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Bryce Steiert earned the fifth seed in the bracket, Michael Blockhus and Max Thomsen were both named the No. 13 seed, Carter Isley the 14th seed, Jay Schwarm the No. 17 seed and Jack Skudlarczyk the 25 seed.
Thomsen earned one of just four at-large bids at 149 after he went down with an injury at the Big 12 Championship and failed to finish in the top five, the allocation threshold for the league. He opens the tournament against Virginia Tech’s Bruce Andonian. Andonian is a true freshman with an 18-6 record and the No. 20 overall seed.
At 125, Schwarm earned a place in the field with a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship. He has a 21-10 record on the season and has 16 pins falls, the most of any wrestler in NCAA DI. He will wrestle Rutgers’ Nic Aguilar in the opening round. Aguilar is 24-11 on the season.
At 133, Skudlarczyk finished fifth at the Big 12 Championship to earn his trip to Minneapolis. He picked up wins over Iowa State’s Todd Small and major decisions against West Virginia’s Lucas Seibert and Fresno State’s Lawrence Saenz en route to the fifth-place finish. He wrestles Wyoming’s Montorie Bridges in the first round. He fell to Bridges 7-4 in a hard-fought bout in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.
At 141, Blockhus picked up a pair of wins to start his Big 12 tournament and closed with a 6-5 win over South Dakota State’s Clay Carlson in the fifth-place bout to earn his automatic bid. He is 22-10 on the year. He faces Lock Haven’s Kyle Shoop in the opening round of the tournament. Shoop is 22-7 on the year.
At 174, Steiert grabbed two pins and a major decision, including the only fall in the Big 12 Championship round to dominate his weight class and bring home his first Big 12 title. He scored 24 team points, the most in the tournament. He is 27-3 on the season and 13-1 since Jan. 1. His three losses on the season were all against top-11 opponents and by a combined total of four points, including a sudden victory loss. He is the fifth seed in the field and meets Drexel’s Michael O’Malley in the first round. O’Malley is 20-9 on the year.
At 184, Lujan hasn’t lost a bout since the Cliff Keen invite in early December. He has a 19-bout win streak going, including a 10-6 win over Zach Carlson in the Big 12 Championship bout. He is one of just two seniors currently in the Flo Wrestling top-10, the other being Campbell’s Andrew Morgan who he defeated by Major Decision at the Midlands. As the top seed, he will face the winner of Josh Loomer (CSUB) and Antonio Agee (ODU).
At 285, Isley finished fourth at the Big 12 Championship and opens the Championship against Ohio State’s Gary Traub. Traub is 23-9 on the season and finished sixth at the Big 12 Championship.
The championship is scheduled March 19-21 at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The NCAA announced Wednesday that all post-season competitions going forward would be competed with only essential staff and families of participants in attendance because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Information for live coverage will be included in all pre-meet information ahead of the championship.
