The semifinal round at the 2010 NCAA Div. I National Championships went from great to unbelievable in a matter of minutes for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Hawks were 4-for-4 already when No. 2 Jay Borschel hit the mats at 174 against No. 3 Christopher Henrich of Virginia, looking to make it a perfect 5-for-5.

It didn't look good early, as the undefeated Hawkeye was taken down to his back early in the first period for a 5-0 deficit and trailed 8-2 after another Henrich takedown later in the period.

“Sometimes I get in trouble with my laid back style and approach, and sometimes come out slow. It’s our mentality as a team that when you go deeper and deeper into the tournament you get stronger," Borschel said. "Coach Brands says every session our best wrestling is now and everything else is behind us. I just stayed calm and tried to take them one at a time to get those points.”

But Borschel scored his first takedown of the match in the second to cut the lead to 9-5. An escape by the Hawkeye in the third, a stall point and takedown on the edge made it a 9-9 match with 47 seconds left. Borscehl rode Henrich hard the rest of the period and earned a riding time point for the incredible 10-9 victory.

The Iowa crowd got louder and louder as Borschel staged his comeback and the noise was deafening in the final seconds as the riding time went over a minute and Borschel locked up the win. The usually reserved Borschel flexed his muscles at the Iowa section after finishing off the comeback.

“Definitely. I felt them in that last period when I was coming on strong. They were getting louder and louder, I thought maybe I might have killed half of them with a heart attack, but they were pretty loud," he said. "I usually don’t celebrate after a match, but I just couldn’t help it. It was quite a feeling to come back from that and pull it off.”

Iowa Coach Tom Brands, who has now led the Hawkeyes to the past three NCAA team titles, said Borschel just remained calm and did what he needed to do to get the win.

"At the end of the second period, you start putting together how many takedowns you need to get to overtime, how many takedowns you need to win in regulation," Brands said. "Our trainer, sitting behind us, had the million dollar answer -- get a stall call and a takedown. We got those and the riding time with it. I was thinking, 'Let's get this thing into overtime.' Our trainer was thinking better. You never run out of time. It goes back to that urgency, you're always on the hunt."

Borschel meets fellow undefeated wrestler Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the finals.

The senior from Linn-Mar (Marion) will be joined in the finals by fellow Linn-Mar graduate Matt McDonough at 125, Dan Dennis at 133, Des Moines product Montell Marion at 141 and three-time finalist Brent Metcalf at 149.

McDonough dominated fellow Big 10 freshman Cashe' Quiroga of Purdue in the semifinals, 14-3. He led 5-0 in the first after a takedown and turn with a cradle and cruised from there.

“Well you take one match at a time, don’t worry as much about who you’re wrestling, but how you’re wrestling and battling for seven minutes every match," he said. "I came into the tournament with a lot of confidence. I just kept working my skill and it paid off.

“I feel I’m wrestling my style. I’m forcing my offense on opponents and not giving up much space. I feel that I’m doing a good job of wrestling for seven minutes, but you can always improve and there is one more match to improve on.”

That one more match comes against a familiar opponent in the finals - fellow in-state freshman Andrew Long of Iowa State. McDonough won all three meetings this season, but all the last two came down to the wire.

Right after McDonough's victory, Dennis took the mats against Big 10 rival and returning NCAA champ Franklin Gomez of Michigan State. Dennis won both meetings earlier in the season, but Gomez had the NCAA semifinals experience.

The two heading into overtime tied at 3-3. Dennis struck for the winning takedown in the final 20 seconds of the extra period.

"That's the third time this year where it's been a pretty close match. You know, it's solid position on my part to hold his offense at bay. He took me down and did score, but being able to rebound off of that and fire up and get away," Dennis said. "It's not the way I'd like, to go into overtime, but it is what it is, and I was able to get the takedown. I just kept my hands low and didn't reach up high, like I may have in the past. I'm trying to learn from that, to not give up any cheap or easy points."

Dennis said it's been a long journey for him to get one match away from an NCAA title.

"This is what my college career has culminated in, and even going further back to when my parents allowed me to participate in wrestling. It's been a long time coming for this opportunity," he said.

Dennis faces Jayson Ness of Minnesota in the finals. They are 2-2 in their careers, but Ness won both meetings this season.

Montell Marion made it three finalists in a row for the Hawkeyes with a 7-6 win over Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh at 141. Marion scored a reversal early in the third period to break a 5-5 tie and held on for the big win.

“It feels great. I’ve been dreaming about this for a very long time. It keeps me up at night. I’m just happy to be in the final," he said. "I’m ready to go tomorrow, staying on my offense and finishing all the way through.”

Marion, a four-time Iowa State Tournament finalist and two-time champ, said he hasn't surprised himself with his run to the finals.

“The thing is, I knew I had it in me. It’s just that throughout the season, I’ve been up and down and right now is the time to peak," he said. "You know that Saturday night you’ve got to be ready to go, and I’m peaking at this time, even though I know there’s some things that I could work on. But I just know that tomorrow I’m going to give my all.”

Marion has had his share of troubles in the past, but ever since his arrival to the University of Iowa, it appears he is getting his life together.

“I know I’m not a perfect person, obviously. I’ve made some mistakes in my past, but I think I’ve hit a time in my life where I’m trying to leave all childish things behind me and start becoming a man, and just making sure that everything I do is representing Iowa in a positive way. And that’s what I’m doing," he said.

Marion meets true freshman and No. 1 seed Kyle Dake of Cornell in the finals.

At 149, Brent Metcalf reached his third title match in a row with a 6-2 win over Kyle Terry of Oklahoma. Metcalf sealed the victory with a takedown late in the third period.

“I feel good. I feel strong. I feel like I’m wrestling smart in my positions. Maybe not scoring tech falls and pins like I really, really want to, but controlling the match and just feeling real good about my offense and where I’m at," Metcalf said.

After the semifinals was the first time Metcalf has spoken to the media in Omaha and said that he wanted to let his wrestling talk for him.

“It comes a time where I’m kind of sick of talking a little bit and I kind of need to back up my own talk. Whether that’s a result of what happened at the Big 10 tournament or not, I maybe just got ornery," he said. "Like I said, it’s time to back up talk. I know the correct way to wrestle and I know how to win matches and it’s time to go do it on the big stage again.”

Metcalf now faces Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the finals. Palmer defeated Metcalf two weeks ago in the finals of the Big 10 Tournament for his only loss of the season.

“I’m excited. It’s an opportunity to correct a wrong. I’ve been waiting the past two weeks maybe to get to this point and we both had to do our job, and we have. It’s time to go out and compete and work it out," he said.

Palmer said he's looking forward to another match against who he feels is his best competition.

“It’s going to be fun. I love wrestling Brent. He’s a great wrestler. It’s not fun because people make him out to be the person he is, it’s great because he is a great wrestler and it gives us a chance to see who the best in the country is," Palmer said.

Borschel's heroics later in the session put a stamp on Iowa's dominance through a tournament that they had clinched by Friday night.

"It shows that you're in control, that you've wrestled well as a team," Brands said of locking up the title early. "I don't think it lessens the urgency, going back to that word again, of winning five titles and three sevenths. It's flexing your muscles."

The Hawkeyes won the title last season without an individual champion, something Brands doesn't want to see happen again tonight.

"We have one more match to go. Last year, we didn't win any titles. This year, we have five chances to win titles," he said. "When you're 5-for-5 in the semifinals, you might as well be 5-for-5 in the finals. I'm not making any predictions there, I'm just saying that's the philosophy, the marching orders, how we go forward. Get ready to wrestle when it's time to wrestle tomorrow night. We have three guys going for seventh (place) in the morning as well, so we have eight matches."

Wrestling for seventh place honors are seniors Ryan Morningstar at 165, Phil Keddy at 184 and Dan Erekson at 285.