Full 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships brackets

INDIANAPOLIS – The four Northern Illinois University wrestlers who qualified for next week’s 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships learned their first opponents on Wednesday afternoon when the NCAA announced the brackets for all 10 weight classes for the tournament, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City from March 17-19.

Steve Bleise (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) was the only Huskie to be seeded in his weight class, with the NIU redshirt freshman earning the No. 13 seed at 141 pounds thanks to his team-leading 27 wins compared to just eight losses this season. After earning bronze at MACs, Bleise will face unseeded Seth Gross of South Dakota State in the opening round of nationals next Thursday, with his second opponent either being No. 4 Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers or Jamel Hudson of Hofstra.

The Mid-American Conference champion at 133 pounds, Austin Eicher (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) enters NCAAs unseeded after he was given a first-round matchup with No. 14 Geoffrey Alexander of Maryland. Eicher, who became NIU’s first MAC individual title winner since 2011, heads to New York City with a 19-11 record this season. Eicher will then face either No. 3 Zane Richards of Illinois or Joey Palmer of Oregon State in his second match.

Making his first trip to nationals, NIU senior Andrew Morse (Alto, Mich./Lowell) was handed a difficult task for his opening bout at 157 pounds. Morse, who entered the MAC Championships with just three wins in 2015-16 after missing most of the season with a knee injury before qualifying for nationals with three wins at the conference event to take third in his weight class, will face undefeated ACC champion and No. 2 seed Thomas Gantt of North Carolina State in the first round on Thursday. He will then battle either No. 15 Chad Walsh of Rider or Gregory Flourney of George Mason following that.

The only Huskie with previous NCAA experience, second-year nationals qualifier Shawn Scott (Holly, Mich./Holly) was drawn into the pigtail round of the 33-man bracket at 197 pounds. In one of the first 10 matches on Thursday, MAC bronze-medalist Scott will face John Bolich of Lehigh for the right to face No. 9 seed Reuben Franklin of CSU-Bakersfield in the true first round.

The NCAA Wrestling Championships are double elimination format, with all competitors in the winner’s brackets wrestling for individual national titles, while the loser’s brackets lead towards the prestigious All-American honors, which are given to the top eight finishers in each weight class.

With the Huskies sending four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2007, be sure to follow @NIUWrestling on Twitter for information and updates leading up to and during the event.

--NIU--