Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Boone McDermott of Iowa Central wrestles against Ellsworth earlier this season.

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Three Iowa Central wrestlers remain alive in medal contention after the opening day of the NJCAA Championships here Friday.

Two of those, 165-pounder Ashton Eyler and heavyweight Boone McDermott, are into the semifinals of their respective weight classes.

The Tritons are ninth overall in the team standings as Clackamas leads with 84.5 points. Clackamas, the defending national champions, have five alive on the semis and two more on the consolation side.

Rochester is second followed by Iowa Western, Western Wyoming and Northeast Oklahoma. Three ICCAC schools are in the Top-10 of the team standings and have a combined nine in the semis.

McDermott, ranked No. 1 at 285 pounds, will face Northland’s Andre Baguma on Saturday inside the Mid-America Center, while Eyler takes on Isaiah Crosby of Iowa Western.

Ja’Quez Bostic remains in contention at 197 pounds, reaching the consolation semifinals.

A redshirt freshman, McDermott picked up three falls on the day, starting with a 41-second pin vs. Mateo Pena of Labaette. The former state champion from Dubuque Wahlert followed by finishing off Cowley’s Tyler Shannon in 62 seconds.

McDermott earned his quickest fall in the quarterfinals, pinning Ancilla’s Garrett Clark in just 18 seconds.

“The day went awesome,” McDermott said. “I had a ton of fun and am super excited for (Saturday). It feels great knowing that all the hard work is paying off, but I’m here for the title and nothing less.”

Eyler was also dominant, picking up a fall vs. Caleb Werner from Umpqua in 1:33 in the first round. He followed by scoring a technical fall over Christian Robinson from Niagara, 17-0, before besting Chinges Tsermaa from Northwest Kansas Tech in the quarters, 4-1.

“(Friday) went as planned,” said Eyler, who came in as the No. 11 seed. “I don’t really feel rewarded yet. Not that I’m looking past anyone, but everyone knows I can make the finals.

“I’m excited to show everyone I know how to actually get the job done in the finals.”

Bostic bounced back from a first round 3-2 decision loss to Tucker Tomlinson of Western Wyoming, winning four consecutive times. He started off with a 4-2 decision over Bryce Westmoreland of Pratt, followed with a 6-1 decision vs. Kevin Murray from Cloud and a 7-3 decision over Sean Kelly of Triton.

“It felt great to finally wrestle that last match,” Bostic said. “I came into the tournament with the mindset that I was going to be a national champion, and when you lose in the first round, it’s tough and can get discouraging.

“But after I talked to my teammates and coaches, I realized I came too far to just stop now. It’s what we train for is to be resilient and stay strong when it gets tough. My motto is ‘I didn’t come this far to come this far.'”

To conclude the day, Bostic earned a 3-1 decision over Micah Tynanes from North Idaho to reach the medal stand.

Daniel Vargas and Maddie Roney each won their first two matches to reach the quarterfinals, but both were unable to remain alive, losing twice in a row. Andrew Gamble finished 3-2 and was eliminated, with Nolan Miller-Johnston going 2-2 and Bret Minor 1-2 for the Tritons.