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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Junior Evan Cheek of the Cleveland State University wrestling team is set to make his NCAA Championships debut this week just down the street from the campus he calls home. 

The NCAA Championships begin Thursday, March 15, and continue through Saturday, March 17, with two sessions each day. The opening session begins at Noon Thursday, and will be broadcast on ESPNU, with the second session beginning at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN. Broadcasts of every match of the Championships will be available through WatchESPN. Cheek will wrestle one match in each of the first and second sessions.

Cheek, wrestling at 141 pounds, will be competing at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, marking just the second time ever the event is taking place in Cleveland. It is also only the second time in the past 50 years that the event has been in Ohio. Cheek, who will be competing less than one mile from his normal home venue, Woodling Gymnasium, will become just the second Viking ever to compete at a NCAA DI Wrestling Championship in Ohio. 

Links to live video, live results, the 141-pound bracket and the NCAA Championships homepage are available at the top of this article. 

Cheek secured a berth to NCAA's with his effort at the Eastern Wrestling League Championships. Seeded third, Cheek won his first league title with a pair of pins, one over a previously unbeaten foe, sandwiched around a nail-biting, sudden-victory win. 

As a result, Cheek was named Outstanding Wrestler of the EWL Championships. He became just the third Viking ever to win that honor and the first in 35 years. 

Cheek's opening bout at EWL's was against Tejon Anthony, who himself went on to earn automatic NCAA qualification. Cheek was tied, 2-2, after two periods but found another gear in the final period to pin his opponent. 

Cheek then faced second seed Tyson Dippery of Rider in the semifinals. Cheek had a two-point lead entering the third, but the match was tied after seven minutes. Cheek secured a takedown with the first sudden-victory session winding down to clinch an automatic berth to NCAA's. 

The championship bout saw Cheek matched up against Clarion's Brock Zacherl. Zacherl owned a 27-0 record on the season and was ranked fourth nationally by multiple outlets entering the event. However, Cheek went on the offensive from the get-go, netting a takedown fewer than 20 seconds into the bout. Cheek weathered a spell of pressure by Zacherl and then stunned the crowd by posting a pin in the final 10 seconds of the opening period. It was only the second time that an opponent earned a bonus-point win against Zacherl in his collegiate career. 

Cheek owns 24 wins on the season, 16 of which have been of the bonus-point variety, and eight pins. He has really turned it on since the beginning of the calendar year, as he owns a 19-3 record since January 1 in matches not ending in forfeits. That stretch began when he was the only unseeded athlete to place at his weight class at the Southern Scuffle. 

Cheek will face the two-time defending national champion at 141 pounds, Dean Heil of Oklahoma State, in his opening bout in the Round of 32. Heil went undefeated en route to his second straight national title in 2017. The matchup between Cheek and Heil will see two athletes that hail from within one hour of Cleveland. 

Cheek faced 10 athletes that are competing at the NCAA Championships during the regular season, including five that are seeded. He won each of his final four matches against NCAA qualifiers this season. 

This will be the fourth consecutive season, and fifth in six years, in which at least one Viking has competed at NCAA's. Cheek's selection was the 133rd all-time by a Viking student-athlete to NCAA's since the program's first selection in 1965. 

Each of the last three Vikings to compete at NCAA's have all won multiple matches in the tournament. The last five Viking entries in the event have all won at least one match.

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The Cleveland State wrestling program is hosting a special reception in conjunction with the NCAA Championships Thursday, March 15. All alumni, family and friends of the program are invited to attend. The event runs from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. at the Butcher and the Brewer (2043 E. 4th St., Cleveland, OH  44115). Beverages and heavy appetizers will be provided, and the first 100 entrants will get a free t-shirt.