INDIANOLA – Cornell's Olivia Cotton and Tori Maxey won consolation matches to stay in contention for NCAA berths during Friday's opening session of the Region V Women's Wrestling Championships at Cowles Fieldhouse.
 
Cotton at 160 pounds and Maxey at 180 both advanced to Saturday's Session II, which gets underway at 11 a.m. Both are one win away from securing top-six finishes at their respective weight classes.
 
The top three finishers in each bracket qualify for the NCAA Championships March 6-7.
 
The fifth-seeded Cotton (28-11) lost her first-round match by fall to Augsburg's Alaina Franco. The Cornell senior bounced back in a big way on the consolation side with a 12-1 technical fall over No. 6 seed Amerrah Kayon of UW-Stevens Point.
 
Cotton faces No. 7 seed Lillian Baynes of Quincy Saturday morning.
 
The eighth-seeded Maxey (12-9) turned in a solid 2-1 day in her regional debut. The freshman scored an 8-2 decision over Upper Iowa's Mya Mendoza in the opening round, and then was pinned by Iowa's top-ranked Kylie Welker in the quarterfinals.
 
Maxey stayed alive with a quick fall in 55 seconds over Central's Laura Totty. Maxey meets No. 4 seed Jenna Joseph of Simpson in Saturday's consolation round.
 
Senior 117-pounder Cheyenne Mulford went 0-2 in her final collegiate competition. She dropped a 10-0 technical fall in the first round to Wartburg's No. 3 seed Gable Hemann, followed by a 10-0 consolation loss to Simpson's No. 4 seed Layla Phillips.
 
Mulford finished a successful season at 18-18.   
 
Sophomore Averi Burke (6-16) dropped both of her matches to seeded wrestlers at 138. She fell 13-2 in the first round to Buena Vista's No. 6 seed Savannah Freifeld, and then was eliminated with a 10-0 setback to UW-Stevens Point's No. 5 seed Cadie Percy.
 
The Rams are tied for 12th place in the team standings with 8.5 points. Top-ranked Iowa is first with 85 points, followed by Wartburg with 73.