Butler’s Santino Sloboda, Seneca Valley’s Connor Smith and Tyler Chappell advanced to the semifinal round as the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships got under way Friday at Canon McMillan High School.

Sloboda, 36-0 on the season at 107 pounds, won his two Friday matches easily. He pinned Bethel Park’s Jaden Palombine in 1:35 in the first round,. then scored a 16-0 technical fall over Waynesburg’s Floyd Huff in the quarterfinal round.

The Raiders’ Smith (28-6) pinned Nathan Caracciolo of Hempfield in 1:52 of their first-round match at 114 pounds. Smith advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 decision of Arontay Heningcamp of Gateway in the quarterfinals.

SV’s Chappell (29-5), wrestling at 127 pounds, pinned Aric Learn of Armstrong in 3:43 of their first-round match. Chappell then scored a 1-0 decision over T.J. Allison in the quarterfinals.

Butler had five other wrestlers — Kase Chopp at 139, Matt Zinkhann at 172, Mickey Kreinbucher at 189, Landon Christie at 215 and Ethan Babay at 285 — reach the quarterfinal round, but each was bumped into the consolations at that point. Seneca Valley’s Zach Hill won his first match at 133 to reach the quarterfinals, but lost by technical fall to Hempfield’s Ethan Lebin.

The Golden Tornado’s Levi Donnel, a No. 5 seed, dropped a 6-4 decision to Dominic Hartman of Penn-Trafford in the first round at 160 pounds, leaving him to work his way back through consolations.