Iowa stayed on a roll, Iowa State rebounded and Jarion Beets of UNI continued to dominate on his feet. That was the story from a state of Iowa perspective as the second round of the 2010 NCAA Championships were contested Thursday night in Omaha, Neb.

The Hawkeyes widened their lead with an 8-1 performance in the second round, including a pin from heavyweight Dan Erekson and major decisions from Brent Metcalf at 149 and 174-pounder Jay Borschel. The closest Iowa win was a 3-1 victory at 165 for Ryan Morningstar over Alex Meade of Oklahoma State, who the Hawk lost to in the dual.

"It's a good start., We just have to keep progressing and keep taking it match by match," Erekson said. "Wish we could have got 10 out of 10, but we got eight of 10 to the quarters."

The Hawkeye big man turned Scott Steele of Navy with an arm bar and half Nelson for the first-period pin.

"He was blocking that arm bar pretty good and I just put the half in there. Basic attack and pinned him," he said. "When you're wrestling well and feeling good you expect to go out there and beat some guy up, whoever it is. Sometimes you get the openings and take them and the match ends early, which is good."

Iowa head coach Tom Brands likes where the team stands, but knows anything can happen in the next two days.

"I'm going to sound like a broken record, but we have to keep a good thing going," he said. "We have eight in the quarters and that's good, but we have to keep a good thing going. We have a lot of work to do."

He added that the team as a whole wrestled much better in Thursday's night session.

"I like that we're taking control of situations and positions. I feel like we wrestled better tonight than we did this morning," he said. "Phil Keddy comes to mind. And Jay Borschel. And Dan Erekson. Metcalf, especially, scoring 20 points in that match."

Metcalf pounded fellow returning All-American Kyle Borshoff of American, 20-7. Borschel rolled to a 10-0 major decision. Keddy, seeded ninth, scored a takedown in the opening seconds and controlled No. 8 Louis Caputo of Harvard, 6-2.

The session opened with four-point wins from Matt McDonough at 125 and Dan Dennis at 133. Montell Marion followed with a 10-5 win at 141.

McDonough fought off his back in the second period and dominated Anthony Zanetta of Pittsburgh the final half of the match.

Brands was impressed with McDonough's reaction to being on his back for one of the few times this season.

"It's veteran. You're in a dangerous position and you don't panic. A lot of guys panic and get turned again," Brands said. "It was very smart wrestling. No need to panic. Three near fall doesn't beat you. McDonough did the right thing."

All five of the ISU Cyclone wrestlers competing on the front side on Thursday night did the right things as well. Iowa State was a perfect 5-0 and rebounded from a tough 5-5 first session.

Andrew Long at 125 and Nick Fanthorpe at 133 got the ball rolling for ISU and Mitch Mueller kept the train rolling with a solid 8-4 victory at 141 over Anthony D'Alie of Central Michigan.

"Getting two wins today is a big deal. It's important for the team. I have a lot  to do, but it puts me in good position," Mueller, who looks to end his career with his first All-American honors, said. "I have to wrestle as hard as I can and see what happens. Things are coming together pretty well."

The Cyclone now takes on a wrestler he has never defeated...Metcalf of Iowa. Mueller was pinned by the Hawkeye in the dual, but kept it a close match at the National Duals in January.

"Everyone is beatable. It's going to take a perfect match. I can't give up any shots at the end of periods. I have to get my offense going and keep it going," Mueller said of the in-state showdown.

The second round was capped off by ISU two top-seeded wrestlers. Jake Varner at 197 dominated Riley Orozco of Cal State-Bakersfield, 10-1. At 285, No. 1 David Zabriskie controlled the action in a 4-2 win over Eric Nye of Arizona State.

"I was in on quite a few shots. Didn't finish as many as I wanted to, but it was progress," Zabriskie said after the win. "It feels pretty good. I was (in the quarters) in 2009 and I'm having a good tournament right now."

Zabriskie added that the Cyclones are still in the hunt for the team title and need to keep all 10 wrestlers going as long as possible.

"We had a couple of upsets in the championship round, but we still have all 10 guys in. The next couple rounds, everyone needs to get us points," he said.

Northern Iowa's unseeded Jarion Beets was the lone Panther on the front side of the bracket on Thursday night. He advanced to the quarters with an 8-6 win over Justin Zeerip of Michigan.

Beets led 7-4 early in the third off three takedowns and an escape. Zeerip earned a late takedown, but the Panther held on to make the quarters in his first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

In consolation action after the second round, winners were James Nicholson of Old Dominion (former DM Roosevelt) at 125, Dalton Jensen of ISU at 141, Jon Reader of ISU at 165, Duke Burk of ISU at 174, Josh Ihnen of Nebraska (former Sheldon/South O'Brien) at 184, Jerome Ward of ISU at 184, Chad Beatty of Iowa at 197 and UNI heavyweight Christian Brantley.

Ihnen scored a last-second takedown to knock out 2009 174-pound runner-up Mike Miller of Central Michigan.

Beatty scored a reversal in the final 10 seconds for a one-point victory.

UNI brought a group of four to the tournament and all of them are still alive for the second day.

"We wrestled well this round. We got all four guys through and they competed," UNI head coach Brad Penrith said. "The guys who were here today deserved to be here and wrestled hard."