CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA. Five of Wabash's program-record-tying seven NCAA qualifiers advanced on the first day of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Friday.

Three Little Giants moved into the semifinals after the day's two sessions and two more are still alive in the consolation bracket.

Wabash ended the first day of the championships in third place in the team standings with 40.5 points — one point behind second-place Augsburg University and 17.5 back of leading Wartburg College.

During the morning session of the tournament, Wabash senior 149-pounder Alex Barr lost his first match via fall to University of Chicago's Ryan Fleck. But Barr bounced back in his first consolation match, getting an 8-0 major decision over No.7 Chandler Merwin of the State University of New York at Cortland.

In his win, Barr scored all of his points in the third period. He earned an escape, takedown, four near fall points, and the riding time point.

Senior 125-pounder and seventh-seeded Carlos Champagne defeated Joey Manginellli of Springfield College, 5-2, to move on to the quarterfinals in his second appearance at the national tournament.

Senior 165-pounder third-seeded Kyle Hatch earned the first of two Little Giant falls in session one. After a scoreless first period, Hatch took down Fox Maxwell of Bridgeport State 50 seconds into the second period and ultimately put Maxwell on his back.

The pin marked Hatch's 17th fall victory of the year, putting him in the team-lead in that category. But he didn't hold the top spot on his own for long. Junior Jack Heldt got the second fall of the session at 197 pounds.

Heldt, seeded second, tied Hatch with his 17th win by fall of the season and was the third Wabash wrestler to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals. Heldt came back from a 4-2 first-period deficit and ended the match with 39 seconds left in the second period.

"I try to stay confident the whole time," Heldt said. "My coaches instill confidence in us from day one. If we get down in matches, we got to keep our heads up and stay focused."

In Friday's evening session, Champagne continued his success, advancing to the semifinals with a 7-0 win over second-seeded Samuel Braswell of Averett University.

"He was a freshman All-American for us in 2019," Wabash head coach Brian Anderson said of Champagne, "and we know he has all the capability of winning the whole thing. He really put it together during the back half of the season. He's just kept getting better and better."

Barr wrestled two more matches during the evening session. He beat Jake Burford of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 4-1, and eighth-seed Chase Sumner of Ohio Northern, 6-0, respectively.

Hatch earned his second fall of the day against six-seed Philip Rodgers of the U.S Coast Guard Academy to advance to the semifinals.

Heldt followed Hatch's lead, earning his second bonus-point victory of the day soon after. His 12-0 win over Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann of Augsburg moved him to the semifinals along with Champagne and Hatch.

"It's all about the team in my eyes," Heldt said. "I'm doing my part to try to help the guys out and to bring home a trophy for us."

Chase Baczek ended the night for the Wabash advancing athletes. He picked up a 6-3 victory over Antonio McCloud of Mount St. Joseph to earn his place in the top eight.

With five of the seven Wabash NCAA qualifiers locked into All-American status, Anderson's message to his team for the two podium sessions tomorrow is simple.

"More points," Anderson said. "Score more points. Tomorrow's crucial. To get five through, you got to keep pushing. We've got three opportunities to punch guys through to the finals, and that's huge. We have to keep those guys on the backside climbing up as high as they can."

Sophomore 141-pounder Daniel Uribe and senior heavyweight Maxwell Bishop also competed for the Little Giants, but dropped their first two matches.

Tomorrow's events begin with session III at 10 a.m. and the finals are set for 7 p.m. CST.