CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Three TCNJ wrestlers advanced to the semifinals as the Lions wrapped up a promising first day of competition at the NCAA Championships on Friday.
 
Top seeds Garrett Totten (133) and Hunter Mays (174) lived up to their lofty billing and were joined in the final four of their respective brackets by No. 4 seed Vinnie Santaniello at 141. All three will compete for national titles on Saturday, each just two wins away from everlasting glory.
 
No. 6 seed Matthew Griffin (125) and J.J. Giordano each shook off opening-bout losses to make it to Session II, but were eliminated just shy of All-America contention. D.J. Henry reached the quarterfinals at 197, but lost his next two bouts.
 
The Lions ended Day 1 in 6^th place in the team standings with 35.5 points. Wartburg was on top with 61.5 points, followed by Augsburg and UW-La Crosse with 54 apiece, Roanoke with 45.5, and NYU with 41.
 
THE ALL-AMERICANS
 
Totten made short work of Springfield's Esuar Ordonez in the first round, pinning his opponent on his second takedown and clinching the fall in a time of just 1:21.
 
He took on 8^th-seeded Art Martinez of Case Western Reserve in the quarterfinals, tallying two takedowns in the first minute alone and holding off his foe for a 10-4 victory and a spot in the semifinals.
 
Totten will face No. 5 seed Jude Robson of Roanoke in the semifinals on Saturday morning.
 
Santaniello had to survive a battle with Southern Maine's Kyle Moore in the first round, but managed to squeeze out a 3-2 win in his NCAA Championship debut by showing off his proficiency both on top and on bottom.
 
After a scoreless first period, Santaniello stayed on top for the whole second period. Starting the third on bottom, he took a 2-0 lead with a reversal. Moore escaped with 38 seconds left, and a second stall warning on Santaniello with 9 seconds to go leveled the bout at 2, but the Lion's riding time advantage made all the difference.
 
The quarterfinals pitted Santaniello against No. 5 seed Isaias Torres of Ithaca in a rematch of an overtime tussle won by Santaniello back in January. With a ticket to the semifinals on the line, Santaniello made things much easier on himself.
 
The junior netted a takedown just seconds into the bout, then rode out the rest of the period to take nearly three minutes of riding time into the second. He took a 4-0 lead with an escape, then expanded his lead with a takedown in the closing seconds of the period, which proved critical when Torres got on the board with his first takedown early in the third. Undaunted, Santaniello escaped and added one last takedown to roll into the final four with a 12-3 major decision.
 
Santaniello will take a shot at the reigning national champion and No. 1 seed Mark Samuel of Roanoke on Saturday morning.
 
Mays put up another machine-like display of dominance in his opening round, racking up five takedowns in a 17-5 major decision against North Central's Jake Luce.
 
He had a tougher go in the quarterfinals, with No. 8 seed Gage Wiggins of Williams taking Mays down just seconds into the match. But the top seed showed his mettle with two takedowns of his own in the period, after which he owned a 7-5 lead. A second-period escape made it 8-5, and a third takedown early in the third gave him enough separation for an 11-7 triumph.
 
Mays will meet 3^rd-seeded Ty Finn of NYU on Saturday morning in a rematch of the Region III title bout, which Mays won by a 7-5 decision.
 
THE REST OF THE PRIDE
Henry cruised into the quarterfinals with a 16-2 rout of Millikan's Mateo Casillas, tallying four takedowns in the process.
 
He fell victim to an upset in the quarterfinals at the hands of NYU's Mohammad Talebi, the U17/U20 Iranian national champion and U17 Asia silver medalist in his first season of collegiate wrestling. Henry notched a quick takedown and led 5-4 after two periods, but Talebi finished strong with two takedowns in the third, the last giving him the go-ahead points with a minute remaining as he held on for a 10-8 win.
 
Henry's season ended one match shy of All-America qualification, falling 8-1 to 10^th-seeded Gunnar Garriques of Chicago.
 
Griffin came out firing with two early takedowns against No. 11 seed Brayden Parke of Coe, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Parke scored a takedown in the final seconds of the opening frame to get within 6-5, knotted the bout on an escape to begin the second, and managed to pin Griffin 50 seconds into the second stanza.
 
Griffin got off to another fast start against Augsburg's Keno Vanier, but after three first-period takedowns and a 9-2 lead, Vanier came all the way back to tie the bout at 9 with less than 30 seconds remaining to send it into overtime. Griffin shook that off to notch the winning takedown 17 seconds into the extra session, keeping his campaign alive with a 12-9 sudden victory.
 
Griffin bowed out of the tournament with a 9-0 loss to 5^th-seeded Nico Rivera of JWU.
 
Giordano made his NCAA debut with a narrow setback at the hands of Elmhurt's Ryan Hinger, who rode out the entire second period before breaking a scoreless deadlock with an escape to start the third, sealing a 2-0 victory with riding time.
 
Giordano, however, bounced back with a 7-2 defeat of W&L's Evan Lindner, using a pair of first-period takedowns to build a cushion and staving off Lindner's shots for his first career NCAA victory.
 
He met Williams' Caleb Seyfried, the No. 11 seed, in the next round, and was tied 3-3 after a second-period takedown before his opponent went up 5-3 with a pair of escapes and held on from there.
 
NOTES

• Mays and Totten are both NCAA semifinalists and All-Americans for the second year in a row
• Santaniello, a junior Pitt transfer, is a first-time All-American
• The Lions' three semifinalists are tied with Roanoke and Wartburg for second-most in the tournament; only UW-La Crosse (4) has more
• Griffin finished his junior season with a record of 27-7 and his third straight NCAA berth; his career record now stands at 76-30
• Giordano went 27-12 and was a first-time NCAA qualifier as a junior; he will carry a career record of 63-37 into his final season
• Henry finished the year at 27-5 overall, with only three of those losses coming to Division III wrestlers; he racked up a team-leading 13 technical falls, won his second straight regional title along with a Region III Most Outstanding Wrestler accolade, and is now 61-17 for his career
• TCNJ will have at least three All-Americans for the third year in a row