ST. LOUIS, MO – The NCAA has announced the brackets for the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships and seniors
Jesse Dellavecchia (Great River, NJ/East Islip [Binghamton]) and
Ethan Laird (Waterford, PA/General McLane) have drawn top seven seeds. Dellavecchia is the No. 4 seed at 157 lbs., while Laird is seeded seventh at heavyweight.
At 141 lbs., freshman
McKenzie Bell (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway) drew the No. 17 seed.
Richie Koehler (Middletown, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) is the No. 24 seed at 133 lbs., while
Jake Silverstein (Hauppauge, NY/Smithtown) took the No. 27 seed at 165 lbs. Finally,
Jonathan Tropea (Harrington Park, NJ/Saint Joseph (Montvale)) is seeded 31
st at 125 lbs.
Dellavecchia drew Nebraska's Caleb Licking, the No. 29 seed at 157 lbs. The two wrestlers have not met collegiately and their only common opponent is Iowa's Kaleb Young, who defeated Dellavecchia during his redshirt year of 2017-18 at Midlands and Licking in a dual this season.
Where Laird drew a high seed, he faces a familiar face and an opponent he's had trouble with in the past. During the 2018-19 season, Laird faced Stanford's Nathan Traxler twice, falling both times by tech fall. Traxler is the No. 26 seed at heavyweight.
Bell and 16
th-seeded Cole Matthews of Pittsburgh. The two wrestlers have not faced each other, while Matthews is 2-0 against common opponents to Bell's 1-1.
Koehler faces the No. 9 seed, Michael McGee of Arizona State. The two wrestlers have not faced each other. McGee has a 12-0 record against common opponents, while Koehler is 2-6.
Silverstein will face a MAC foe in sixth-seeded Keegan O'Toole. The two did not wrestle at MAC Championships. O'Toole is 4-0 against common opponents to Silverstein's 3-1. The lone setback was a 4-2 decision to Central Michigan's Alex Cramer, who withdrew with an injury to open the final at-large position that Silverstein claimed.
Finally, Tropea will face Virginia Tech's Sam Latona, the No. 2 seed at 125 lbs. Latona has a 13-1 record against common opponents to Tropea's 9-11. The one loss Latona suffered was to Nic Aguilar of Rutgers, who Tropea has split two matches with.
NCAA Championships are set for March 18-20 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
