ST. LOUIS, Mo.— Adams State University wrestlers Isaiah De La Cerda and Noah Hermosillo are still alive after the first day of the NCAA Division II Championships held at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
After the first day, De La Cerda is in line to finish as high as third place at 125 pounds while Hermosillo is still on the championship side and in the semifinals, attempting to win a national title. Both wrestlers have already secured All-America honors as they needed to finish in the Top 8.  

Action will continue Saturday.

In the team standing, Adams State is 17th with 12.5 points.

Round 1
In the opening match of the tournament, De La Cerda earned a 4-1 win over Limestone's Kevin Radcliff. De La Cerda opened the match with a takedown with just under a minute left in the opening period to get a 2-0 lead. Radcliff earned an escape just as the period ended. In the second, De La Cerda kept the pressure on and earned an escape to push the score to 3-1 while a stalemate in the third quarter finished the match 4-1.

Hermosillo earned a 6-1 decision over Upper Iowa's Eric Faught.

Quarterfinals
Christian Mejia of McKendree earned a 3-1 sudden victory win over De La Cerda, who was the No. 1 seed at 125 pounds.

Hermosillo earned a hard fought 4-3 decision over Ashland's Carson Speelman. In the match Speelman had a takedown with just over a minute left in the first period before Hermosillo cut the lead to 2-1 with an escape.

In the second period Hermosillo had an escape to tie the match at two and neither team got the upper hand and the score remained the same headed into the third.

Spellman opened the third in the bottom position and quickly earned an escape to take a 3-2 lead.

With time winding down and Speellman having a minute and ten seconds of riding time, Hermosillo battled for a takedown on the edge with just over 57 seconds remaining. The two points were awarded just before the two wrestlers were called out of bounds, forcing a challenge. After a video review, the original call stood and Hermosillo was able to stay in the top position for the remainder of the match to prevent the riding time bonus to be applied for Speelman for the win.

Consolation Quarterfinals
De La Cerda was able to stay alive as he earned a 6-5 decision over Matt Siska of Pitt-Johnstown.