Wartburg nearly ran the table Friday, winning 14 of its 15 matches while racing to the front of the pack at the Division III NCAA Championships. 

Seven Knights secured All-America status and six reached Saturday’s semifinal round as Wartburg racked up 58 points to finish Friday with a 13-point lead over second-place Augsburg. None of the other schools in the top five have more than three semifinalists or five wrestlers total left in the tournament. 

Wartburg collected a technical fall and four major decisions during its dominant day. The lone loss for the Knights came in quarterfinals at 133, where John Carroll’s Andrew Perelka defeated Joe Pins 6-4, scoring the winning points on a takedown in the final minute. 

Brady Kyner (125), Zayren Terukina (141), Kris Rumph (149), David Hollingsworth (157), Zane Mulder (174) and Kyle Briggs (184) advanced to the semis for Wartburg. 

Nine of the 10 top seeds in the tournament moved into the semis. The lone exception was at heavyweight, where North Central’s Robby Bates downed top-seeded Max Bishop of Wabash 3-2 in a tiebreaker in the opening round.