IOWA CITY – Four University of Iowa wrestlers were awarded the top seed at their respective weight class when the NCAA released its tournament brackets Wednesday for the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 18-20.
Spencer Lee, Jaydin Eierman, Alex Marinelli and Michael Kemerer are the top seeds at 125, 141, 165 and 174 pounds. All four wrestlers won their respective brackets at the 2020 Big Ten Championships on March 7.
Lee is a two-time NCAA champion at 125 pounds. He won national titles in 2018 and 2019 as the No. 3 seed. He was the top seed at 125 in 2020 before the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eierman, Marinelli and Kemerer are all three-time All-Americans. Eierman was an All-American at Missouri in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Marinelli is the top seed at 165 for the third time. He enters the tournament 5-0 overall. Kemerer is 7-0 and the top seed for the first time in his career.
The Hawkeyes’ four top seeds have a combined record of 27-0 with 11 falls.
Iowa is sending its entire 10-man lineup to the NCAA Championships. Eight of Iowa’s 10 wrestlers are ranked in the top five. The lineup, seeds, and opening round opponents are listed below.
The 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship are March 18-20 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The ESPN family of networks will televise the entire championships. Specific broadcast details will be announced at a later date.
IOWA’S FIRST ROUND NCAA MATCHUPS (# indicates tournament seed)
125 – #1 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. #32 Patrick McCormick (UVA)/#33 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State)
133 – #4 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. #29 Paul Bianchi (Little Rock)
141 – #1 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) vs. #32 Cayden Rooks (IND)/#33 Vinny Vespa (HOF)
149 – #12 Max Murin (Iowa) vs. #21 Graham rooks (IND)
157 – #5 Kaleb Young (Iowa) vs. #28 Connor Brady (VT)
165 – #1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #32 Ricky Stamm (HOF)/#33 Austin Yant (UNI)
174 – #2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) vs. #32 Drew Hughes (MSU)/#33 Jacob Nolan (BING)
184 – #12 Nelson Brands (Iowa) vs. #21 Dominic Ducharme (CSUB)
197 – #5 Jacob Warner (Iowa) vs. #28 Nick Reenan (NCST)
285 – #5 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) vs. #28 Zachary Knighton-Ward (HOF)
