CEDAR RAPIDS - Defending national champion Wartburg didn't need its Hall of Fame head coach Jim Miller for a pep talk.

After a disappointing first round at the NCAA Division III national wrestling championships Friday at the U.S. Cellular Center, the Knights took it upon themselves to rise to the challenge.

Sitting in a tie for third place, trailing archrival Augsburg College and Iowa conference rival Coe after one round, Wartburg surged into the lead with a dominating quarterfinal round. The Knights led Augsburg, 64- 61 1/2, heading into today's semifinals and finals.

Said Zach McKray, Wartburg's 141-pounder, "We're were talking at the hotel (between sessions) and said forget the team stuff … and it looked like everybody took it upon themselves to go after it …. and I think this round (the quarters) we wrestled with a lot more intensity, and we were out their fighting for seven minutes wrestling on the edge, not backing up and that helped the team"

Despite advancing seven wrestlers into the quarterfinals during the morning session, the Knights weren't happy with how they performed.

Defending 184-pound national champion Romeo Djoumessi had lost. Matt Kelly at 133, Aaron Wernimont at 157 and Justin Hanson at 165 all had difficult gos in victories.

Kelly almost saw a 5-2 third-period lead disappear in a 7-5 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Jered Kern.

"We wrestled hard, I was proud of them," Miller said of his team's quarterfinal performance. "At the national tournament, to have a chance, that is what you have to do."

The quarterfinals didn't start out well, either, when Mark Kist lost a 2-1 tiebreaker decision to Coe's Clayton Rush.

But the Knights won nine straight after that loss, including Kist in his first wrestle back.

Wartburg has six wrestlers in the semifinals - Kelly at 133, McKray at 141, Naig at 149, Wernimont at 157, Hanson at 165 and John Helgerson at heavyweight.

Kist narrowly avoided being eliminated when he scored an escape and recorded a blast double-leg in the final eight seconds to beat Wesleyan's Dan Bloom.

"There is a lot of momentum involved in wrestling, and they feed off each other and you always try to get something going like that," Miller said. "I thought we fought hard all day, and that is the good part."

Wartburg's night did end on a sour note as Shandri and Djoumessi both lost to be eliminated.

Djoumessi's loss especially struck a chord with Miller, who questioned the four penalty points issued against Djoumessi in a 13-11 loss to Dustin Baxter of St. John's.

"I think he got frustrated … it was a real frustrating match, real frustrating in a lot of ways," Miller exponded. "It got out of control. How many penalty points was it, four, all on Romeo Djoumessi. We haven't had that in 10 years. There were a couple of officiating things that were horrendous, ridiculous."

Wartburg (6 semifinals, 1 consolation) has one fewer wrestler alive than Augsburg, who has four in the championship bracket and three in wrestle backs.

Wisconsin-La Crosse, coached by former Wartburg assistant Dave Malecek, is in third with 46 points. The Eagles have four semifinalists and one in the consolation bracket.

Delaware valley is fourth with 43 points, and Coe College is fifth with 42 1/2.

Luther College's start to the day wasn't much better than Wartburg's as the Norse saw six of its seven wrestlers lose in the first round, and the lone victory came from Zac Bartlett at 133, and he had a bye.

But sixth-seeded Bartlett moved into the semifinals with a 5-3 win over third-seeded Brandon Clemmer of Delaware Valley, 5-3, while Jason Pyle at 149 earned all-American status with two wrestleback victories.

"I knew that I could wrestle well above my seed," Bartlett said. "I'm trying to prove it one match at a time. I'm just trying to work my way up the ladder.

"Having the bye, was a big benefit for me. Weight management has been a problem, two-hour weigh in is tough, but when you add another five hours, it makes a difference.

"It feels outstanding, but making the podium wasn't the goal this year," added Bartlett, who was seventh last year at 133.

It was a strange opening first day as three defending national champions lost - Seth Flodeen of Augsburg, Tyler Burkle of Coe and Djoumessi, and three No. 1 seeds were taken down - Luther's Alec Bonander, Augsburg's Travis Lang and Jerome Owens of Johnson & Wales.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com