GORHAM, Maine – After one day of competition at the NCAA Northeast Regionals, the Castleton University wrestling team sits in a tie for third place with nine wrestlers still in contention for a spot at the upcoming NCAA National Championships.
 
The Spartans have 66 team points, tied with New York University for third-most. Johnson & Wales leads after the first day with 101 team points, with Coast Guard in second at 85.5 points. Castleton has wrestlers remaining in nine weight classes, with five wrestlers through to the semifinals of their championship bracket.
 
Gavin Bradley is in the semifinals at 125 pounds after topping Brett Redner of Rhode Island College with a major decision and Taisei Karachi of NYU by decision. At 141 pounds, top-seeded James Rodriguez is in the semifinals after a pair of wins by decision, first a 9-3 win against Aiden Hebert of Trinity (Conn.) before beating Norwich's Joseph Lotruglio 12-5. Jashon Holmes earned his way to the semifinals at 157 with decision wins over Southern Maine's Jeremy Sendrowski and Williams' Peter Kane—the No. 12 wrestler in the nation and No. 1 seed at his weight class.
 
Michael Angers at 165 is into the semifinals after wins over Ivan Corrall of Merchant Marine and Mario Barberio of WPI. The win over Corrall was a third-period pin at the 6:20 mark, while the victory over the No. 5 seed Barberio came in overtime with a takedown with only seconds remaining in the first sudden-victory period. The second victory was the 100th of his career, making him the sixth wrestler to win 100 matches at Castleton and the third to hit the milestone this season. Cooper Fleming is the final Spartan in the semifinals at 174 pounds, besting James Spellman of Norwich with a first-period pin before beating Danny Gibson of Coast Guard in an 8-2 decision.
 
Michael Gonyea is in the consolation quarterfinals at 133 pounds, winning his first match against RIC's Kwesi Amoa before falling to Coast Guard's Chase Randall—the three seed—in the second round. Gonyea staved off elimination with a 3-1 win against Western New England's Austin Monteiro in his first consolation bout. At 149 pounds, Nicholas Roeger remains in contention in the consolation quarters following a first-round win over Bridgewater State's Jonathan Davila. A loss to Springfield's Chase Parrott, the three seed and No. 14 149-pounder in the country, send Roeger to the consolation bracket, but he stayed alive with a win over USM's Edward Pinc.
 
Sampson Wilkins won his first match of the day at 184 with a quick pin in 1:18 against NEC's Kaden White, but a 3-1 loss to Edwin Morales of Bridgewater State sent Wilkins to the consolation bracket. He stayed alive with a 5-0 victory over Trinity's Cooper Kelley. Haven Tatarek is the final wrestler in contention, besting Williams' Elias Chen in the opening bout 3-1 before falling to Merchant Marine's James Cruz in a 5-0 decision. In his first consolation bout, he came out on top 4-2 in the first sudden victory period.
 
The Spartans look to finish strong on Sunday, completing the NCAA Regionals at USM. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the NCAA National Championships.