CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State wrestling trio of Marcus Robinson, Riley Smucker, and Ben Smith found out their seeds and first-round opponents for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
The 2022 NCAA Championships will run from Thursday, March 17 through Saturday, March 19, and will be hosted at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
The morning sessions will be live on ESPNU, while the evening sessions will be live on ESPN. Thursday's first-round action is set to start at noon.
Marcus Robinson – 149
Robinson will enter the tournament as the No. 21 seed and will take on No. 12 Mike VanBrill of Rutgers in the first round. Robinson and VanBrill last faced off on November 7, with VanBrill winning by a 5-2 decision.
Robinson earned his automatic qualifier spot by virtue of finishing as the runner-up at the MAC Championships, posting a 2-1 record on the weekend.
This will be Robinson's second trip to the NCAA Championships.
Riley Smucker – 165
Smucker will enter the tournament as the No. 24 seed and will face No. 9 Peyton Hall of West Virginia in the first round. These two met on December 20, with Hall winning by major decision, 12-3. Last season in Cleveland, Hall upended Smucker with an 8-2 decision.
Smucker earned his automatic qualifier spot by finishing third at the MAC Championships, posting a 3-1 record on the weekend.
This will be Smucker's first trip to the NCAA Championships.
Ben Smith – 197
Smith will enter the tournament as the No. 29 seed and will face No. 4 Patrick Brucki of Michigan in the first round. These two have not wrestled each other before.
Smith earned the automatic spot after becoming the first-ever Cleveland State MAC Champion. Smith went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend.
This will be Smith's second trip to the NCAA Championships.
This marks the second straight year that Cleveland State had three NCAA Qualifiers in the same season, while the three become the 143rd, 144th, and 145th NCAA selections in program history.
