CORALVILLE, Iowa— With two first-year wrestlers earning All-America status, Eastern University Women's Wrestling continued to make history in the program's first season of competition. Savannah Witt and Zoey Haines both battled into the evening and earned wins to keep alive into the placement rounds.

Zoey Haines had a tough start to the day with a loss in her opening round. That defeat pushed her into the consolation bracket and pitted her against a familiar opponent in Aniyah Kelly. When the two met in January, the junior from Wartburg earned a win with a late pin.

Today's match seemed to be going the same way. Kelly scored an early four-point move and had Haines in trouble for most of the first round. She endured pressure for nearly two and half minutes but kept her shoulders off the mat until the end of the period. After the reprieve, Haines went on the attack and earned a pin 78 seconds into the second round.

In the consolation bracket, Haines had to face elimination twice more to earn a spot in the placement round. She handled business with two more pins. Neither fall took more than a minute. Tomorrow morning, she will wrestle seven-seed Liv Weber from Simon Fraser to stay alive in pursuit of third.

Witt, who came in as a six seed, won by fall in 34 seconds in her opening match.  She lost by fall in the second round to third-seed Xochitl Mota-Pettis from Quincy College. The loss was her first to a collegiate wrestler this year.

In her 'blood round' match, Witt found herself against a wrestler from the University of Iowa. With the Hawkeyes in contention for a team title, the match had double-significance for her opponent. Witt trailed 1-0 after one round. Though she evened things up early in the second, the match was still very much in question until late. When Witt made a four-point move and a push-out at the border, the Iowa coaches challenged the call. The call stood and Witt held her 7-1 lead to the finish. It is just the second time Witt (30-2) has won by decision this year.

The Championship is the first official NCAA Championship for the sport.

Three other Eagles also competed. With a technical fall win in her first consolation round match, Josey Wehr made it to the evening session. She finished her year at 25-13 overall.

Fellow junior Jesenia Camargo dropped her two matches to finish her season at 29-9 and senior Olivia Kinder fell in two matches to finish 31-12.

Witt and Haines will battle for places tomorrow. The Eagles are currently in 14th place overall. McKendree and Iowa are the two teams at the top of the table. McKendree has wrestlers alive in ten weight classes and Iowa has wrestlers in nine.