All three NIU wrestlers that went to the NCAA championships in St. Louis are alive for the second day.

NIU’s second-seeded 184-pound Ben Heizer had decisions over Rutgers’ Rudy Medini and Cornell’s Jerry Rinaldi. Heizer will face 10th-seeded Travis Frick of Lehigh in the quarterfinals today.

Sam Hiatt won his first match in the 133-pound weight class over Bloomsburg’s Bryan Hart. The 10th-seeded Hiatt then fell 3-2 to Cal-Poly’s Darrel Vasquez.

Hiatt’s match today will be against Joe Cristaldi from Drexel.

Josh Wooton lost to Ohio State’s 11th-seeded Jeff Ratliff by a 3-2 decision. Wooton then beat Adrian Austin of George Mason in the consolation bracket.

Wooton will face Arizona State’s Patrick Williams today.

“Ben wrestled real solid,” NIU coach Dave Grant said. “Sam had a close match with a top-ranked guy. Sam and Wooton need to wrestle really tough [today].”

Grant said Heizer needs to win one more match to be an All-American for the second year in a row. Wooton and Hiatt need to win three more matches to get the honor.