Eight wrestlers who competed in Iowa in high school or for the summer freestyle and Greco-Roman teams took to the mats in Omaha, Neb. Friday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Div. II Championships.

Of those eight, five kept their title hopes alive and clinched All-American berths with victories and spots in Saturday morning's semifinals.

The first Iowa native to hit the mats was 133-pounder Laramie Shaffer of Augustana. Shaffer, a former Winterset standout and transfer from Iowa State, had a hard-fought 3-1 win over Scott Berens of Central Oklahoma. Shaffer scored a first-period takedown and gave up an escape for a 2-1 lead. Shaffer rode Berens the entire second period to pick up a riding time point.

At 149, a pair of wrestlers with ties to the state won and will now meet in the semifinals for a spot in the championship bout.

Former Central Lyon two-time State champ Nate Herda of Augustana scored a pair of takedowns in the third period for a 6-4 win over Latra Collick of Newberry.

Herda scored both times he went after a serious takedown attempt in the third.

"I was probably a little too cautious," he said. "I was moving him, but he wasn't doing much. I knew I could get takedowns when I needed to."

Herda said clinching All-American honors in his freshman season was big.

"A lot of pressure is off now that you don't have the threat of not being an All-American," he said.

At the same time that was happening on the next mat over, Esai Dominguez of Nebraska-Omaha was handling Derek Stolarzyk of Upper Iowa, 17-6. Dominguez, who went to high school in Nebraska, but wrestled for Iowa in the summer freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments, scored seven takedowns in the impressive victory.

Herda now looks to avenge a pair of losses earlier in the season to Dominguez.

"Each match I kind of got away from the game plan. See if I can execute a little better this time," he said.

A pair of former Iowa high school stars met in the quarters at 157 and it was a dandy.

George Ivanov of Nebraska-Omaha scored a takedown with three seconds left in the match, for a 3-1 victory over Marcus Edgington of Augustana. Ivanov, a former CB Lewis Central grappler, was the aggressor much of the match against the former Hinton standout.

"I was thinking from the beginning I can't stop, because he's going to get tired," Ivanov said. "He was backing up the whole time, but that was his game plan."

Ivanov was originally recruited as a 125-pounder, but has grown nicely into the much bigger weight class.

"I just got bigger and lifted. Coach said it was all right and if I was good enough, I would find a place on the team," Ivanov said.

The Maverick is a key player on a team that is running away with the title right now.

"The team is awesome. We're just one big family," he said. "If everything goes right, we'll have 10 All-Americans."

The quarters didn't go as well for the next two native Iowans.

At 165, former Missouri Valley two-time State runner-up Gavin Nelson was cradled and pinned in just 33 seconds against top-ranked Josh Shields of Mercyhurst.

2007 184-pound NCAA Div. II runner-up Austin Boehm of Nebraska-Omaha won't be making a return trip to the finals, after a 15-0 loss to Tim Darling of Kutztown. Darling turned Boehm several times in the first two periods for the win.

Augustana junior 197-pounder Ty Copsey of Glenwood wrapped up his third All-American honor with a solid 7-2 victory over Mitch Knapp of West Liberty State. Copsey scored a pair of takedowns in the first period and a reversal in the second to cruise to the victory.