INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA revealed the Division I Wrestling Championships brackets on Wednesday afternoon. Five wrestlers from the University of Wyoming will make their way to the NCAA Championships, which is set to be held on March 16-18 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Branson Ashworth, Archie Colgan and Cole Mendenhall will each be making their first NCAA postseason appearance, as it will be the second trip each for Bryce Meredith and Drew Templeman. It will mark the 24th time that Wyoming will send at least five wrestlers to the national tournament. UW finished 18th at last year’s NCAA Championships as Meredith, Templeman and Tanner Harms represented the Brown and Gold at Madison Square Garden.
Meredith (28-6) heads to his second NCAA Wrestling Championships as he earned the No. 10 seed at 141-pounds, announced by the NCAA. Meredith will face Mike Longo (19-8) from Oklahoma in the opening round. The junior was placed as the No. 14 seed a year ago before going 4-1 at the tournament and earning All-American honors with a runner-up finish.
At 125 pounds, Templeman (19-7) will enter his second and final NCAA tournament as a No. 15 seed and will face Conor Youtsey of Michigan. Templeman finished third at the Big 12 Championship last weekend and went 1-2 at last year’s Big Dance.
Despite a third-place finish at the Big 12 tournament, the lone unseeded Poke for the NCAA Championships is Cole Mendenhall (29-8), who will man the 149-pound weight class for UW. The senior will face No. 2 Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State (20-2) in the opening round.
Archie Colgan (34-8) was selected as an at-large bid for the tournament and is the No. 16 seed for the NCAA Championships. The 157-pound wrestler will see Aaron Walker (28-10) to open Nationals. Colgan earned a fifth-place finish at Big 12s on Sunday.
Branson Ashworth is seeded at No. 14 for the tournament and is the youngest of the Cowboys making the trip to St. Louis. The redshirt sophomore finished in fifth place at the Big 12 tournament and holds a 35-7 overall record for the Brown and Gold this season. He’ll face off against Brian Hamann of North Carolina State in the opening round on Thursday.
NCAA Championships First Round Schedule
125: No. 15 Drew Templeman (UW) v. Conor Youtsey (UM)
141: No. 10 Bryce Meredith (UW) v. Mike Longo (OU)
149: Cole Mendenhall (UW) v. No. 2 Anthony Collica (OSU)
157: No. 16 Archie Colgan (UW) v. Aaron Walker (CIT)
165: No. 14 Branson Ashworth (UW) v. Brian Hamman (NCST)
TV Broadcast Information
Thursday, March 16
Session I – 12 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Session II – 7 p.m. ET – ESPN
Friday, March 17
Session III – 11 a.m. ET – ESPNU
Session IV – 8 p.m. ET – ESPN
Saturday, March 18
Session V – 11 a.m. ET – ESPNU
Session VI – 8 p.m. ET – ESPN
