Information courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

SIUE: Bracket for NCAA Wrestling Championships Announced
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – All three of SIUE's entrants for next week's NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships know who their first-round opponent will be.

Marcel Lopez, Caleb Tyus and Brock Woodcock will compete at Rocket Arena in Cleveland starting next Thursday.

Lopez, the No. 27 seed at 133 pounds, wrestles No. 6 seed Drake Ayala of Iowa in the first round. Tyus, the No. 6 seed at 149 pounds, faces No. 27 seed Andre Gonzales of Cal Poly. Woodcock, the No. 21 seed at 165 pounds, meets No. 12 seed Cesar Alvan of Columbia.


George Mason's Kaden Cassidy Gets At-Large Bid to NCAA Championships 
FAIRFAX— George Mason wrestler Kaden Cassidy was among the 42 at-large selections for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships in Cleveland announced by the NCAA today.

Cassidy earned the bid after a tremendous season on the mat. The grad student finished with a 16-3 and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the MAC at 149 pounds. Nationally ranked all season, #22 Kaden Cassidy (16-1) qualified for the NCAA Championship last season after a third place finish in the conference championship.

The Bedford, Pa. native defaulted both matches at the MAC Championships because he wasn't medically cleared in time.

With the addition of Cassidy, the Patriots will send four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, the most since the 2000-01 season when seven qualified. Logan Messer won the MAC Championship, Malachi DuVall was runner-up at 184, and DJ McGee (157) finished in third.

Coach Beasley has coached 18 NCAA Qualifiers since becoming head coach of the Patriots in 2017-18. This year marks the fifth time during Beasley's nine seasons the Green and Gold have at least three qualifiers.

The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, ratings percentage index, coaches ranking and conference tournament finish.


Central Michigan NCAA Seeds: Shrader No. 25, Austin No. 33
CLEVELAND – Central Michigan's Andrew Austin is seeded 32^nd and Mason Shrader is 25^th for the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena.

The 330-wrestler tournament, the pinnacle of the college wrestling season, begins on Thursday, March 19 and concludes on Saturday, March 21.

Austin, a junior wrestling at 133 pounds, will wrestle 33^rd-seeded Carter Schmidt of Oklahoma at noon on Thursday. Austin, a first-time NCAA qualifier, is 20-13; Schmidt, a sophomore, is 7-14 and is also a first-time qualifier.

Austin earned his spot in the NCAA with a fourth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships, while Schmidt punched his ticket to Cleveland with a seventh-place finish in the Big 12 Championships.

The winner advances to take on the No. 1 seed, Jax Forrest (13-0) of Oklahoma State.

Shrader (24-10), a senior, will take on No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State (18-2) in a bout that will begin at approximately 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Shrader, who finished 0-2 last season wrestling at 149 at the NCAA Championships, earned an at-large bid to the tournament, while Cannon gained a spot as an automatic qualifier by placing fourth in the Big Ten Tournament.

Cannon, a sophomore, went 3-2 in the NCAA Championships last season.

The Shrader-Cannon winner will take on Stanford's Daniel Cardenas (17-3), the ninth seed, or Jaivon Jones of Little Rock (19-9), the No. 24 seed.


Lock Haven: Brackets, Seeds Released for the 2026 NCAA DI Men's Wrestling Championships 
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Tonight (Wednesday, March 11), the NCAA released the pre-tournament seeds and brackets for the upcoming 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship, and six Bald Eagles will make the trip to Cleveland.
 
The 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship is set for March 19-21 (Thurs. – Sat.) at the Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
 
Gable Strickland (133), Wyatt Henson (141), Lucas Kapusta (149) and Avery Bassett (174) are all set to compete for Lock Haven. Nick Stampoulos (157) and Sam Gautreau (184) also earned spots as first alternatives.
 
Last weekend, The Haven battled to second place, edged out 102-100 to Rider, at the 2026 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship in Buffalo, New York, marking their fourth finish in the top-2 in five years.
  
Lock Haven – First Round Bouts:
133: #31 Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) vs. #2 Ben Davino (Ohio State)
141: #13 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) vs. #20 Julian Tagg (South Dakota State)
149: #17 Lucas Kapusta (Lock Haven) vs. #16 Jacob Frost (Iowa State)
174: #29 Avery Bassett (Lock Haven) vs. #4 Carson Kharchia (Ohio State)