Four area wrestlers advanced into the championship semifinals of their respective weight classes at the State Wrestling Meet Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Austin's T.J. Parlin continued his quest to win a state title with a pair of decisions in the first two rounds of the 130-pound Class AAA bracket. Parlin, rated No. 1, wrestled this morning in the semifinals against No. 3 Ryan Pottebaum of Apple Valley.

Austin's other two state qualifiers, Marcus Ball and Matt Day, went 0-1 and were eliminated from the 160 and 275-pound brackets respectively. Both are sophomores.

Hayfield's defending 125-pound Class A champion Shane Masching made short work of a pair of opponents to reach the quarterfinals. Masching racked up a major decision and a minor decision and will face WEM's Jayme Hiller in today's semifinals.

Blooming Prairie sophomore 215-pounder Jay Salinas reached the semifinals with two decisions. The third-ranked Blossoms wrestler meets defending champion Casey Finck of Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale in today's semifinal.

Blooming Prairie had two wrestlers eliminated after opening-round losses. Grant Johnson, a senior, and Luke Nelson, a junior, both went 0-1.

Adam Landherr of Southland suffered a surprising first-round loss at 160 pounds. Zach Stratton (112) and Lucas Smith (152) survived the first day, while senior Pete Churchill was eliminated.

GMLOK's Adam Schlee, ranked fourth in Class AA, won twice to reach the 112-pound semifinals. He wrestles fifth-ranked Shane Walton of Pequot Lakes today.

Taylor Bunne was eliminated from the 125-pound bracket with a first-round loss. Joe Bunne also suffered defeat in the first round, but the results of the 152-pound bracket quarterfinals were not reported.