TOPEKA, Kan. – Three Campbellsville Tiger wrestlers earned the right to call themselves an All-American Friday night at the NAIA Wrestling National Championships in the Kansas Expocentre.

Brandon Westerman and Shawn McGhee became the 11th and 12th Tigers to earn All-America status more than once in their career, while Treyvontay Rhodes, a redshirt freshman from Augusta, Ga., will be the 20th Tiger in 10 seasons to add his name to CU's All-American board in its wrestle room. In all, CU has had a wrestlers place in the Top 8 as an All-American 39 times.

The trio will return to action Saturday morning at 10 a.m. CST beginning with the national semifinals, followed by two more rounds of consolation before the third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches. The national championship matches will be Saturday at 6 p.m. CST.

Westerman, a senior from Powder Springs, Ga., is the only Tiger remaining on the path to a national championship. After going 2-0 during the morning session, he battled to a scoreless tie through most of his quarterfinal match against Lindsey Wilson College's Wismit Moinius. Entering the third period, Moinius chose to start on the bottom, and Westerman hung on for the duration of the two minutes. With 15 ticks left, he scored three near fall points to secure the upset win over No. 3 Moinius. The bout was a rematch of the 2013 third-place match, which Westerman won 2-0.

Westerman (16-5) will now battle the defending national champion Gustavo Martinez (24-5) of Grand View University for a chance to become the seventh Tiger to advance to a national final. The two have met only once in their careers, a 3-1 sudden victory win for Martinez at the 2013 National Duals.

"Brandon came in here as a wild card. He didn't even place in our region. He had a tough draw and knocked off Moinius, and now the rematch with the national champion who beat him in overtime last year," said CU head coach Franky James. "He's just a winner. He's been a winner his whole life. He's won four (Georgia) state titles. The kid just knows how to wrestle."

McGhee (20-6) scored a tech fall and a 12-7 decision in the evening session to repeat as an All-American in his sophomore season. Rhodes posted a major decision win and then avenged an NAIA East Region semifinal loss to Missouri Baptist's Cameron Ream with a sudden victory decision to earn his first All-American status. The freshman advanced to the extra period due to riding time and then used a quick takedown in 11 seconds to advance.

"Trey's win was big, because he's a freshman, and so he can be a four-time All-American now. Shawn also is still on track for that now with his second one," said James. "We've only had one of those (David Clemmens), and it's really hard to do in college."

As a team, Campbellsville sits in 10^th place after finishing the morning also in 10^th but climbing as high as fifth early in the evening. CU has 32 team points, and can easily climb as high as sixth, depending on how its matches go Saturday. Two-time defending champion Grand View University is running away with its third title with 113 points and holds a 62-point lead over Great Falls (51 points). Montana State Northern has 50 points, while Lindsey Wilson College and Southern Oregon are tied for fourth with 47.5 points. Indiana Tech (38) is sixth, followed by Cumberland University (37), Missouri Valley (36) and Morningside (35). LWC and Cumberland both have two wrestlers in the semifinals.

"The national tournament is a roller coaster every year. It's up and down," said James. "It's tough emotionally. You see guys losing who haven't lost all year. You just have to get focused and not think about what's going on and just wrestle. That's tough to do. We have a pretty young team, so it's a good experience for them, and all we can do is learn from it and come back."

Two Tigers finished their season one win away from being named an NAIA All-American. Redshirt freshman Cody Steiner (24-6) was unable to gain an advantage in a 10-5 loss to Embry-Riddle's Sean Silva at 125 pounds. Fifth-year senior and returning All-American Tyler Alsip (19-11) fell 4-0 due to an early takedown, riding time and a second period escape by Simpson's AJ Valles, who was ranked No. 1 in the NAIA for four straight polls entering regional competition.

Earlier in the evening, Andrew Ferguson (12-9), Sam Conners (7-6) and Kyle Terry (14-5) had their season cut short in the third round of consolation, each losing by decision.

Ferguson lost, 5-3, to Mitch Pawlak of Indiana Tech in a rematch of the NAIA East Region third-place fourth-place match. Ferguson pinned Pawlak to earn the automatic bid to nationals two weeks ago.

Conners dropped a 7-4 decision to Menlo's Jason Ladd, and Terry lost, 2-1, due to riding time against Jake Ekster of Missouri Valley, the same wrestler who eliminated him last season in sudden victory.

CU had a rough start to its 10^th NAIA national tournament, with nine of its 10 grapplers dropping their first match of the day during the morning session. Colby Rinehart (19-10) and Travis McIntosh (22-15) were eliminated after two matches, while Conners, Terry, Steiner and Rhodes all picked up their first-ever NAIA national tournament win during the second round of consolation.  (Click here to read the Session I recap.)

For complete coverage of Campbellsville University's trip to the NAIA National Championships, visit CU's National Championships Central page, here. Round-by-round results, daily recaps, daily diaries and photos will be added through the tournament. 
 
Also, fans can keep up with the action on Twitter @CvilleTigers for the officail Campbellsville University account, or follow Tiger Wrestling at @Wrestling_CU and the NAIA Championships account at @NAIAWrestling. Fans are also encouraged to use hashtag #10inTopeka during the week to celebrate Tiger Wrestling's 10th year as a varsity sports program at CU.