ST. LOUIS – Four West Liberty wrestlers had clinched All-America honors and three of them remained in the hunt for national championships here Friday when the curtain fell on opening day of the NCAA Division II Nationals at the America's Center.
    The top eight finishers in the national championship tournament are accorded All-America status, which made it a case of déjà vu all over again for the three Hilltoppers who advanced to Saturday's championship semifinals.
    Junior 125-pounder Cole Laya clinched All-America honors for the third straight year with a pair of impressive wins on Friday as did seniors Tyler Warner (133) and Connor Craig (184), who are seeking back-to-back national championships after standing on top of the podium in 2019. Sophomore 285-pounder Francesco Borsellino is WLU's fourth All-American after closing out Friday's marathon session with win in his Second Round Consolation bout.
    An historic Friday afternoon of wrestling could wind up as an epic weekend when the tournament concludes late Saturday night. The four All-Americans are the most in 20 years for the tradition-heavy West Liberty wrestling program. What's more, the Hilltoppers have never had multiple national champions in the same year in more than six decades on the collegiate mats.
    Even so, Irwin and his wrestlers have no interest in simply resting on their laurels.
    "Having already clinched four All-Americans is great but there's still a lot of wrestling left to do," Irwin said. "We have three Hilltoppers still in the hunt for a national championship and they all wrestled their tails off today. We're just going to go back out there tomorrow and cut it loose."
    Laya, seeded No. 2 at 125, received a bye through the first round and didn't hit the mat until taking on No. 7-seed Trenton McManus of Minnesota State. In a defensive battle, Laya built up a whopping riding time advantage through the second period to earn a 3-1 decision and punch his ticket to the semifinals.
    "Cole was probably a little slow coming out of the gates today," Irwin said, "but he stayed where he needed to stay in order to come away with the win. He's definitely going to be ready to rock tomorrow."
    Warner, seeded No. 2 at 133 as the reigning 2019 national champion, rolled up a 10-0 period lead on Belmont Abbey's Ben Fielding before eventually closing things out with a fall at 5:30. He prevailed fairly easily in a tactical struggle with 7-seed Tyler Kreith of Maryville in the quarterfinals for a 2-0 decision.
    "Tyler came out hot and dominated his first match from start to finish," Irwin said. "He scored some big bonus points for the team and didn't surrender a point in his quarterfinal. He know what he needs to do on Saturday."
    Craig, who was the 174-pound national champion in 2019 and is seeded No. 2 at 184 this weekend, put on quite the show here Friday. The multi-year All-American was all over Gannon's Cam Page in their first round match, wrapping things up early with a 19-3 technical fall. That set up a quarterfinal with Newberry's 7^th-seeded ZeBrandon Gant but Craig needed only 100 seconds to score a first-period fall.
    "Connor is like dynamite," Irwin said. "Grab him the wrong way and he will make you pay, just like he showed us today. Really looking forward to seeing him wrestle on Saturday."
    Borsellino, seeded No. 8 at 285 in his first national tournament appearance, didn't see the least bit nervous as he dominated Lander's Cam Coffman from start to finish in an 8-0 major decision in their first round match. Although he wound up losing to top-seeded Kam Teacher of St. Cloud State in the quarterfinal, he rebounded with a convincing 7-3 win against UNC Pembroke's Ryan Monk in the Second Round Consolations to clinch All-America honors and a chance to return on Saturday.
    "Really proud of 'Borso,' " Irwin said. "He wrestled so hard today and just missed an opportunity to pin the No. 1 seed. The All-America honor is a testament to his dedication and growth as an athlete. He has a big day in front of him tomorrow."
    West Liberty's other two qualifiers failed to advance to Saturday. Junior 165-pounder Chase Morgan and senior 197-pounder Logan Kemp were each victimized by unfavorable draws and couldn't get anything going. Kemp closed out his career as a three-time national qualifier.
    "Coming off an 18-14 season a year ago, not many people expected to see Chase here but he had a phenomenal year," Irwin said. "He lost to two guys who are going to be on the podium tomorrow and gave them everything they wanted. Chase is a shining example of what can happen for people who buy into everything we're doing.
    "Logan also lost to a couple of guys who are still going to be wrestling tomorrow but I know it's still disappointing for him because he felt he was capable of more today. We're still extremely proud of him because we know how much he had to overcome to get back here for a third time."
    Nebraska-Kearney led the team standings with 58 points with two-time defending champion St. Cloud State second at 51.5. Lindenwood (43.5), McKendree (42.5), Central Oklahoma (42) and West Liberty (35) comprise the next group followed by Ashland (25.5), Gannon (19.5) and Minnesota State (17).
    Semifinals get under way Saturday at 1 p.m. with the championship finals set for an 8 p.m. start.
       1. Nebraska-Kearney 58; 2. St. Cloud State 51.5; 3. Lindenwood 43.5; 4. McKendree 42.5; 5. Central Oklahoma 42; 6. WEST LIBERTY 35; 7. Ashland 25.5; 8. Gannon 19.5; 9. Minnesota State 17; 10. (tie) Colorado School of Mines, Indianapolis 16; 12. Colorado Mesa 15.5; 13. (tie) Maryville, Upper Iowa 14.5; 15. SW Minnesota State 14; 16. Newberry 13; 17. (tie) Adams State, Findlay 12.5; 19. Notre Dame, UNC Pembroke 10 2-Tyler Warner (WLU) p. Ben Fielding (Belmont Abbey), 5:30 4-Baltazar Gonzalez (American Int.) p. Chase Morgan (WLU), 4:10 2-Connor Craig (WLU) tf. Cam Page (Gannon), 19-3 Joseph Reimers (Nebraska-Kearney) p. 8-Logan Kemp (WLU), 6:34 8-Francesco Borsellino (WLU) md. Cameron Coffman (Lander), 8-0 2-Cole Laya (WLU) d. 7-Trenton McManus (Minnesota State), 3-1 2-Tyler Warner (WLU) d. 7-Tyler Kreith (Maryville), 2-0 2-Connor Craig (WLU) p. 7-ZeBrandon Gant (Newberry), 1:40 1-Kam Teacher (St. Cloud St.) p. 8-Francesco Borsellino (WLU), 4:07 Braydon Huber (Mary) md. Chase Morgan (WLU), 13-3
197
Noah Ryan (St. Cloud St.) md. 8-Logan Kemp (WLU), 14-4 2-Francesco Borsellino (WLU) d. Ryan Monk (UNC Pembroke), 7-3 2-Cole Laya (WLU) vs. 3-Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma)
Christian Mejia (McKendree) vs. 5-Nick Daggett (UNC Pembroke) 2-Tyler Warner (WLU) vs. 3-Wesley Dawkins (Nebraska-Kearney)
1-Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) vs. 5-Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) 2-Connor Craig (WLU) vs. Bailey Kelly (Maryville)
1-Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) vs. 4-Dan Fillipek (McKendree) 8-Francesco Borsellino (WLU) vs. 3-Tristen Weirich (Ashland)