The Lancers, who have five wrestlers still alive in the championship bracket, trail two-time defending NAIA National Champion Notre Dame (Ohio), which leads with 63.5 points. Former NAIA-power Lindenwood is second with 54 points and NCAA Division I Liberty is third with 51.5 points.
The championship field is the largest ever in the 15-year history of the NCWA Championships with 354 entrants.
Jimmy Martinez (125), Alex Anunciation (133), Dylan Cataline (149), Bronson Gerl (157) and Zach Merrill (285) are still alive for the national championship in their respective weight classes and wrestling in the quarterfinals Friday night.
Bradford Gerl (141), Preston Brown (165), Kenneth Tribble (174), C.J. Knowland (184) and David Dill (197) are all still alive in the consolation bracket.
Merrill was most impressive winning both of his heavyweight matches with pins, both of them in less than 1:30. Martinez, the top seed at 125, won both of his matches, pinning Ian McKinley of East Tennessee and then getting a 13-1 major decision over Josh Douglas of Minot State.
Anunciation won both of his matches by major decision, and Cataline picked up a 4-2 decision over William Burns of Marion Military in the opening round and then had a 19-1 victory over Kenny Tyler of Wichita State.
Bronson Gerl had a 19-4 victory in his first match and then a 9-6 win over Kevin Lee of Grand Valley State in the second round.
Points are awarded for each victory as well as bonus points for a fall (2), a tech fall (1.5) and a major decision (1). Each victory in the championship bracket nets the team two points, while each victory in the consolation bracket gets the team one point.
The top eight placers in each bracket receive points at the end of the tournament. Each champion receives 16 points, while the runner-up gets 12 points. The rest of the placers get nine (3rd), seven (4th), five (5th), three (6th), two (7th) and one (8th).
