CEDAR FALLS - Upper Iowa took a step forward at the National Duals, but coach Heath Grimm would have preferred a leap.

With a 22-17 win over Mercyhurst in Sunday's Division II seventh-place match, the Peacocks improved their standing by one place over last year's tournament. Grimm was cautiously pleased with the improvement.

"We definitely thought we could have made the semifinals and be in the top four," Grimm said, "but when that didn't happen, the guys responded well today.

"Last year, we had some kids not make weight for Sunday, and we came out flat and got beat. This time we had a lot better approach."

The Peacocks wrapped up the win over the middle weights, taking three straight from 133 pounds to 149.

Trevor Franklin started the roll with a 10-3 decision over fifth-ranked Michael Baxter, wrapping up a weekend that saw the freshman from upstate New York go 5-0 while scoring bonus points in each match.

"I'm from the East Coast, so it's kind of fun for me to wrestle against some of those schools from that part of the country," Franklin said.

A pair of UIU's other young wrestlers - freshman heavyweight Arron Cramer and sophomore 141-pounder JR Baker - each went 4-1 in the duals.

"We definitely learned a lot about ourselves this weekend," Grimm said. "Now it's the dual meet season, and our focus is going to be on winning a conference title."

Contact Brian Pals at brian.pals@wcfcourier.com