HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. – Noah Gonser has secured a place and Campbell sits 10^th in the team standings after day one ay the 56th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Saturday at Sears Centre Arena.

Seeded fourth at 133 pounds, Gonser posted a 6-1 decision over No. 5 Zach Sherman, wrestling unattached from North Carolina, to punch his ticket to the semifinals. The redshirt junior will face Paul Glynn of Iowa Sunday. Gonser opened the day with a 13-8 decision over Illinois' Abdullah Assaf, followed by a 4-2 win over Northern Iowa's Jack Skudlarczyk. He also defeated 13^th-seeded Kegan Calkins from Oregon State with a 12-2 major decision.

With the semifinal appearance, Gonser will become the first Camel to place at the prestigious Midlands Championships.

Campbell ranks 10^th in the team standings after one day of competition with 38 points, just behind Northern Illinois (38.5). Iowa leads the team standings with 114.5 points, followed by Northern Iowa at 76 points. Wisconsin sits third with 69 points, followed by Northwestern (68.5), Princeton (62), Army (52), Arizona State (50) and Illinois (47.5).

Andrew Morgan will also see action Sunday, facing seventh seeded Carver James from Illinois. Morgan stayed alive Saturday, pinning Fresno State's Dominic Kincaid (4:31), then defeated No. 8 Mitch Bowman from Iowa with a 10-7 decision and advanced over unattached Campbell teammate Caleb Hopkins.

Campbell's Jere Heino, wrestling unattached and seeded second at heavyweight, went unscathed on day one. The senior defeated Brown's Ian Buttertbrodt 7-5, and pinned Rutgers' Alex Esposito (4:40). Heino advanced to the semifinal round with an 11-3 major decision over No. 10 seed Tony Cassioppi, competing unattached from Iowa, and will take on No. 3 seed Tanner Hall (unattached-Arizona State) in session III Sunday.

Josh Heil, seeded fourth at 149 pounds, opened his Midlands Championships with a pair of falls, pinning Chase McCollum (Franklin & Marshall) in 3:31 and No. 13 Tres Leon (University of the Cumberlands) in 5:59 before and injury during his bout with No. 5 Pat Lugo (Iowa) ended his tournament.

At 184 pounds, Chris Kober collected a three win day, topping South Dakota's Sam Grove with a 5-2 decision, unattached Austin Andres of SIU-Edwardsville 6-4 and ninth seeded Jack Jessen, competing unattached from Northwestern, who was forced out due to injury.

After a first round defeat, ninth seeded Quentin Perez, wrestling unattached at 165 pounds, topped No. 10 seed Shane Jones from Old Dominion 8-7, then turned in a 12-1 major decision over Kenny O`Neil, competing unattached South Dakota State. Perez gathered a third consecutive win with a 12-2 major decision over Harvard's Josh Kim, before falling to Northern Illinois' Caden McWhirter 9-6.

At 141 pounds, ninth seeded Nathan Boston also notched a pair of wins on the day, kicking off the day with an 18-1 tech fall over Josh Breeding (Princeton) and claiming a 7-4 sudden victory over Iowa's Justin Stickley.

Session III of the Midlands Championships begins at noon tomorrow, featuring four mats with semifinals, consolation matches, and seventh place bouts. The final session will start at 7 p.m.