Two UW-Stevens Point wrestlers reached the national semifinals on the first day of competition at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Dubuque, Iowa. Senior Yan White and junior Cody Koenig have already earned All-American status by advancing to the quarterfinals.

     White, the second seeded wrestler at 197 pounds, scored a pair of victories by decision in Friday's competition. White shutout Lance Marcus of Wilmington College 9-0 in his first match of the day. He then defeated Tom Medonis of Springfield (Mass.) College 8-4 to advance to the semifinals for the third straight year. White was the 2002 national champion at 197 pounds, and placed second last year. White will face third-seeded Robert Cuffie of Brockport State in the semifinals. White is now 9-1 all-time at the NCAA championships.

     Attempting to defend his national title, Koenig received a first round bye at 174 pounds, before recording a 12-3 major decision over Matthias Keib of Ithaca College. In the quarterfinals, Koenig downed Chris Healy of Wabash College 3-1. Koenig will take the mat tomorrow in the semifinals against Joe Moon of Augsburg College. Moon broke Koenig's school-record 43-match winning streak earlier this season. The other semifinal features Ed Aliakseyenka of Montclair State and Mark Sturm of Wartburg College. Koenig pinned Aliakseyenka in last year's national title match.

     Two other Pointers also competed on the first day. At 133 pounds, senior Brady Holtz dropped his opening match to Tenkoran Agyemen of Oswego State 6-3, and the received a forfeit from Dan Jacobs of Williams College. Holtz will continue to battle through the consolation bracket Saturday, beginning with a match against Quent Christensen of Simpson College. In the 141 pound bracket, sophomore Joel Burdick dropped both his matches on Saturday and was eliminated from the championships. Burdick fell to Jeff Patzke of Luther College 10-8 and Mike Gaeta of Springfield (Mass.) College 9-3.