The NCAA Championships are set for March 17-19, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament will air on the ESPN family of networks.
A two-time NCAA qualifier, Matt Kraus (28-6) earned the first seeded position for the Sun Devils at No. 13, and will open against Buffalo’s Colt Cotton (12-9) at 149 pounds. The winner will face off against the No. 4 seed, Matthew Cimato of Drexel (34-5) or John Fahy of SIUE (19-9). This season, Kraus has wrestled both potential second-round opponents, falling in a close, 3-2, decision to Cimato and majoring Fahy, 13-2.
A four-time NCAA qualifier and 2015 All-American, No. 6-seeded Blake Stauffer will open against Ohio State’s Kenny Courts (17-10). The two last met at the 2015 NCAA Championships, with Stauffer earning a 6-2 decision in his final wrestle-back before the Third/Tourth Place bout. The winner will face either the No. 11 seed, Lorenzo Thomas of Penn (30-6) or Bubba Scheffel of West Virginia (21-14). Stauffer posted wins over Scheffel twice this season.
At 133 pounds, Dalton Brady (16-2) will open against the No. 6 seed, George Camillo (27-3). The winner will face the winner between No. 11 Dom Forys (25-3) of Pittsburgh and Dominick Malone (22-10) from Northwestern.
At 141 pounds, Robbie Mathers (22-11) will open against the No. 14 seed, Bryce Meredith (25-4) of Wyoming. The winner will face off against the winner between the No. 3 seed, Kevin Jack of NC State (23-3) and Danny Sabatello of Purdue (19-15).
At 197, Josh DaSilveira (21-9) will open against the No. 7 seed, Princeton’s Brett Harner (33-3). The winner will face either the No. 10 seed, Maxwell Huntley of Michigan (21-5) or Bryce Barnes of Army (21-9).
At heavyweight, Tanner Hall (23-10) will open up with a rematch against Virginia Tech’s Ty Walz (23-2), the No. 3 seed. The two last met at the Virginia Duals in January, with Hall falling in a close, 6-5 decision. The winner will face off against the No. 14 seed, UNI’s Blaize Cabell (22-6) or Joseph Goodhart of Drexel (24-12). Earlier this season, Hall earned a 4-1 decision over Cabell in the quarterfinals of the Las Vegas Invite. Hall also earned a 7-2 decision over Goodhart as part of the Mountaineer Duals this past November.