Junior Shane Onufer posted a 2-0 record on Thursday to pace the six Cowboy wrestlers representing the University of Wyoming at the 2011 NCAA Championships. On the first day UW posted a 6-6 overall mark with five wrestlers still alive to sit tied for 17th place with 15 points.

Onufer was seeded seventh at 165 pounds and opened with a fall over Turtogtokh Luvsandorj of the Citadel and claimed a 6-0 decision versus Rider's Jim Resnick in the second round to advance to Friday morning's quarterfinals.  He will face returning champion Andrew Howe of Wisconsin.

"Shane (Onufer) should be excited about the opportunity to wrestle Howe. Shane wrestled well today and needs to come out with some confidence tomorrow morning." -UW Head Coach Mark Branch

Fifth-seeded Joe LeBlanc won his first-round match against Purdue's AJ Kissel when he recorded a pin at the 6:41 mark.  He had fallen behind early, but rallied with a reversal in the second period before ending the match 19 seconds before the end of the third period. His pursuit of a third-consecutive All-America honor then hit a bump when he lost to 12th-seeded Grand Gambrall of Iowa, 8-3, in the second round.  The junior battled from behind the entire match and tied it at three with 1:05 left, but the Hawkeye was able to escape with 37 seconds to go and claimed a late takedown and backpoints.

Junior Michael Martinez (125), senior Cole Dallaserra (149) and redshirt freshman Patrick Martinez (174) all lost in the opening round during the morning session, but bounced back with a victory in the night session.

Wrestling in his first national tournament, Lee Helbig went 0-2 at 197 pounds.  He lost a 10-1 major decision to eighth-seeded Matt Powless of Indiana and a 14-4 major decision to Michigan's Anthony Biondo.

Action resumes Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. MT.

"Today could have been a lot better and it could have been a lot worse. We have five guys wrestling tomorrow so that's good, but I wish we had six." -UW Head Coach Mark Branch

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