MECHANICSBURG (Pa.) -- Senior 133-pounder Kordell Rush and sophomore heavyweight Youssef Ait-Boulahri led the Delaware Valley University men's wrestling team during the first day of the NCAA Southeast Regional tournament as they each went 2-0 to advance to tomorrow's semifinal round with a chance to advance to the National Championships. 

Rush came into the tournament as the number two seed at 133 pounds and he handled his competition with ease and two first period pins. He faced Steve Pabon of McDaniel in the first match and nearly secured the win in under two minutes as he earned four near fall points before finishing the win by fall a minute later. In his next match against Aaron Freidhof of Southern Virginia University and needed just 17 seconds to score a takedown, and 41 seconds to earn the pin. Those two wins earned him a spot in tomorrow's semifinal round against Josiah Gehr of Messiah who is 30-9 this year and was a national qualifier a year ago. He finished one spot behind Rush (4th) at this year's Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships. Rush upped his record to 31-2 overall this season with 10 falls. 

Ait-Boulahri came into the day as the number six seed in the heavyweight bracket and earned a spot in the semifinals by way of a 6-0 decision and a disqualification. He handled freshman Paul Pelham of Gettysburg with a takedown just 22 seconds in and held Pelham at bay before tacking on three more points in the third plus riding time. In his second match, he dominated freshman Trent Ragland of Averett and went up 4-0 before Ragland's frustration boiled over and resulted in a disqualification. Ait-Boulahri will open the day tomorrow against the MAC heavyweight champion from Alvernia, sophomore Palmer Rodenhaber, who is 33-1 this year with 21 pins.

Both Rush and Ait-Boulahri can afford to lose their first match tomorrow and still have a chance to qualify for nationals by way of a third place overall finish. They would have to win two matches in the consolation bracket to earn the third and final ticket to Iowa. 

Sophomore Evan Widing won his first two matches before dropping two-in-a-row to end his season. He won his preliminary round match with a 12-1 major decision, and then used an astounding third period comeback to get by Robert Lawlor of Alvernia, 6-5. Widing trailed 4-1 going into the third, but scored two takedowns in the final minute to pull ahead for the victory. However, his next match was against the top seed and returning national runner-up Brett Kaliner of Stevens Tech. The junior overmatched the Aggies' freshman and ran away with a 20-8 major decision. Widing's day came to an end by way of fall at the five minute mark of his match against Alex Winant of Washington & Lee. 

DelVal currently sits in 14th place out of 20 teams with 30 team points and Ait-Boulahri and Rush still alive and vying for a spot at the National Championships. The U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa will be the host of this year's Division III tournament and the top-3 wrestlers from each weight class across the eight regions in the country qualify.