Iowa Central made a strong statement to win its third straight team title with nine of its 10 wrestlers winning their first two matches. "We started out the tournament with the best two rounds I've seen,'' said Iowa Central head coach Luke Moffitt. "We were winning and winning big."

With two round done and heading into the quarter finals Iowa Central was out from (40.50) with a thirteen point lead over second ranked Meramec (27.50), The Cardinals of North Idaho and Labette were ties for third (25.00), and the newly reinstated North Iowa Area Community College lead by head coach Richard Fregola was in fifth with 24.50 points.

The quarter-finals would not be as kind to the Tritons, as they went three for nine advancing three IC wrestlers through to the semis.  Heading into the semi-final round, Iowa Central has seven competitors still alive, all earning All-American status.  "We came back in the quarterfinals and looked like a different team,'' Moffitt said. "The matches were close, but we were losing the tight ones.''  The Triton's may have a chance to repeat, but they will fall short of the record setting nine medalists from their 2007 team.  Besides ICCC, both Labette and Meramec have seven alive as well, five and four, respectively, in the semifinals, and both teams are within striking distance of the Tritons.

The biggest blow for the Tritons came at Iowa Central's Matt Burns 149, the meet's only returning champion, stumbled in his attempt to repeat with a third-round, 3-1 loss to Dale DeBacco of Niagara County, N.Y. Last year's runner-up Tim Burdine of Spartansburg Methodist also lost.  Kurt Simon of Ellsworth Community College, Iowa, who beat Burdine, matches up with top ranked Albert White of Northern Iowa Area Community College today. The field in the 149-pound weight class is loaded with five returning All-Americas.

The Tritons enter the semi-finals with 81.5 points, four points ahead of the surging third ranked Labette team (77.5). Meramec (73.5) ranked second is in third place, followed by North Iowa (62.5) and Nassau (62.5).  Among non-scholarship (D-III) schools after the quarter finals, Nassau, N.Y., leads with 62.5. William Rainey Harper, Ill., (49.5) and host RCTC (25.5) is in third. Defending champion Gloucester, N.J., is fourth with 24. 

Action begins at 10:30 a.m. at Rochester Community and Technical College today with the semifinal round. The finals to start at approximately 7 p.m.  Look for the results and story of the semi-final round on http://www.TheMat.com. You can also go to the host web site at http://www.rochsports.org/wrestling/2008home.htm for updated brackets and scores

Below, are the score after the quarter final round:
Place  	Team 						Score 
1.  	Iowa Central 					81.50 
2.  	Labette 					77.50 
3.  	Meramec 					73.50 
4.  	North Iowa Area Community College 	62.50 
 	(tie) Nassau 	(*)				62.50 
6.  	Ellsworth 					52.00 
7.  	Colby 						49.50 
 	(tie) William Rainey Harper 	(*)		49.50 
9.  	Northwest Wyoming 				43.00 
10.  	Muskegon 					39.50 
11.  	Neosho 					37.00 
 	(tie) Clackamas 				37.00 
13.  	Lincoln 					36.00 
14.  	Niagara 					33.00 
15.  	North Idaho 					32.00 
16.  	Mercyhurst NE 				28.50 
17.  	Rend Lake 					26.50 
18.  	Rochester 	(*)				25.50 
19.  	Western Wyoming 				25.00 
20.  	Spartanburg 					24.50
(*) D-III Non-scholarship teams