WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Seven student-athletes from the Wilkes University Men's Wrestling team advanced to day two of the NCAA Region II Championships hosted by Lycoming College on Saturday afternoon, with four semifinalists and three consolation quarterfinalists.

Full Results

Wilkes also sits second in team scoring out of the 19-team field.

Ryan Santiago (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) advanced to his first regional semifinals at 141 pounds with two wins on the day. First, Santiago defeated Hunter College's Naman Bhasin by pinfall at 1:15 and followed that up with a 15-1 major decision over Ithaca's Matt Haycook. The sophomore will face Stevens' Luke Hoerle in the semifinals tomorrow.

Jaryn Hartranft (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) made his second consecutive semifinal at 157 pounds with three pinfall wins, starting in the prelims with a 2:25 fall over Pitt-Bradford's Raymond Worsen. He then pinned Keystone College's Codi Bomboy in 2:24 and finished day one with a 37-second fall over Paul Lichter of St. John Fisher. He will face off against Oswego State's Tyler Rossini tomorrow morning.

Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) started his title defense at 197-pounds strong with two technical falls, first beating Aaron Johnson of Alfred State in 6:15 by a score of 20-5 before defeating Braydon Vandenberg of St. John Fisher by the same score in 6:53. He will face Penn College's Nicholas Woodruff in the semifinals.

Heavyweight Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) rounded out the Colonel semifinalists with two pinfall wins. He first knocked off Centenary's Alex Laoudis in 35 seconds and took out Kenny Jackson of Oneonta State in 2:25. He will square off against Nick Franco of Brockport in the semifinals.

Wilkes also had three wrestlers reach the quarterfinals of the consolation rounds, still fighting for a chance at the NCAA Tournament.

125-pounder Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) started his day with a win over Alfred State's Ryan Farley 15-2, but fell to Lee Rubin of RIT in the next round by major decision 11-2. He rebounded strong with a 12-3 major decision over Justin Adams of Penn College in the first round of the consolation bracket and will face Centenary's Jack Thode tomorrow in the quarterfinals.

At 165 pounds, first year Caleb Lawrence (Larksville, PA/Wyoming Seminary) still stands a chance to make the NCAA Tournament in his first attempt. He opened the day with a win over Lycoming's Kaiden Wagner but was then pinned by Jack Pickersgill of Cortland. In the consolation bracket, he defeated New Jersey City's Fabian Acuna by technical fall at 3:00 (21-4) and pinned Oneonta's Mason Rappold to reach the quarterfinals where he will face Brockport's Vandavian Way.

Lastly, Christopher Nuss (Gore, VA/James Wood) reached the quarterfinals for Wilkes at 184 pounds. He opened the day with a win over Keystone's James Craig by technical fall (18-0) at 4:38 but fell in the next round to Ithaca's Xavier Pommells. He responded with his second tech fall of the day over St. John Fisher's Charlie Rossner (17-2) at 7:00 to reach the quarterfinal match. He will face Cortland's Robert Cunningham.

Action for day two of the regional kicks off tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.