Lehigh qualifies eight wrestlers for NCAA Championships
3/10/2011 2:18:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior Brandon Hatchett joined seven Lehigh teammates in earning a spot in next week's NCAA Championships as the NCAA announced its at-large berths and unveiled the brackets for the 81st edition of the national tournament, March 17-19 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Junior Zach Rey and sophomore Robert Hamlin earned top-two seeds for Lehigh, which sends its most wrestlers to the NCAA Championships (eight) since sending nine men in 2006.
Rey was unaffected by his first loss of the season in Sunday's EIWA finals as he earned the No. 1 seed at 285. He enters the NCAA tournament at 29-1 and has been ranked No. 1 in the nation throughout the entire season and will meet Parker Burns of Campbell in the opening round on March 19.
Fresh off his EIWA Championship at 184, Hamlin earned the No. 2 seed and a first round match-up with Mike Larson of Missouri. Hamlin (28-2) and Larson have already met three times this season with Hamlin winning all three previous meetings.Freshman Austin Meys was the third and final Mountain Hawk to earn a top-12 seed as he earned the No. 11 spot at 174. Meys will face Curran Jacobs of Michigan State with the winner facing the winner of former teammate Alex Caruso of Rutgers and No. 6 seed Ben Bennett of Central Michigan in the round of 16.
Three of Lehigh's unseeded qualifiers drew seeded first round opponents. Freshman Frank Cagnina will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats as he drew both a pigtail bout and a seeded first round opponent in No. 6 Tony Ramos of Iowa. The winner of the pigtail matchup at 133 will face Jordan Keller of Oklahoma in the round of 32.
Fellow true freshman Stephen Dutton drew the highest seeded first round opponent as he will meet No. 5 seed and defending national runner-up Montell Marion of Iowa in the first round.
Sophomore Joey Napoli was paired up with No. 11 seed Andrew Nadhir of Northwestern at 149. The winner there will meet the winner of No. 6 seed Jason Chamberlain of Boise State and Dane Johnson of Pittsburgh.
Hatchett and junior Joe Kennedy both drew unseeded first round opponents. Hatchett dropped to No. 6 at 165 at the EIWA tournament with two forfeits on Sunday, but earned Lehigh's only at-large selection. He will face John-Martin Cannon of Buffalo in the first round and with a win would likely meet defending national champion Andrew Howe of Nebraska.Kennedy will face Tyler Dickinson of Michigan State in the round of 32 at 197 with No. 2 seed Clayton Foster a possible second round opponent should Kennedy win.
Action at the 81st NCAA Championships begins Thursday March 17 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and runs through Saturday March 19. All of Lehigh's NCAA Tournament action will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com, while a majority of the championships will also be covered by the ESPN family of networks.
|
Weight
|
Wrestler
|
Seed
|
First Round Opponent
|
|
133
|
-------
|
No. 6 Tony Ramos, Iowa (Pigtail)
|
|
|
141
|
-------
|
No. 5 Montell Marion, Iowa
|
|
|
149
|
-------
|
No. 11 Andrew Nadhir, Northwestern
|
|
|
165
|
-------
|
John-Martin Cannon, Buffalo
|
|
|
174
|
11
|
Curran Jacobs, Michigan State
|
|
|
184
|
2
|
Mike Larson, Missouri
|
|
|
197
|
------
|
Tyler Dickinson, Michigan State
|
|
|
285
|
1
|
Parker Burns, Campbell
|
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