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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Mar. 5, 2010) – Two North Central College wrestlers have claimed All-America honors after the first day of the 2010 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The Cardinals currently rank 11th in the team standings with 17 points. Augsburg College (Minn.), last season's runner-up and the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, leads with 69 points.

Gabe Youel remains in the hunt for an individual national championship at 184 pounds, advancing to the semifinals by winning his only match of the day. After drawing a bye in the first round, Youel was matched up with fifth-seeded Mike Denver of The College of New Jersey.

Youel pulled ahead to a 5-1 advantage early in the match and held on for a 6-3 victory over Denver, clinching All-America honors for the third consecutive year. Saturday's semifinal match will pit Youel , the No. 4 seed in the tournament, against eighth-seeded Brennan Ward of Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) The other semifinal is between third-seeded Phil Moenkedick of Concordia College (Minn.) and unseeded Josh Wake of Oneonta State College (N.Y.) Moenkedick defeated Youel, 2-1, in the Great Lakes Regional final.

Also earning an All-America certificate for the Cardinals was Johnny Starzyk at 141 pounds. Seeded fourth at the start of the day, Starzyk ran up an early 7-0 advantage in his match against Chris LeClere of Coe College (Iowa) before holding on for a 12-3 major decision.

In the quarterfinals, Starzyk took on Matt Kelly of Wartburg College (Iowa). Kelly scored a takedown after just over a minute had elapsed, which turned out to be the only one of the match as he held Starzyk off for a 4-2 win. Starzyk bounced back in the consolation bracket, again establishing a 7-0 en route to a 12-5 decision over Vince Tucker of Olivet College (Mich.) Starzyk will begin Saturday's action against seventh-seeded Kevin Donahue of Cornell College (Iowa).

North Central's Nathan Fitzenreider entered the championship as the No. 2 seed at 133, but lost a 1-0 decision in the first round to Aljamain Sterling of the State University of New York at Cortland. Sterling's lone point came as a result of two minutes of riding time that were built up in the second period.

Fitzenreider won a 9-3 decision over Dan Herr of The College of New Jersey in the consolation bracket, scoring four points in the first 20 seconds of the match, and moved on to face William Livingston of Centenary College (N.J.) Livingston, a former national qualifier at the NCAA Division I level, ended Fitzenreider's season with a 10-2 major decision.

Cowan Brown managed an upset victory in his first match at 174, knocking off sixth-seeded Robert Bishop of Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.), 5-3. A double-leg takedown midway through the second period gave Brown the lead for good.

Brown lost a 6-1 decision to third-seeded Michael Schmitz of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the championship quarterfinals, then faced Chris Wade of Oneonta State. Brown and Wade were tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation, and were still deadlocked, 2-2, after three minutes of extra time before Wade picked up a reversal and three nearfall points and held on for a 7-3 win.

Saturday's action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Championship matches are set to start at 7 p.m.