HAMPTON, Va. - The Apprentice School advanced five wrestlers through the consolation bracket and earned bonus points off three pins to vault into the lead after three sessions of the NCWA Championships. The Builders, the defending NCWA champion, have 42 points and a half-point lead over Central Florida, which won three consolation matches but lost four to elimination.

Apprentice avoided a pitfall when its heavyweight, Kevin Gray, pinned Central Florida's Jacob Powell in the second consolation round. The fall gave Apprentice the bonus point that moved them into the lead.
Grand Valley State moved past Southern Illinois-Edwardsville into third with 38.5 points with seven wins in the second round of consolations. SIUE is still in striking range of the top with 36.5 points.

Among the top four teams, Apprentice has six wrestlers in Friday night's quarterfinals, compared to seven for Central Florida, five for SIUE and four for Grand Valley. 

The feature weight class continues to be 157 pounds, where four returning All-Americans including defending champion Peter Rose join unseeded Matt Perry of Apprentice and Jeremy Edward of Illinois State in Friday night's quarterfinals. A win by Rose will guarantee him becoming a four-time NCWA All-American.

Two of the returning All-Americans, Perry and Eric Powell of Williamson School of Trade, meet in the quarterfinals.

At 235 pounds, five of the eight quarterfinalists hail from the NCWA's Southeastern Conference, led by Michael Dominguez of Central Florida. Two of them - Derryl Cloer of Kennesaw State and Brooks Pendleton of Georgia Southern - were unseeded.

Penn State-Dubois moved into the lead among the Division II clubs with 17.5 points. Massachusetts (16) and MIT (15) are just behind. 

Team Scores following Session III:

Division I Teams
1. The Apprentice School (Va.) - 42
2. Central Florida - 41.5
3. Grand Valley State (Mich.) - 38.5
4. So. Illinois-Edwardsville - 36.5
5. Marion Military Institute (Ala.) - 29
6. Md.-Baltimore County - 27.5
7. U.S. Naval Academy Prep - 23
8. Colorado State - 22.5
9. West Chester (Pa.) - 19.5
10t. U.S. Air Force Academy Prep - 17.5
10t. U.S. Military Academy Prep - 17.5
12. Northwest Missouri State - 16.5
13. Winona State (Minn.) - 13.5
14. San Jose State - 12
15t. Rensselaer Polytechnic (R.I.) - 9
15t. New Hampshire - 9
9 other teams in Division I 

Division II Clubs
1. Penn State-Dubois - 17.5
2. Massachusetts - 16
3. MIT - 15
4t. Georgia - 14.5
4t. Northampton CC (Pa.) - 14.5
6. Kennesaw State (Ga.) - 13
7. Texas A&M - 11
8t. Douglas College (B.C.) - 10.5
8t. Northeastern - 10.5
8t. Georgia Southern - 10.5
8t. South Carolina - 10.5