaret Graham at 170 to put the dual away.
 
There was high drama in the other top-bracket quarter as Providence rallied from a 21-13 deficit to get wins at 170 and 191 to push past Southern Oregon 22-21. Alexis Tupuola's fall late in the second period gave the Argos a berth into the semifinals and a top-four finish for the first time in school history in the NAIA Women's Division.
 
Texas Wesleyan won six out of 10 bouts and registered a key fall from Jasmine Howard at 109 pounds and technical falls from Camille Fournier and Elizabeth Duvall to help push past the Grand View. Menlo won five of the six head-to-head ranked matches in their victory over Campbellsville. At 123 pounds, eighth-ranked Alana Vivas pinned fifth-ranked Josie Davis.
 
Individually, there were dozens of head-to-head ranked matchups. One of the best came at 123 pounds in the first round where Doane's top-ranked 123-pounder Cristelle Rodriguez earned a technical fall over second-ranked 116-pounder Fernanda Lopez of Southern Oregon. Doane's Rodriguez wasn't done as she bested another second-ranked wrestler, Oklahoma City's Sophia Smith in the consolation rounds. Smith was ranked second at 123 pounds.
 
With all ten top-ranked wrestlers in the field, seven of them had ranked wins. Among the nation's top-ranked wrestlers with ranked wins on Friday were: Avery Ashley of Oklahoma City at 116 pounds. Ashley beat 11th-ranked Isabelle Asuncion of Providence 15-4 and No. 6 Cailin Campbell of Grand View 17-6. At 136, Southern Oregon's Carolina Moreno beat Providence's Paige Respicio 14-2. McBryde did pick up a first-round win at 143, beating No. Tiyahna Askew of Missouri Baptist 10-0. Southern Oregon's Caitlyn Davis beat No. 5 Sadie Antoque 5-1 at 155. Grand View's Abby McIntyre pinned 11th-ranked Grace Doering of Indiana Tech and 12th-ranked Kaley Rice of Texas Wesleyan to end the day 2-0. Menlo's Tavia Heidelberg-Tillotson pinned No. 11 Jannell Avila of Baker at 191 pounds.
 
NCWA Men's Bracket
The tournament's top three seeds were all unbeaten in the first three rounds of round-robin competition. Returning champion Bellarmine's only loss came via forfeit in the Knights' 53-6 win over Central Florida. The NCWA has 11 weights, the 10 traditional college weights and a 235-pound weight class.  Second-seeded Apprentice was 3-0 as was third-seeded Liberty.

For Full Box Scores & Brackets, follow these Trackwrestling.com links:
Division II, Division III, NAIA Men's Divisions?NCWA Men's Division
NCAA & NAIA Women's Divisions
 
Results
NCAA Division II Men's Division
First Round
#1 Central Oklahoma 28, Upper Iowa 9
#8 McKendree 36, Ashland 13
#5 St. Cloud State 28, Newberry 9
UMary 21, #4 Lake Erie 17
#3 Lander 38, Tiffin 8
#6 Nebraska-Kearney 33, Glenville State 9
Augustana (S.D.) 36, #7 Indianapolis 13
Northern State 30, #2 West Liberty 14
 
Quarterfinals
#1 Central Oklahoma 21, #8 McKendree 13
#5 St. Cloud State 26, UMary 9
#3 Lander 20, #6 Nebraska-Kearney 13
Augustana (S.D.) 29, Northern State 9
 
Consolations
Upper Iowa 38, Ashland 4
#4 Lake Erie 26, Newberry 15
Glenville State 21, Tiffin 18
#2 West Liberty 25, #7 Indianapolis 20
Upper Iowa 31, Northern State 6
#6 Nebraska-Kearney 26, #4 Lake Erie 15
UMary 25, Glenville State 13
#8 McKendree 30, #2 West Liberty 8
 
NCAA Division III Men's Division
First Round
Cornell College 26, Olivet 18
Luther 32, Concordia Wisconsin 18
Dubuque 27, Concordia-Moorhead 22
Millikin 24, RIT 18
UW-Whitewater 50, Marymount 0
Wabash 36, Aurora 12
Loras 23, Alfred State 18
 
Second Round
#1 Augsburg 49, Cornell College 0
#8 Johnson & Wales 23, Coe 21
#5 Baldwin Wallace 22, Luther 16
#4 North Central 26, Dubuque 15
#3 UW-La Crosse 45, Millikin 4
UW-Whitewater 19, #6 VTSU Castleton 12
Wabash 25, #7 TCNJ 16
#2 Wartburg 29, Loras 18
 
Quarterfinals
#1 Augsburg 35, #8 Johnson & Wales 10
#4 North Central 34, #5 Baldwin Wallace 4
#3 UW-La Crosse 21, UW-Whitewater 20
#2 Wartburg 54, Wabash 0
 
Consolations
RIT 19, Concordia-Moorhead 18
Marymount 23, Concordia Wisconsin 19
Alfred State 24, Aurora 22
Coe 47, Cornell College 3
Dubuque 21, Luther 17
#6 VTSU Castleton 24, Millikin 13
#7 TCNJ 30, Loras 6
Concordia-Moorhead 34, Olivet 10
Coe 20, Wabash 18
UW-Whitewater 28, Luther 9
#6 VTSU Castleton 19, #5 Baldwin Wallace 17
#8 Johnson & Wales 32, #7 TCNJ 11
 
NAIA Women's Division
First Round
#1 Life 36, Missouri Baptist 10
U. of the Cumberlands 29, #8 William Penn 15
#5 Providence (Mont.) 30, Oklahoma City 18
#4 Southern Oregon 41, Doane 6
#3 Grand View 30, Indiana Tech 18
#6 Texas Wesleyan 35, Eastern Oregon 8
#7 Campbellsville 35, Missouri Valley 10
#2 Menlo 40, Baker 6
 
Quarterfinals
#1 Life 29, U. of the Cumberlands 16
#5 Providence (Mont.) 22, #4 Southern Oregon 21
#6 Texas Wesleyan 24, #3 Grand View 19
#2 Menlo 32, #7 Campbellsville 12
 
Consolations
Missouri Baptist 31, #8 William Penn 14
Oklahoma City 30, Doane 15
Indiana Tech 24, Eastern Oregon 22
Missouri Valley 35, Baker 14
Missouri Baptist 30, #7 Campbellsville 16
#3 Grand View 34, Oklahoma City 13
#4 Southern Oregon 31, Indiana Tech 9
U. of the Cumberlands 34, Missouri Valley 13

NCAA Women's Division
First Round
Lindenwood 29, #8 Lock Haven 19
#5 Colorado Mesa 28, Elmira 20
#4 McKendree 40, Gannon 6
#3 King 36, Aurora 8
#6 Sacred Heart 24, Emmanuel 21
#7 Presbyterian 37, NJCU 8
#2 Iowa 49, Adrian 1
 
Quarterfinals
#1 North Central 42, Lindenwood 3
#4 McKendree 31, #5 Colorado Mesa 12
#3 King 32, #6 Sacred Heart 12
#2 Iowa 39, #7 Presbyterian 4
 
Consolations
Elmira 25, Gannon 24 (criteria)
Emmanuel 24, Aurora 23
Adrian 40, NJCU 9
#7 Presbyterian 24, #8 Lock Haven 21
#6 Sacred Heart 33, Elmira 14
#5 Colorado Mesa 24, Emmanuel 22
Lindenwood 33, Adrian 12
 
NAIA Men's Division
First Round
#1 Grand View 49, William Penn 0
Ottawa 24, #8 Providence (Mont.) 13
#5 Menlo 47, Oklahoma City 3
#4 Campbellsville 32, Central Methodist 9
#3 Southeastern 32, Marian 9
Southern Oregon 21, #6 Doane 20
#7 Indiana Tech 22, U. of the Cumberlands 16
#2 Life 49, Graceland 0
 
Quarterfinals
#1 Grand View 45, Ottawa 3
#5 Menlo 20, #4 Campbellsville 15
#3 Southeastern 20, Southern Oregon 16
#2 Life 45, #7 Indiana Tech 6
 
Consolations
#8 Providence (Mont.) 44, William Penn 6
Central Methodist 32, Oklahoma City 15
#6 Doane 35, Marian 12
U. of the Cumberlands 36, Graceland 9
#7 Indiana Tech 22, #8 Providence 17
Southern Oregon 46, Central Methodist 0
#4 Campbellsville 22, #6 Doane 19
U. of the Cumberlands 26, Ottawa 16
 
NCWA Men's Division
First Round
#1 Bellarmine 57, Colorado State 0
#2 Apprentice School 43, Central Florida 17
#3 Liberty 57, Washington State 0
#4 Dubuque WC 39, Central Florida 20
 
Second Round
#1 Bellarmine 57, Washington State 0
#4 Dubuque WC 39, Colorado State 18
#2 Apprentice School 45, Washington State 18
#3 Liberty 56, Colorado State 6
 
Third Round
#1 Bellarmine 53, Central Florida 6
#2 Apprentice School 47, Colorado State 18
#3 Liberty 40, Central Florida 16
Washington State 42, #4 Dubuque WC 12