BOSSIER CITY, La. - Tarleton State, an upstart program competing in its first season with the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, leads the men’s division with 73.5 points, just ahead of long-time stalwart The Apprentice School (Va.) after the first day of the NCWA Championships at Brookshire Grocery Arena.

The Texans, a non-scholarship Division II program from Stephenville, Texas, have 21 wrestlers still alive in the brackets evenly split between the championship (10) and consolation (11) brackets. Thursday’s opening rounds advanced wrestlers into the championship quarterfinals, where Tarleton’s 10 quarterfinalists trail only Apprentice (11) in quantity. Apprentice, one point back at 72.5, has 18 total wrestlers still in the over all field.

The top two teams have an early shot at hampering the other in Friday’s early roundes that start at 9 a.m. (CT). Tarleton State and Apprentice wrestlers won’t face each other in any of the semifinals but are on the same side of the bracket in the 141-, 149- and 165-pound brackets. The Texans have two wrestlers in the 165 and 184 divisions, with Apprentice owning two in the 174 bracket. The NCWA allows each team to qualify up to two wrestlers at each weight class for nationals via their conference tournaments.

There are 89 men’s teams and 52 women’s teams competing at this year’s NCWA Championships. Menlo College (Calif.), a transitioning program wrestling it's postseason with the NCWA while it awaits its future entrance into NCAA Division II, sits in third with 65 points with all 10 of its wrestlers still active, nine of them in the quarterfinals. Liberty also has nine quarterfinalists and has 15 still alive as it sits in fourth place with 55 points. Thomas More (Ky.), another transition program, moving from NAIA to NCAA DII is fifth with 54 followed by Life Univ. (Ga.) with 51.5 and Central Florida with 49.

On the women’s side, Washington State has a narrow half-point lead over the Tarleton State women’s team, 35.5-35. Washington State is one of three teams to have 10 wrestlers into the quarterfinals along with third-place Ottawa (Ariz.) (32 points) and fourth-place Utah Tech (28). The Cougars have 16 total wrestlers still alive, which ties with Ottawa and is five short of Utah Tech’s tourney-leading 21. Tarleton State is just behind with its nine semifinalists and 11 total wrestlers still advancing. UCF and UNLV share fifth place with 18 points followed by Apprentice’s women’s team in seventh at 14.5.

In other tournament news, the NCWA announced today the number of registered student-athletes in this association this year topped 2,100 for the first time. As of the conference championship tournaments earlier this month, 2,185 wrestlers were registered for competition.

This is the second season for Brookshire Grocery Arena to host the NCWA Championships. Wrestling continues Friday with consolations and the quarterfinals at 9 a.m., with two sessions later in the day for the Blood Rounds at 5 p.m. to determine the All-America placers and then the semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday’s championship finals begin at 2 p.m.

Full coverage and tournament brackets can be found on FLOwrestling.com.