Wrestlers receive draws for 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships

Complete Brackets from the NCAA (pdf)

The NCAA released the brackets for the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships with two Arizona State University wrestlers earning Top 4 seeds in their respective weight classes for the tournament that will be held March 17-19 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. Anthony Robles was seeded No. 1 at 125 pounds while Bubba Jenkins earned the No. 4 seed at 157 pounds for the Sun Devils, who will send six competitors to the national event next week.

Robles, a two-time returning All-American and undefeated at 31-0 this season, received the top seed at 125 pounds, making him the first Sun Devil since the 2003 season to earn the No. 1 position in a bracket at the NCAA Championships. In 2003, the top billing went to Eric Larkin at 149 pounds, who capped his perfect senior season with the last national title won by a Sun Devil. Jenkins’ seeding gives ASU a No. 4 seed for the second year in a row after Robles was No. 4 at 125 pounds last year before placing seventh.

The seeding for Robles is the third of his career after earning the No. 12 seed in 2009 and No. 4 last year. And, just like last year, Robles’ quest for a national title will begin with a Virginia wrestler. This year, he will face Matthew Snyder (sophomore, 23-9) in the first round after defeating Ross Gitomer with a fall in 2:58 last year. Robles and Snyder have met once this year with Robles taking a 16-1 technical fall at the Virginia Duals (January 8).

Jenkins, the 2008 NCAA runner-up at 149 pounds for Penn State, holds a 16-3 record on the season and will take on Alex Medved (redshirt freshman, 29-9) of Gardner Webb in the opening round. Jenkins, who took second in the Pac-10 Championships to Adam Hall of Boise State, is on the same half of the bracket with Hall, who earned the No. 1 seed at the 157 weight class this year.

At 174, Eric Starks (17-9) will face No. 5 Chris Henrich (senior, 32-2) of Virginia, the second meeting in the first round of this year’s tournament between the Sun Devils and Cavaliers and also a rematch from a dual on January 8. In their first meeting, Henrich scored a 10-2 major decision over Starks, the last match Starks wrestled before sustaining an injury that sidelined him until the Pac-10 tournament two weeks ago, where he placed third.

Jake Meredith (22-14) is the lone Sun Devil that will compete in a match pitting two unseeded individuals against one another as he will face Iowa State’s Richard Shafer (redshirt freshman, 10-17). The two have not met in their careers. Meredith is coming off a strong showing at the Pac-10 Championships where he captured his first conference crown after reaching his second final of the season.

At 197, Luke Macchiaroli (12-11) is unseeded and will get a rematch from an earlier meeting this season in the first round as he will face No. 2 Clayton Foster of Oklahoma State (senior), who enters the tournament with a 22-0 record. The two met in a dual in Tempe on January 2 in which Foster won a 16-3 major decision. Macchiaroli enters the tournament as the Pac-10 runner-up, where he reached the final by defeating two individuals that had defeated him during the regular season.

The final Sun Devil in the tournament will be heavyweight Levi Cooper (24-9) who will take on No. 4 seed Dominic Russo of Rutgers (senior, 30-6) in the first round. The two have not met in their college careers. Cooper is coming off a third-place showing at the Pac-10 Championships, improving from his seventh-place finish from two years earlier as a true freshman with Portland State.

2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 17-19 • Wells Fargo Center • Philadelphia, Pa.
Round of 32 matches for Arizona State wrestlers
125 • #1 seed Anthony Robles (31-0) vs. Matthew Snyder of Virginia (23-9)
157 • #4 seed Bubba Jenkins (16-3) vs. Alex Medved of Gardner Webb (29-9)
174 • Eric Starks (17-9) vs. #5 seed Chris Henrich of Virginia (32-2)
184 • Jake Meredith (22-14) vs. Richard Shafer of Iowa State (10-17)
197 • Luke Macchiaroli (12-11) vs. #2 seed Clayton Foster of Oklahoma State (22-0)
285 • Levi Cooper (24-9) vs. #4 seed Dominic Russo of Rutgers (30-6)