Central City leads the way with 60 points, followed by the Vikings with 42.5. Adams Central is third (42 points), O'Neill is fourth (42) and Aurora fifth (38.5).

Leading the way for Northwest was 285-pounder Hadley Cooksley, who picked up one victory to reach the semifinals and tie the school record for career wins.

Nick Helmer (103), Calvin Fye (130), Ben Paige (145), Jeff Mills (160) and Dana Haines (189) also advanced to the semifinals for the Vikings, who have 10 wrestlers still alive for a state tournament berth.

"The kids came out and wrestled very aggressively and very tough," GINW coach Brian Sybrands said. "We told them that it's the district meet and it's going to be tough, but we still wanted to treat it like any other match and not put too much pressure on ourselves. I think they did a good job of that and approaching it that way."

Wrestling action resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday.

ST. PAUL The Grand Island Central Catholic wrestling team scored 50 points and was in fourth place following Friday's first-day action in the Class C, District 3 meet.

Individual results were not made available.

Wilber-Clatonia finished day one with a slim 57-55.5 lead over Wood River. St. Paul stands third with 52 points.

Second-day action is schedled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul High School.

DeWITT Heartland Lutheran's Matt Ellis advanced to the semifinals Friday during first-day action in the Class D, District 1 meet at Tri County High School.

Two other Red Hornet wrestlers remain in contention for a top-four finish and a state tournament bid. Jacob Schwan (125) and Kyle Dibbern (215) are both in the consolation quarterfinal round.

Heartland Lutheran is 15th in the team standings with 14 points. East Butler leads with 78, followed by Tri County (59), High Plains Community (47.5) and Nebraska Christian (47).

The tournament is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

BEATRICE Mike Fox poured in 31 points in leading Class B No. 2-rated (Omaha World-Herald) Beatrice to a 69-58 win over Grand Island Northwest.

The Vikings got big offensive efforts from Jory Pflasterer and Ryan Kieselhorst. Pflasterer led Northwest with 21 points, while Kieselhorst accounted for 18.

The Orangemen (13-3) jumped out to a 19-12 first quarter lead. The Vikings played the No. 2 team close the rest of the way but was unable to dent the lead.

LINCOLN Stacia Robertson led Grand Island Senior High with 12 points, while Alex Miller added 10 points as the Islanders rolled past Lincoln North Start 56-25.

The Islanders (11-9) won with great defense while outscoring North Star 30-8 in the second half.