CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State wrestling trio of Marcus Robinson, DeAndre Nassar and Ben Smith found out their initial opponents for the upcoming NCAA Championships Wednesday night, as the complete brackets were released on NCAA.com.
The 2021 NCAA Championships will run from Thursday, March 18 through Saturday, March 20 and will be hosted in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Thursday morning and afternoon sessions will be live on ESPNU, while the Thursday evening sessions will be live on ESPN2.
Marcus Robinson - 149
Robinson will enter the tournament as the No. 30 seed at 149 pounds, and will take on No. 3 Brock Mauller of Missouri in the first round. Robinson and Mauller last faced off in the championship match of the MAC Tournament, with Mauller picking up a 6-0 decision.
Robinson earned his automatic qualifier spot by virtue of finishing as the runner-up at the MAC Championships, posting a 3-1 record on the weekend.
This will be Robinson's first trip to the NCAA Championships.
DeAndre Nassar – 184
Nassar will enter the tournament as the No. 26 seed at 184 pounds, and will take on No. 7 Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois in the first round. Nassar and Wilson last faced off in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament, with Wilson posting a 12-3 major decision.
Nassar earned his automatic qualifier spot after finishing third at the MAC Championships last month when he went 4-1 on the weekend.
This will be Nassar's first trip to the NCAA Championships.
Ben Smith – 197
Smith will enter the tournament as the No. 24 seed at 197 pounds, and will take on No. 9 Noah Adams of West Virginia. Smith and Adams faced off earlier this year in dual meet action, with Adams posting an 8-2 decision.
Smith earned his automatic qualifier spot by virtue of finishing as the runner-up at the MAC Championships after going 2-1 over the two-day event.
This will be Smith's first trip to the NCAA Championships.
This marks the first time since 2007 that Cleveland State has had three NCAA Qualifiers in the same season, while the trio becomes the 140th, 141st, and 142nd NCAA selections in program history.
