March 4, 2011

 Contact: Amanda Dahl, NAIA Manager of Sports Information and Media Services, adahl@naia.org

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -(Updated Team Standings and Brackets | PDF) Notre Dame (Ohio) widened its lead to 24 points in the third session of the 2011 NAIA Wrestling National Championships Friday in the U.S. Cellular Center. The defending national champion Falcons are in first place with 98 points and have seven individuals that will wrestle in Friday night’s semifinals. McKendree (Ill.) is in second place with 74 points with a trio of grapplers in the semis and nine working back through the consolation bracket. Rounding out the top-five teams are Campbellsville (Ky.) with 66 points, Missouri Valley with 65 points and Lindenwood (Mo.) with 63.5 points.

Lindenwood and Great Falls (Mont.) each have four wrestlers in semifinal bouts, while five other teams have three grapplers on the championship side. Both Lindenwood and Grand View have six grapplers working back through the consolations.

Seventeen returning All-Americans, including all seven previous national champions, earned a spot in the quarterfinals. All-Americans will go head-to-head at 125, 149 and 157 pounds in championship bracket action. Opening the action will be Larone Madison of Cumberlands (Ky.) and Campbellsville’s (Ky.) Johnny Papesh colliding for a spot in the 125 semifinals. At 149 pounds, 2009 national champ Matt Burns of Grand View (Iowa) and defending national champion Jeffery Pelton of Notre Dame will square off and will be followed by a showdown between Embry-Riddle’s (Ariz.) Tyler Chang and Thomas Straughn of Notre Dame.

Friday’s second session will open with championship semifinals and the sixth consolation round at 6 p.m. CST. Semifinal winners will advance to Saturday’s championship finals, while consolation winners are guaranteed All-American honors with a top-eight finish. Real-time results will be available through the NWCA Live Scorebook by clicking here.

NeuLion will stream live all 10 of Saturday’s individual weight class championship bouts starting at approximately 7 p.m. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the finals. Click here for more information.