IOWA WRESTLING

Brackets released for the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City

Eli McKown
Des Moines Register

Everyone fire up your printers and get out your pens and pencils, the brackets for the NCAA Wrestling Championships have arrived.

The NCAA released all 330 qualifiers on Tuesday, and now we can see where they will all sit in the field of 33 wrestlers per bracket. Iowa and Iowa State each qualified nine wrestlers, while Northern Iowa will be sending seven to Kansas City on March 21-23.

The Hawkeyes' highest-seeded wrestlers are Drake Ayala and Real Woods, both seeded No. 3 in their respective classes. Those two are the leading contenders in the Hawkeyes' effort to have a finalist in the NCAA Championships for the 33rd consecutive year (not including the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season).

Iowa State heavyweight Yonger Bastida is the No. 2 seed, while Northern Iowa junior 184-pounder Parker Keckeisen is the only No. 1 seed from the state of Iowa's programs. This is the second time Keckeisen has been deemed the No. 1 seed ahead of the NCAA Championships.

First-round matchups will begin on Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m. at the T-Mobile Center and streamed live on ESPNU and ESPN+.

Here's a full look at each weight class for the NCAA championships:

First-round matchups to watch for each Iowa program

At 125 pounds, Iowa State senior Kysen Terukina (No. 24 seed) draws No. 9 Patrick McKee of Minnesota, a two-time All-American and five-time NCAA qualifier. A three-time NCAA qualifier himself, Terukina and McKee give fans a good matchup in round one.

Northern Iowa sophomore 133-pounder Julian Farber gets a rematch in his first-round matchup, facing Nebraska's Jacob Van Dee. Farber defeated Van Dee earlier this year, an 8-1 decision. If he can do that again, he'd likely face No. 3 Kai Orine of North Carolina State in the second round. Farber dropped a 2-0 decision to Orine in December.

Iowa's Real Woods as the No. 3 seed gets No. 30 Clay Carlson of South Dakota State in the first round. Seeds suggest one thing, the underlying statistics tell another. Carlson is a two-time All-American for the Jackrabbits, but was seeded No. 30 due to a limited sample size this year since he did not begin wrestling until the Soldier Salute at the end of 2023. Woods will need to be ready from the first whistle at this tournament.

At 149 pounds, Iowa's Caleb Rathjen has the No. 13 seed and faces No. 20 Jordan Williams of Oklahoma State, who reached the Big 12 finals in the class. Williams beat Victor Voinovich in a 7-3 decision to end the regular season when the Cowboys and Hawkeyes squared off in a dual.

At 157 pounds, Iowa State's Cody Chittum will face Appalachian State's Tommy Askey, the SoCon champion in the weight class. If Chittum can get through that, he'd then face Cornell's Meyer Shapiro. Shapiro was the top-rated recruit in the 2023 class, while Chittum was the top-rated recruit in 2022, setting up for what would be a really fun bout.

Northern Iowa's Jack Thomsen is the only wrestler from the state's three Division I programs to have the wrestle-in match, seeded No. 33 and needing to beat Lehigh's Jake Logan (12-11) to advance into the field of 32. If he does that, he gets No. 1 seeded and reigning national champion Keegan O'Toole of Missouri.

Also from Northern Iowa, Keckeisen in the lone No. 1 seed from the state of Iowa. He'll face the winner of Anthony d'alesio of Long Island and Tomas Broker of Appalachian State. In the next round, Keckeisen could then face Iowa State's Will Feldkamp, a former All-American who dropped in seeding with a few losses down the stretch battling injury. If Feldkamp gets healthy, that's one to watch.

Iowa's seeding for NCAAs

  • 125 pounds: No. 3 Drake Ayala
  • 133 pounds: No. 15 Brody Teske
  • 141 pounds: No. 3 Real Woods
  • 149 pounds: No. 13 Caleb Rathjen
  • 157 pounds: No. 10 Jared Franek
  • 165 pounds: No. 6 Michael Caliendo
  • 174 pounds: No. 12 Patrick Kennedy
  • 197 pounds: No. 7 Zach Glazier
  • 285 pounds: No. 25 Bradley Hill

Iowa State's seeding for NCAAs

  • 125 pounds: No. 24 Kysen Terukina
  • 133 pounds: No. 8 Evan Frost
  • 141 pounds: No. 5 Anthony Echemendia
  • 149 pounds: No. 8 Casey Swiderski
  • 157 pound: No. 14 Cody Chittum
  • 165 pounds: No. 4 David Carr
  • 174 pounds: No. 15 MJ Gaitan
  • 184 pounds: No. 17 Will Feldkamp
  • 285 pounds: No. 2 Yonger Bastida

UNI's seeding for NCAAs

  • 133 pounds: No. 19 Julian Farber
  • 141 pounds: No. 7 Cael Happel
  • 157 pounds: No. 5 Ryder Downey
  • 165 pounds: No. 33 Jack Thomsen
  • 174 pounds: No. 28 Jared Simma
  • 184 pounds: No. 1 Parker Keckeisen
  • 197 pounds: No. 19 Wyatt Voelker

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.