by By Micah Thompson, Oklahoma Communications
NORMAN – The NCAA revealed the Division I wrestling championship brackets on Wednesday evening. The tournament will be held on March 17-19 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Three Sooners received seeds in No. 5 Ryan Millhof (125 pounds), No. 4 Cody Brewer (133 pounds) and No. 15 Clark Glass (165 pounds). Davion Jeffries (149 pounds), Matt Reed (174 pounds) and Ross Larson (285 pounds) also earned bids to the championship.
Millhof is set for a matchup against Air Force’s Drew Romero (16-15) in his first championship bout. The sophomore, who is making his first NCAA Championships appearance, holds a 17-5 record on the season and is coming off an impressive Big 12 tournament run where he went 3-0, including a 5-4 win over OSU’s Eddie Klimara to earn his first Big 12 crown.
At 133 pounds, Brewer will begin his national title defense by facing NC State’s Jamal Morris (14-8). Brewer nabbed the Most Outstanding Wrestler award at the Big 12 tournament last weekend after securing his second straight conference title.
Freshman Davion Jeffries (Muscogee Creek Nation) will match up with No. 3 Lavion Mayes (26-2) of Mizzou in the first round of his first NCAA Championships. Jeffries boasts a 15-10 record on the season and is the Big 12 runner-up at 149 pounds. Jeffries and Mayes have wrestled twice this year, with Mayes winning both in a 5-4 decision and a 4-2 decision.
Clark Glass returns to the championship for the second straight year and is set to face Lehigh’s Ryan Preisch (16-8). The redshirt junior dropped a 5-2 decision to Preisch earlier this season and will look to avenge the loss in his first match of the championship. Glass holds a 19-10 record this season.
At 174 pounds, Matt Reed makes his second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and drew No. 3 Blaise Butler (20-3) of Mizzou for his first bout. The pair met up in the Sooners’ dual with Missouri, and Butler came away with a win by fall over Reed. The redshirt junior is making his second NCAA tournament appearance and has posted an 18-8 overall record this season.
Ross Larson, who is making his third NCAA Championships appearance, will face No. 12 Billy Smith (27-8) of Rutgers in the first round of the tournament. Larson (17-11) and Smith have met twice this season, splitting the series 1-1 with Larson taking the most recent match in a 5-3 decision.
The No. 11 Sooners added one NCAA Championships bid to their total of five wrestlers from a season ago. The first session of the 2016 tournament is set to start at 11 a.m. CT on March 17.
