CLEVELAND, Ohio – Max Petersen and Ezekiel Witt advanced to day two of the NCAA Championships to lead the way for North Dakota State wrestling on Thursday at Rocket Arena.
 
Both Petersen and Witt dropped their opening matches in their first NCAA Championships, but answered back in the night session with victories in the first consolation round to advance to day two of the NCAA Championships.
 
After falling to Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia in the opening round, Witt rebounded with a 6-2 victory over Missouri's Mack Mauger, scoring a crucial takedown in the final five seconds of the second period to go up 4-0. He then added over a minute of riding time to start the third to help seal the victory.
 
Petersen fell to Aden Valencia of Stanford in his opening match, but recovered with a major decision to score a bonus point for the Bison in the team standings. Petersen scored an early takedown and four near fall points on Davidson's Anderson Heap to take control of the match. He added a second takedown and an escape before securing the riding time point in a 12-2 victory.
 
Witt and Petersen will return to action in the first of two potential elimination matches on Friday in session three. Witt will take on #18 seed Spencer Moore of Illinois, while Petersen faces #9 seed David Evans of Utah Valley.
 
Gavin Drexler, Aidan Brenot and Devin Wasley all finished 0-2 on Thursday, seeing their seasons come to an end. Drexler and Brenot finish with 16-win seasons and Wasley finished with 22 wins.
 
NDSU has 2.0 team points and sits in a tie for 44^th out of 70 teams competing.
 
NDSU Wrestling Results
149 | Max Petersen | 1-1 | 1.5 pts
L to #10 Aden Valencia (Stanford); MD 18-6
W over #26 Anderson Heap (Davidson); MD 12-2
#9 David Evans (Utah Valley)
 
125 | Ezekiel Witt | 1-1 | 0.5 pts
L to #17 Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia); MD 13-5
W over #32 Mack Mauger (Missouri); Dec 6-2
#18 Spencer Moore (Illinois)
 
157 | Gavin Drexler | 0-2
L to #5 Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State); Dec 5-1
L to #12 Vinny Zerban (Iowa State); MD 11-0
 
184 | Aidan Brenot | 0-2
L to #6 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming); MD 14-1
L to #11 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers); Dec 7-2
 
197 | Devin Wasley | 0-2
L to #11 Camden McDaniel (Nebraska); Dec 7-2
L to #27 Gabe Arnold (Iowa); Dec 7-2