Wrestling: Three of Lehigh's five qualifiers earn seeds as NCAA brackets announ

Mar 13, 2013 by FloWrestling Staff

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Steve Lomangino (Media Relations Director)
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Three of Lehigh's five qualifiers earn seeds as NCAA brackets announced

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Posted: 03/13/2013

BETHLEHEM, Pa. Â– Seeds and brackets for the upcoming NCAA Championships were announced Wednesday evening with three Lehigh wrestlers earning top 12 seeds for the national tournament March 21-23 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Senior Robert Hamlin and junior Joey Napoli both earned No. 3 seeds at 184 and 157 respectively, while sophomore Nathaniel Brown is seeded ninth at 174.

The NCAA Wrestling committee announced the 33 wrestlers who qualified at each weight class throughout the day Wednesday with the seeds and first round pairings announced online Wednesday evening.

Hamlin earned this third consecutive top three seed as he bids to earn All-America honors for the third straight season. Ranked third nationally for most of 2013, Hamlin maintained the No. 3 seed despite defaulting with an injury in the semifinals of the EIWA tournament and forfeiting to sixth place. He earned one of four at-large berths at 184 on Wednesday. Hamlin, who is 22-3 on the season, will open the NCAA tournament against Casey Newburg of Kent State in a rematch from the first round of last yearÂ’s tournament, which Hamlin won by major decision, 10-2.

Napoli joins Hamlin as a No. 3 seed as the EIWA Champion seeks to add a national title and All-America honors to his resume. Napoli enters the NCAA Championship at 18-2 this season and will face Taylor Walsh of Indiana in the first round. Earlier this year, Napoli defeated Walsh 4-3 in the semifinals of the Midlands Championships.

An EIWA title at 174 was enough to vault Brown into a top 12 seed. Brown will face Hunter Gamble of Gardner-Webb in the first round March 21. Interestingly, five wrestlers from the EIWA qualified at 174 and all five are in the top half of the bracket. Should Brown defeat Gamble, he could face No. 8 seed Nick Heflin of Ohio State or EIWA foe Greg Zannetti of Rutgers in the round of 32.

EIWA Champion Randy Cruz is unseeded at 133 and will open against an unseeded opponent in Brian Owen of Boise State. Â Cruz leads Lehigh regulars with 30 victories this season, while Owen comes in at 14-7. No. 3 seed Tyler Graff of Wisconsin is the likely second round opponent for the winner between Cruz and Owen.

Sophomore Anthony Salupo is unseeded as he makes his first NCAA appearance at 141. He drew the No. 6 seed Undrakhbayar Khishignyam of the Citadel in the first round. Khishignyam enters the tournament with a sparkling 38-4 record this season.

Lehigh originally qualified four wrestlers for the championships, its three EIWA champions plus Salupo, who garnered automatic qualification with his fifth place finish. Wednesday afternoon both Hamlin and senior Shane Welsh joined the quartet in earning at-large bids to the NCAA championships. Welsh however, will be unable to compete due to the injury suffered in his first round match at the EIWA championships. He was withdrawn from the tournament Wednesday evening leaving the Mountain Hawks with five wrestlers competing in Des Moines.

Also on Wednesday the NCAA, in conjunction with television partner ESPN announced a change to the format of the final session of competition on Saturday March 23. Instead of starting at 125 and working up through heavyweight the NCAA finals matches will begin at 174 and will finish at 165.

Action at the 83rd NCAA Championships begins Thursday March 21 at Wells Fargo Arena and runs through Saturday March 23. Live audio for all of LehighÂ’s NCAA Tournament action will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com, while most of the tournament will be televised and/or streamed online by the ESPN family of networks.

Weight	Wrestler	Seed	First Round Opponent
133	Randy Cruz	--------	Brian Owen, Boise State
141	Anthony Salupo	--------	No. 6 Undrakhbayar Khishignyam, the Citadel
157	Joey Napoli	3	Taylor Walsh, Indiana
174	Nathaniel Brown	9	Hunter Gamble, Gardner-Webb
184	Robert Hamlin	3	Casey Newburg, Kent State