OMAHA — Three is the magic number for the Cyclones’ wrestling team, as it approaches the final round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

The Cyclones remain in third place, with 67 points, and Andrew Long, Jake Varner and David Zabriskie have advanced to the final rounds of their respective weight classes.

Long catapulted himself into the finals with an upset over top-seeded Angel Escobedo, of Indiana. Escobedo drew first blood in the matchup with a takedown, but Long managed an escape and, eventually, a takedown to gain the advantage. Escobedo scored an early takedown in the third period to tie the score but surrendered a point for stalling shortly after. Another late takedown from Long sealed the 7–4 victory.

“I just tried to stick to our gameplan,” Long said. “I wasn’t really sure what he would feel like or how his style was going to be, compared to mine.”

Long will take on Iowa’s Matt McDonough for the 125-pound title, marking the third time the two will meet this season. Despite McDonough’s victory in the last two meetings, Long remains focused on why he came to Omaha.

“We always have close matches that a real entertaining so it’s going to be fun to go out there and know that I’ve wrestled him before and kind of know what to expect,” Long said.

Varner took down Cornell’s Cam Simaz in the semifinals with a 6–0 decision, marking the second time he defeated him this season.

Varner, now a four-time NCAA finalist, will meet his biggest nemesis in Nebraska’s Craig Brester in the finals. Varner holds a 2–0 advantage on Brester this season and defeated him for the NCAA title last season. Brester has one big win over Varner from the 2009 Big 12 Championship.

“It’s just another match, obviously it’s the national finals and we’ve wrestled each other a few times this year,” Varner said. “Whatever happens happens, but I’m not going to go down without a fight and I’m going to battle to win my second title.”

Zabriskie took down Konrad Dudziak of Duke, who he lost to in the semifinals last season, to grab his third All-American honor.

“It feels pretty good after being at this point in 2009, to be that far and fall,” Zabriskie said. “I really wanted that bad so I came out hard and came out swinging.”

After the two exchanged blows, Dudziak called a timeout to catch his breath. Specializing in late wins this season, Zabriskie saw his opening and walked away with a narrow 6–5 decision.

“The whole time my conditioning felt great and I don’t think his did,” Zabriskie said. “He took a two minute timeout to catch his breath so I think it could have been a lot different if he didn’t take that.”

Zabriskie will match up with his rival in Oklahoma State’s Jared Rosholt. The heavyweights split their two meetings this season with Rosholt winning in the regular season and Zabriskie coming up victorious in the Big 12 championship match. Zabriskie leads the all-time series 6–3.

“He’s a tough competitor,”  Zabriskie said. “We’ve seen each other quite a few times so it’s going to be a battle.”

Seniors Nick Fanthorpe and Mitch Mueller ended their career on a not-so-positive note, falling just short of All-American status. Fanthorpe was going for his second honor while Mueller was looking at his first. Junior Jon Reader also fell one win shy of All-American, losing to Bucknell’s Andre Rendos by a 7–2 decision.

Long, Varner and Zabriskie will be back on the mat in Omaha on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.