Providence, R.I. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team is in fourth-place after the first day of action Friday night at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships in the Amica Mutual Pavillion.
 
The Eagles have 43.0 team points while host Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) leads with 49.5. Wartburg College (Iowa) is second with 48.5 points and Augsburg University (Minn.) third with 46.0.
 
Four wrestlers advanced to Saturday's action, including two in the national semifinals. Tyler Goebel (157-pounds) and Marcus Orlandoni (184) both advanced to the semifinals with 2-0 records. 

 
Goebel, seeded seventh, opened with a decision (7-3) over Nate Camiscioli of Castelton University (Vt.) in the first round and by decision (5-4) over Peter Kane of Williams College (Mass.) in the quarterfinals. Goebel clinches his second NCAA III All-America honor after placing second at 149-pounds last season. He went 1-2 in 2023.
 
Goebel faces third-seeded Cooper Pontelandolfo of New York University in the semifinals.
 
Orlandoni advanced to the semifinals with a win by decision (tiebreaker 2-1) over Ryder Slayton of Messiah College (Pa.) in the first round before earning a win by decision (7-1) over Austen Wetzel of Westminster College (Mo.) in the quarterfinals.
 
Orlandoni, seeded fifth this year, is making his second trip to the NCAA III Championships and earned his first career All-America honor. He went 0-2 last season. Orlandoni takes on Ganon Smith of Elizabethtown University (Pa.) in Saturday's semifinals.
 
Two wrestlers, Tanner Gerber (165) and Ben Kawczynski (197) secured NCAA III All-America honors on Friday.
 
Gerber advanced, going 3-1 on the day. The second-seed, Gerber lost by fall (6:40) to Christopher Stathopoulos of Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) in the first round. He came back with three straight wins to earn All-America accolades.
 
Gerber won by sudden victory (9-6) over Alex Villar of North Central College (Ill.) in the consolation second round and by decision (7-6) over Dustin Bohren of Loras College (Iowa) in the consolation third round. He advanced to Saturday's action with a win by decision (12-10) over Jack Richardson of Johnson & Wales (R.I.) in the consolation fourth round. He will take on fourth-seeded CJ Christo Shea of Wesleyan University (Ct.) in the consolation round on Saturday.
 

Third-seeded Kawczynski picked up his second career All-America award on Saturday. He went 2-1 on Friday, opening with a win by fall (2:11) over Jackson Punzel of Wheaton College (Ill.) in the first round. Kawczynski lost by sudden victory (4-1) to Joseph Petrella of Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio) in the quarterfinals, but came back with a win by fall (3:34) over Will Davis of Elizabethtown College (N.J.) in the consolation fourth round.
 
He earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish last year. Kawczynski is making his third career appearance, going 2-2 at 285-pounds in 2022. He faces seventh-seeded Dylan Harr of Johnson & Wales (R.I.) in the consolation round Saturday.
 
The Eagles' Quintin Wolbert (125), Sam Lorenz (133), and Eddie Simes (174) each went 1-2 on Friday while Michael Douglas (285) finished 2-2. Wyatt Magolski (133) finished 0-2.
 
In his first national appearance, Wolbert won by decision (7-5) over Jalen Dunson of UW-Whitewater in the first round. He lost by major decision (21-7) to Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales (R.I.) in the quarterfinals and by major decision (18-7) to Brayden Parke of Coe College (Iowa) in the consolation round.
 
Lorenz, making his second career trip, also went 1-2 on Friday. Seeded-sixth, Lorenz lost by decision (7-5) to Sam Kotch of The College of New Jersey in the opening round. He came back with a win by fall (4:04) over Joseph Innamorato of Centenary College (N.J.) in the consolation second round before losing by fall (4:38) to Tommy Thongseng of Wartburg (Iowa) in the consolation third round.
 
Simes was making his first national appearance at the NCAA III Championships. He lost by decision (4-3) to Zeb Gnida of Loras College (Iowa) in the first round before winning by technical fall (20-4, 5:24) over Tyler Bodovetz of Ohio Wesleyan University in the consolation second round. Simes lost by decision (7-2) to Austin Brass of Messiah  (Pa.) in the consolation third round.
 
Top-ranked Douglas lost by decision (2-0) to Robby Bates of North Central (Ill) in the first round before a pair of major decision victories. He won by major decision (9-0) over Cam'ron Harper of Aurora University (Ill.) in the consolation second round and by major decision (8-) over Josh Woodrey of Augustana College (Ill.) in the consolation third round.

Douglas lost by decision (5-1) to Josh Harkless of RIT (N.Y.) in the consolation fourth round. He was making his third career NCAA III appearance, earning two All-America honors. Douglas was eighth in 2023 and second in 2024.
 
Making his first career appearance in the national championships, Magolski lost by technical fall (17-2, 7:00) to UW-Whitewater's Dominik Mallinder in the first round by and by technical fall (16-1, 5:43) to Jaden Hinton of Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio) in the consolation round.
 
Action continues Saturday, March 15 at 9 a.m. (Central).