AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Favored Minnesota left the door open to the prize.

Iowa State barged in and has firmly placed a big paw on it.

Taking advantage of a stumbling Golden Gopher squad, the Cyclones bolted into the lead after four sessions at the NCAA Division I National Wrestling Championships on Friday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Iowa State enters today's final action with a 3 1/2-point lead over Minnesota, 83.5 to 80.

The Cyclones advanced three wrestlers to the finals - Trent Paulson at 157 pounds, freshman Jake Varner at 184 and Kurt Backes at 197.

ISU will have one wrestler in the placing matches, Travis Paulson at 165, while Minnesota has one finalist - heavyweight Cole Konrad - and four wrestlers in the medal matches.

Iowa State started the season as a longshot to win anything, but first-year head coach Cael Sanderson boldly predicted his team would get better and contend for a team title.

"There is still a lot of wrestling left to do here," said Cyclone head coach Cael Sanderson. "I'm real proud of the guys, and they've done a great job for us.

"We've improved a lot. We were at one level at the beginning of the season, and we've done what we were supposed to do. Now, we are at a different level, contending for a national championship."

Minnesota held a 5 1/2-point lead over Iowa State after the first session Friday, with both teams entering the semifinals with four wrestlers.

But while the Golden Gophers suffered three losses, including a pair of shocking upsets, the Cyclones soared into the lead.

Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter, the defending national champion at 149 who had won 66 consecutive matches, was upset by Edinboro's Gregor Gillespie, 3-2.

Trent Paulson lifted the Cyclones into a tie for the lead with a victory over Illinois' Mike Poeta at 157 to reach his first national title match.

Three weights later, Varner took down Minnesota's second-ranked Roger Kish with 6 seconds left in overtime to pull out a 4-2 win in their 184-pound semifinal.

"It is real exciting to be part of this," said Varner. "After you perform and performed for your team and fans … putting us ahead is real exciting and gets me ready for the finals," said Varner.

Backes, a senior who was an all-American as a freshman but missed out each of the last two years, topped Penn State's Phil Davis to cap Iowa State's night.

Minnesota, which had four semifinalists, finally scored a victory when defending champ Konrad beat Ty Watterson of Oregon State.

The Golden Gophers also had Jayson Ness lose in the 125-pound semis.

While the team title would be nice, Sanderson told his three finalists it is all about their individual accomplishments Saturday.

"I told them the team race is 'out of your control and you have to focus on yourself. Do it for yourself and really just go have some fun,'" recalled Sanderson.

For Trent Paulson, it was tough to be happy after watching his brother lose to Oklahoma State's Johny Hendricks in the 165-pound semifinal.

"I don't even feel like celebrating," said Trent Paulson. "It sucks. I know he deserved it more than anyone. He is the hardest worker on our team."

After pausing, Paulson found time to reflect on wrestling for a championship tonight against Wisconsin's Craig Henning.

"I've always wanted to be a national champion in college and to make it to the finals; it is a dream come true," said Paulson.

Varner will face Northwestern's Jake Herbert, the 174-pound national runner-up last year, while Backes will take on American University's Josh Glenn in the 197-pound final.

"It is pretty evident, for some reason, we've gotten off our focus and we need to get back on it," said Minnesota coach J Robinson. "I think, basically, we've gone from the first day where we really focused to somewhere where we've lost it and we've got to get it back here tommorrow in the wrestlebacks. That is important. Our guys have to start wrestling with more emotion."

"There is going to be a lot more pressure on tommorrow," added Konrad. "We're going to have to step up as a team. "We're definitely sitting all right. I mean … you can't sit and dwell on it."

Five wrestlers with area ties fell short of earning all-America status Friday, including a trio of Northern Iowa wrestlers - Nick Baima, Moza Fay and C.J. Ettelson.

Ettelson won his first 141-pound wrestleback match but lost to Wisconsin's Kyle Ruschell, 5-4, to be eliminated.

Fay won a pair of wrestleback matches but lost to Stanford's Josh Zupancic, 7-5, in the match to reach the podium at 157.

Baima lost to Iowa State's Travis Paulson, 5-1, in the 165-pound quarterfinals, before falling to Mike Miller of Central Michigan, 6-5, in the match to place.

Northern Illinois' Johnny Galloway, a former Waterloo East state champ, won three wrestleback matches before being pinned by Matt Pell of Missouri one match short of earning 165-pound all-America status.

Don Bosco of Gilbertville prep Mack Reiter, seeking his third all-America award, lost in the quarterfinals to defending national champ Matt Valenti of Penn, 4-0, at 133. Reiter then dropped a 4-3 decision to Tyler McCormick of Missouri and was eliminated.

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