2016 D1 NCAA Wrestling Championships Qualifiers, Seeds, & Brackets Announced

The qualification list is finalized.  The seeding is complete.  And the brackets are set.  Now begins the longest week of the year as we wait for March Matness to begin.  Action will kick off at noon eastern on Thursday, March 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY and once again ESPN will make every match of every round available on ESPN3 as well as broadcasting the early rounds on ESPNU and finals on ESPN.

Official Brackets

2016ncaachampionships.0.pdf

When are the sessions?

Session	Date	Time	Channel
1	Thursday, March 17th	12 p.m. EDT	ESPNU (some mats), ESPN3 (all mats)
2	Thursday, March 17th	7 p.m. EDT	ESPNU (some mats), ESPN3 (all mats)
3 (quarterfinals)	Friday, March 18th	11 a.m. EDT	ESPNU (some mats), ESPN3 (all mats)
4 (semifinals)	Friday, March 18th	8 p.m EDT	ESPNU (Semifinals), ESPN (all mats)
5	Saturday, March 19th	11 a.m. EDT	ESPNU (some mats), ESPN3 (all mats)
6 (finals)	Saturday, March 19th	11 a.m. EDT	ESPN

What does each session entail?

Session 1 (Thursday Afternoon)

33 wrestlers qualify at each weight and they are all alive through this session no matter what happens. This session has one pigtail match per bracket to bring the championship side down to 32 wrestlers and then a full set of 16 matches. There are usually a mix of close matches and horribly overmatched guys who are just happy to be there. Starting last year, the NCAA has seeded to 16 wrestlers instead of 12 as they had in the past. That cuts down on the number of upsets but there is still always a few surprises in the first round. 33 wrestlers enter, 33 wrestlers leave.

Session 2 (Thursday Night)

On the championship side of the bracket you start to have seeded guys compete against each other. More upsets happen in this session, but the top seeds are still generally facing guys they outmatch.  That means most of the upsets you see here will be of the 11 over 6, 8 over 9 type variety. On the consolation side you have one pigtail and eight elimination matches. 33 wrestlers enter, 24 wrestlers leave.

Session 3 (Friday Morning)

The championship quarterfinals. These tend to be great matches and this is where the most interesting upsets tend to happen as elite guys square off for the first time. Always lots of good action. On the consolation side you have two rounds.  In the first round the losers from the championship round on Thursday night take on the winners of the consolation round from Thursday night. This is where talented guys with unlucky draws start to go home. The next round is the winners of those matches going at it. By the time this is done there are always multiple seeded wrestlers hitting the buffet and unseeded guys making runs deep into the tournament. 24 wrestlers enter, 12 wrestlers leave.

Session 4 (Friday Night)

The "Round of 12". This, in my opinion, is the best round of the tournament. On the championship side a win places you in the finals. On the consolation side a win assures you a top 8 finish and All American status. If anything, the pressure in this round is greater than the pressure in the finals. Everybody left is an ultra talented (or ultra lucky) wrestler and nobody wants to get this far and go home empty handed. After the R12 the consolation bracket will have another round to determine who will stay alive for 3rd place and who will be going into the 7th place match. But honestly that only really matters for team points. Unless you make the finals just getting to the All American rounds is what matters. Ten years from now nobody is going to care or remember if you placed 4th or 7th. Just that you were an All American. 12 wrestlers enter, 8 All Americans leave.

Session 5 (Saturday Morning)

The consolation medal rounds. The losers from the championship semifinals the night before take on the winners of the consolation bracket with a spot in the 3rd place match on the line. Losers of these matches go into the 5th place match. Today is purely about pride and team points, the pressure is off. This can be fun to watch because some guys will really open up their game now that they don't have as much to lose while others will be devastated by not being in the finals and just stand there getting their ass kicked. Nobody is eliminated here, they just determine how high they are going to be standing on the podium. 6 wrestlers enter, 6 placewinners leave.

Session 6 (Saturday Night)

The finals.

Two finalists enter, One champion leaves.

Who qualified and what are the seeds at each weight?

125

(all wrestlers listed alphabetically)

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Lorenzo	Bentley	Pittsburgh	ACC
7	Darian	Cruz	Lehigh	EIWA
2	Joey	Dance	Virginia Tech	ACC
-	Sean	Fausz	North Carolina St.	ACC
-	Brent	Fleetwood	Central Mich.	MAC
-	Zachary	Fuentes	Drexel	EIWA
4	Thomas	Gilman	Iowa	Big Ten
-	Nick	Herrmann	Virginia	ACC
-	Brandon	Jeske	Old Dominion	MAC
-	Johnny	Jimenez	Wisconsin	Big Ten
6	Eddie	Klimara	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
13	Tim	Lambert	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	Shakur	Laney	Ohio	MAC
-	Kyle	Larson	Iowa St.	Big 12
-	Dalton	Macri	Cornell	EIWA
-	Sean	McCabe	Rutgers	Big Ten
8	Barlow	McGhee	Missouri	MAC
3	Nico	Megaludis	Penn St.	Big Ten
5	Ryan	Millhof	Oklahoma	Big 12
16	Elijah	Oliver	Indiana	Big Ten
9	Dylan	Peters	UNI	MAC
12	Paul	Petrov	Bucknell	EIWA
11	Ronnie	Rios	Oregon St.	Pac 12
14	Joshua	Rodriguez	North Dakota St.	Big 12
-	Alfredo	Rodriguez	SIUE	SoCon
-	Drew	Romero	Air Force	Big 12
-	Sean	Russell	Edinboro	EWL
10	Connor	Schram	Stanford	Pac 12
-	Drew	Templeman	Wyoming	Big 12
15	David	Terao	American	EIWA
-	Chasen	Tolbert	Utah Valley	Big 12
1	Nathan	Tomasello	Ohio St.	Big Ten
-	Conor	Youtsey	Michigan	Big Ten

133

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
15	Josh	Alber	UNI	MAC
14	Geoffrey	Alexander	Maryland	Big Ten
-	Mason	Beckman	Lehigh	EIWA
-	Dalton	Brady	Arizona St.	Pac 12
4	Cody	Brewer	Oklahoma	Big 12
-	Rosario	Bruno	Michigan	Big Ten
2	Cory	Clark	Iowa	Big Ten
5	Jordan	Conaway	Penn St.	Big Ten
-	Zachary	Davis	Navy	EIWA
-	Robert	Deutsch	Rider	EWL
6	George	DiCamillo	Virginia	ACC
10	Johnni	DiJulius	Ohio St.	Big Ten
-	Austin	Eicher	Northern Ill.	MAC
11	Dom	Forys	Pittsburgh	ACC
1	Nahshon	Garrett	Cornell	EIWA
16	Anthony	Giraldo	Rutgers	Big Ten
8	Earl	Hall	Iowa St.	Big 12
-	Gary Wayne	Harding	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Corey	Keener	Central Mich.	MAC
13	Cameron	Kelly	Ohio	MAC
-	Nathan	Kraisser	Campbell	SoCon
-	Bryan	Lantry	Buffalo	MAC
-	Dominick	Malone	Northwestern	Big Ten
-	Martin (Josh)	Martinez	Air Force	Big 12
9	Mack	McGuire	Kent St.	MAC
7	Eric	Montoya	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	Jamal	Morris	North Carolina St.	ACC
-	Joey	Palmer	Oregon St.	Pac 12
-	Jade	Rauser	Utah Valley	Big 12
3	Zane	Richards	Illinois	Big Ten
-	Caleb	Richardson	Pennsylvania	EIWA
-	Zach	Synon	Missouri	MAC
12	Bradley	Taylor	Wisconsin	Big Ten

141

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Anthony	Abidin	Nebraska	Big Ten
4	Anthony	Ashnault	Rutgers	Big Ten
13	Steve	Bleise	Northern Ill.	MAC
7	Solomon	Chishko	Virginia Tech	ACC
16	Randy	Cruz	Lehigh	EIWA
9	Rick	Durso	Franklin & Marshall	EIWA
-	Logan	Everett	Army West Point	EIWA
-	Zach	Finesilver	Duke	ACC
-	Javier	Gasca III	Michigan St.	Big Ten
-	Nicholas	Gil	Navy	EIWA
-	Seth	Gross	South Dakota St.	Big 12
-	James	Gulibon	Penn St.	Big Ten
1	Dean	Heil	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Zachary	Horan	Central Mich.	MAC
-	Jamel	Hudson	Hofstra	EIWA
3	Kevin	Jack	North Carolina St.	ACC
6	Micah	Jordan	Ohio St.	Big Ten
-	Jordan	Laster	Princeton	EIWA
-	Mike	Longo	Appalachian St.	SoCon
5	Matt	Manley	Missouri	MAC
-	Robert	Mathers	Arizona St.	Pac 12
2	Joey	McKenna	Stanford	Pac 12
12	Chris	Mecate	Old Dominion	MAC
14	Bryce	Meredith	Wyoming	Big 12
-	Ian	Nickell	CSU Bakersfield	Pac 12
-	Jameson	Oster	Northwestern	Big Ten
-	Mike	Pongracz	Chattanooga	SoCon
10	Todd	Preston	Harvard	EIWA
-	Danny	Sabatello	Purdue	Big Ten
-	Tyler	Smith	Bucknell	EIWA
11	Thomas	Thorn	Minnesota	Big Ten
8	Joseph	Ward	North Carolina	ACC
15	Brock	Zacherl	Clarion	EWL

149

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Nick	Barber	Eastern Mich.	MAC
4	Matthew	Cimato	Drexel	EIWA
-	Bryant	Clagon	Rider	EWL
11	Anthony	Collica	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Colt	Cotten	Buffalo	MAC
-	Joey	Delgado	Oregon St.	Pac 12
10	Mike	DePalma	Kent St.	MAC
-	Tyson	Dippery	Rutgers	Big Ten
-	John	Fahy	SIUE	SoCon
14	Mitch	Finesilver	Duke	ACC
-	Joseph	Galasso	Cornell	EIWA
-	Steven	Galiardo	Brown	EIWA
-	Laike	Gardner	Lehigh	EIWA
-	Alex	Griffin	Purdue	Big Ten
-	Coleman	Hammond	CSU Bakersfield	Pac 12
8	Evan	Henderson	North Carolina	ACC
-	Davion	Jeffries	Oklahoma	Big 12
-	Alex	Kocer	South Dakota St.	Big 12
13	Matthew	Kraus	Arizona St.	Pac 12
-	Victor	Lopez	Bucknell	EIWA
16	Patricio	Lugo	Edinboro	EWL
12	Geo	Martinez	Boise St.	Pac 12
3	Lavion	Mayes	Missouri	MAC
15	Daniel	Neff	Lock Haven	EWL
9	Justin	Oliver	Central Mich.	MAC
5	Alec	Pantaleo	Michigan	Big Ten
-	Clayton	Ream	North Dakota St.	Big 12
1	Zain	Retherford	Penn St.	Big Ten
-	Jake	Short	Minnesota	Big Ten
2	Brandon	Sorensen	Iowa	Big Ten
7	Jake	Sueflohn	Nebraska	Big Ten
6	Jason	Tsirtsis	Northwestern	Big Ten
	Christopher	Vassar	Gardner-Webb	SoCon

157

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Andrew	Atkinson	Virginia	ACC
-	LeRoy	Barnes	Missouri	MAC
-	Tyler	Berger	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	May	Bethea	Pennsylvania	EIWA
10	John	Boyle	American	EIWA
8	Nick	Brascetta	Virginia Tech	ACC
-	Chris	Castillo	Boise St.	Pac 12
-	Spartak	Chino	Ohio	MAC
13	Edwin	Cooper, Jr.	Iowa	Big Ten
-	Dylan	Cottrell	West Virginia	Big 12
-	Gregory	Flournoy	George Mason	EWL
2	Thomas	Gantt	North Carolina St.	ACC
-	Robert	Henderson	North Carolina	ACC
9	Richie	Lewis	Rutgers	Big Ten
1	Isaiah	Martinez	Illinois	Big Ten
14	Austin	Matthews	Edinboro	EWL
4	Ian	Miller	Kent St.	MAC
-	Andrew	Morse	Northern Ill.	MAC
12	Brian	Murphy	Michigan	Big Ten
3	Jason	Nolf	Penn St.	Big Ten
7	Cody	Pack	South Dakota St.	Big 12
5	Dylan	Palacio	Cornell	EIWA
-	Russell	Parsons	Army West Point	EIWA
-	Neal	Richards	Vmi	SoCon
-	Jake	Ryan	Ohio St.	Big Ten
16	Markus	Scheidel	Columbia	EIWA
-	Kamaal	Shakur	Chattanooga	SoCon
11	Luke	Smith	Central Mich.	MAC
6	Joseph	Smith	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Justin	Staudenmayer	Brown	EIWA
-	Bryce	Steiert	UNI	MAC
-	Aaron	Walker	The Citadel	SoCon
15	Chad	Walsh	Rider	EWL

165

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
12	Connor	Brennan	Rider	EWL
-	Tyler	Buckwalter	Kent St.	MAC
1	Alex	Dieringer	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Jake	Faust	Duke	ACC
-	Adam	Fierro	CSU Bakersfield	Pac 12
-	Casey	Fuller	Edinboro	EWL
15	Clark	Glass	Oklahoma	Big 12
16	Devon	Gobbo	Harvard	EIWA
3	Bo	Jordan	Ohio St.	Big Ten
2	Isaac	Jordan	Wisconsin	Big Ten
-	Dakota	Juarez	Eastern Mich.	MAC
4	Daniel	Lewis	Missouri	MAC
14	David	McFadden	Virginia Tech	ACC
-	Cooper	Moore	UNI	MAC
-	Geno	Morelli	Penn St.	Big Ten
7	Anthony	Perrotti	Rutgers	Big Ten
-	George	Pickett	Cornell	EIWA
-	Ryan	Preisch	Lehigh	EIWA
-	Forrest	Przybysz	Appalachian St.	SoCon
-	Austin	Reese	Ohio	MAC
-	Patrick	Rhoads	Iowa	Big Ten
6	Steven	Rodrigues	Illinois	Big Ten
5	Max	Rohskopf	North Carolina St.	ACC
11	John	Staudenmayer	North Carolina	ACC
-	Seth	Thomas	Oregon St.	Pac 12
-	Austin	Trott	Gardner-Webb	SoCon
9	Tanner	Weatherman	Iowa St.	Big 12
8	Chad	Welch	Purdue	Big Ten
-	Tyrel	White	Columbia	EIWA
-	Cody	Wiercioch	Pittsburgh	ACC
-	Mitchell	Wightman	American	EIWA
10	Austin	Wilson	Nebraska	Big Ten
13	Jim	Wilson	Stanford	Pac 12

174

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Phil	Bakuckas	Rutgers	Big Ten
16	Micah	Barnes	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	Rustin	Barrick	Bucknell	EIWA
-	Jadaen	Bernstein	Navy	EIWA
5	Zach	Brunson	Illinois	Big Ten
3	Blaise	Butler	Missouri	MAC
-	Te`Shan	Campbell	Pittsburgh	ACC
8	Zach	Epperly	Virginia Tech	ACC
6	Bryce	Hammond	CSU Bakersfield	Pac 12
15	Brian	Harvey	Army West Point	EIWA
12	Nathan	Jackson	Indiana	Big Ten
-	Josef	Johnson	Harvard	EIWA
14	Nick	Kee	Appalachian St.	SoCon
-	Casey	Kent	Pennsylvania	EIWA
-	David	Kocer	South Dakota St.	Big 12
-	Sean	Mappes	Chattanooga	SoCon
11	Myles	Martin	Ohio St.	Big Ten
-	Jack	McKeever	Binghamton	EIWA
13	Alex	Meyer	Iowa	Big Ten
1	Bo	Nickal	Penn St.	Big Ten
10	Michael	Ottinger	Central Mich.	MAC
-	Michael	Pavasko	Clarion	EWL
4	Ethan	Ramos	North Carolina	ACC
2	Brian	Realbuto	Cornell	EIWA
-	Matt	Reed	Oklahoma	Big 12
-	Richard	Robertson	Wisconsin	Big Ten
9	Chandler	Rogers	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	Jonathan	Schleifer	Princeton	EIWA
-	Keaton	Subjeck	Stanford	Pac 12
7	Cody	Walters	Ohio	MAC
-	Nicholas	Wanzek	Minnesota	Big Ten
-	Lelund	Weatherspoon	Iowa St.	Big 12
-	Gordon	Wolf	Lehigh	EIWA

184

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
4	Domenic	Abounader	Michigan	Big Ten
-	Joe	Ariola	Buffalo	MAC
3	Victor	Avery	Edinboro	EWL
8	Nolan	Boyd	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
2	Sammy	Brooks	Iowa	Big Ten
10	Nate	Brown	Lehigh	EIWA
-	Ryan	Christensen	Wisconsin	Big Ten
-	Kenny	Courts	Ohio St.	Big Ten
1	Gabriel	Dean	Cornell	EIWA
-	Jack	Dechow	Old Dominion	MAC
7	Timothy	Dudley	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	Jordan	Ellingwood	Central Mich.	MAC
15	Nicholas	Gravina	Rutgers	Big Ten
-	Corey	Griego	Oregon St.	Pac 12
-	Ville	Heino	Campbell	SoCon
-	Samson	Imonode	Army West Point	EIWA
-	Jeffrey	Koepke	Illinois	Big Ten
-	Garet	Krohn	Stanford	Pac 12
-	John	Lampe	Chattanooga	SoCon
16	Matt	McCutcheon	Penn St.	Big Ten
14	Willie	Miklus	Missouri	MAC
9	Mathew	Miller	Navy	EIWA
-	Dane	Pestano	Iowa St.	Big 12
13	Pete	Renda	North Carolina St.	ACC
-	Andrew	Romanchik	Ohio	MAC
-	Jakob `Bubba`	Scheffel	West Virginia	Big 12
-	Steven	Schneider	Binghamton	EIWA
-	Tom	Sleigh	Bucknell	EIWA
6	Blake	Stauffer	Arizona St.	Pac 12
11	Lorenzo	Thomas	Pennsylvania	EIWA
-	Alex	Utley	North Carolina	ACC
5	Zachary	Zavatsky	Virginia Tech	ACC
12	Hayden	Zillmer	North Dakota St.	Big 12

197

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Anthony	Abro	Eastern Mich.	MAC
-	Bryce	Barnes	Army West Point	EIWA
-	John	Bolich	Lehigh	EIWA
-	Nick	Bonaccorsi	Pittsburgh	ACC
-	Scottie	Boykin	Chattanooga	SoCon
12	Michael	Boykin	North Carolina St.	ACC
4	Nathan	Burak	Iowa	Big Ten
16	Kyle	Conel	Kent St.	MAC
2	J`Den	Cox	Missouri	MAC
-	Joshua	Dasilveira	Arizona St.	Pac 12
-	Patrick	Downey	Iowa St.	Big 12
9	Reuben	Franklin	CSU Bakersfield	Pac 12
7	Brett	Harner	Princeton	EIWA
5	Conner	Hartmann	Duke	ACC
6	Jared	Haught	Virginia Tech	ACC
-	Hayden	Hrymack	Rutgers	Big Ten
10	Maxwell	Huntley	Michigan	Big Ten
1	Morgan	McIntosh	Penn St.	Big Ten
-	Chip	Ness	North Carolina	ACC
-	Trent	Noon	Northern Colo.	Big 12
14	Zachary	Nye	Virginia	ACC
3	Brett	Pfarr	Minnesota	Big Ten
15	Nate	Rotert	South Dakota St.	Big 12
-	Owen	Scott	Cornell	EIWA
-	Shawn	Scott	Northern Ill.	MAC
13	Jacob A.	Smith	West Virginia	Big 12
-	Phil	Sprenkle	Lock Haven	EWL
8	Aaron	Studebaker	Nebraska	Big Ten
-	Preston	Weigel	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
11	Phil	Wellington	Ohio	MAC
-	Sam	Wheeler	Cleveland St.	EWL
-	Ryan	Wolfe	Rider	EWL
-	Michael	Woulfe	Navy	EIWA

HWT

Seed	First Name	Last Name	Team	Conference
-	Brooks	Black	Illinois	Big Ten
16	Nathan	Butler	Stanford	Pac 12
14	Blaize	Cabell	UNI	MAC
5	Adam	Coon	Michigan	Big Ten
-	Boyce	Cornwell	Gardner-Webb	SoCon
-	Mauro	Correnti	Rider	EWL
6	Denzel	Dejournette	Appalachian St.	SoCon
7	Amarveer	Dhesi	Oregon St.	Pac 12
-	Patrick	Gillen	Virginia	ACC
-	Joseph	Goodhart	Drexel	EIWA
1	Nick	Gwiazdowski	North Carolina St.	ACC
-	Tanner	Hall	Arizona St.	Pac 12
15	Tanner	Harms	Wyoming	Big 12
-	Mike	Hughes	Hofstra	EIWA
-	Gage	Hutchison	Eastern Mich.	MAC
-	Collin	Jensen	Nebraska	Big Ten
13	Jared	Johnson	Chattanooga	SoCon
9	Michael	Kroells	Minnesota	Big Ten
-	Ross	Larson	Oklahoma	Big 12
4	Austin	Marsden	Oklahoma St.	Big 12
-	William	Miller	Edinboro	EWL
-	Ray	O`Donnell	Princeton	EIWA
-	Antonio	Pelusi	Franklin & Marshall	EIWA
-	Garrett	Ryan	Columbia	EIWA
-	Riley	Shaw	Cleveland St.	EWL
12	Billy	Smith	Rutgers	Big Ten
2	Kyle	Snyder	Ohio St.	Big Ten
-	Ryan	Solomon	Pittsburgh	ACC
10	Joe	Stolfi	Bucknell	EIWA
11	Sam	Stoll	Iowa	Big Ten
-	Jeramy	Sweany	Cornell	EIWA
3	Ty	Walz	Virginia Tech	ACC
8	Max	Wessell	Lehigh	EIWA

What's next?

We'll have a preview for the first day of competition up on Wednesday of next week.