ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands once said the battle for supremacy begins in the state of Iowa.

The quote goes on to say the battle is national, the battle is the world and if life can be found out there, universal.

But before Brands' Hawkeyes can take on the universe, they are going to have to topple state rival Iowa State.

After day one of the 79th NCAA Division I national wrestling championships at the Scottrade Center, Iowa and Iowa State are tied atop the team standings with 33 points apiece.

"It was a good start, now we just have to go out and fight and take what we want," Cyclone 165-pound junior Jon Reader said. "That is what we are doing, and it's working out so far."

The Cyclones have all 10 of their qualifiers alive, including five in the quarterfinals.

Nick Gallick at 141, Cyler Sanderson at 157, Reader at 165, Jake Varner at 197 and David Zabriskie at heavyweight are the quarterfinalists.

Zabriskie nearly missed out on the party, rallying from a 6-1 deficit to Dustin Rogers of West Virginia to score a 9-8 win in the second round. Zabriskie got the winning takedown with eight seconds left.

"I never questioned he was going to come back," Cyclone head coach Cael Sanderson said. "He was taking his time in the process, so it would've been nice if he had scored those points a little quicker instead of doing it at the end."

Reader registered a pair of major decisions to pace the Cyclones.

Tyler Clark at 125, Nick Fanthorpe at 133, Mitch Mueller at 149, Duke Burk at 174 and Jerome Ward at 184 also remain alive.

Iowa has six in the quarterfinals - Daniel Dennis at 133, defending national champion Brent Metcalf at 149, Ryan Morningstar at 165, Jay Borschel at 174, Phillip Keddy at 197 and Dan Erekson at heavyweight.

All nine of the Hawkeyes' qualifiers remain alive.

Charlie Falck at 125, Alex Tsirtsis at 141 and Chad Beatty at 197 are in the consolation bracket.

"There are some good things going on," Iowa coach Tom Brands said. "Like I told our guys, our parade has been rained on a little bit and it is like, 'Damn, you have to shake it off, get up and got to have fire.' I think we saw some of that."

Iowa had four falls, two by Metcalf, and two major decisions, but it was a second-round loss by Falck that may have awakened the Hawkeyes.

Falck was beaten badly by Arizona State's Anthony Robles, 8-3.

"Falck didn't end up with any type of performance he wanted," Brands said. "That heightens your awareness as a group. So you can be a sparkplug in more ways than one. I think he probably created a sense of urgency … at least that is the way we will spin it."

The Cyclones and Hawkeyes will not have a head-to-head match in the quarterfinals, but both teams will have tough draws.

Cyler Sanderson has top-seeded Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska, while Gallick has defending 141-pound national champion J Jaggers of Ohio State.

"We need all 10 of our guys to put up some points for us," Cael Sanderson said. "Really, all I want is the guys' best effort, for them to fight for the team, fight for themself and enjoy the show.

"This is the national tournament and we need to get out there and fight for what we trained for every day this season."

The Hawks' Erekson has second-seeded Mark Ellis of Missouri. Morningstar has Colt Sponseller of Ohio State, whom he defeated 2-1 in a tiebreaker at the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

"I'm not concerned with the team race at this point," Metcalf said. "This was just the first day. At the same token, we are losing matches, losing matches we shouldn't be losing. That is not a good sign.

"Those guys have to come back and potentially get high placing honors for us. We need them to do that.

"It is what it is. I've got to worry about doing my job, and each of the rest of our guys have to worry about doing their job."

Ohio State is third with 30 points, while Nebraska has 24 and Edinboro 22 1/2.

There are 16 teams with at least six wrestlers remaining, and five with at least four quarterfinalists.

Northern Iowa, with all six of its wrestlers alive, is 16th with 15 points.

There were several major upsets in the tournament, including a pair of No. 1 seeds being upset - Kellen Russell of Michigan at 141 and Mack Lewnes of Cornell at 165.

Additionally, two No. 2 seeds went down - Penn State's Bubba Jenkins at 149 and Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli at 141.

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