FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota State wrestling travels to Cleveland, Ohio this week for the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The event will take place Thursday, March 19 through Saturday, March 21 at Rocket Arena.
 
Weekend Schedule
Thursday, March 19
Session 1 - Pigtails and First-Round - 11 a.m. CT (ESPN 2/ESPN+)
Session 2 - Second Round, Wrestle-Back Prelims, Wrestle-Back First Round - 6 p.m. CT (ESPN/ESPN+)
 
Friday, March 20
Session 3 - Quarterfinals, Wrestle-Back Second and Third Rounds - 11 a.m. CT (ESPN U/ESPN+)
Session 4 - Semifinals, Blood Round, Consolation Fourth Round - 7 p.m. CT (ESPN 2/ESPN+)
 
Saturday, March 21
Session 5 - Medal Rounds - 10 a.m. CT (ESPN U/ESPN+)
Session 6 - Championships - 5:30 p.m. CT (ESPN)
 
Tickets
All-session tickets and individual single-session tickets are available through AXS. To view all ticket options and availability, visit axs.com. A link to purchase tickets can be found on the wrestling schedule page at gobison.com.
 
TV Coverage and Live Statistics
All sessions will be available on the ESPN family of networks. The day sessions will all be televised live on ESPN 2 and ESPN U, with evening sessions televised on ESPN on night one and the championship on Saturday and ESPN 2 for the semifinals and blood round on Friday. ESPN+ will also have individual mat feeds throughout the entire tournament, as well as a matcast.
 
Statistics of all matches will be available through TrackWrestling and FloWrestling. Links to watch and view statistics can be found on the wrestling schedule page at gobison.com.
 
Witt Leads Seeds for NCAA Championships
125 pounder Ezekiel Witt leads the way for the Bison in seeding after being tabbed with the No. 16 seed in the 125-pound bracket following a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships.
 
Junior Devin Wasley qualified for his first NCAA Championships after a seventh-place finish at the Big 12 Championships last weekend and received the No. 22 seed at 197 pounds. Earning one of four at-large bids, Max Petersen was seeded at No. 23 in the 149-pound bracket after a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships.
 
After a blood round finish in his redshirt freshman campaign last year, Aidan Brenot has been selected as the No. 27 seed in the 184-pound bracket following a fourth-place finish in Tulsa. 2025 149-pound All-American Gavin Drexler has been seeded No. 28 this year in the 157-pound bracket after taking fifth at the Big 12 Championships.
 
NCAA Debuts
Three Bison will make their NCAA Championship debuts this weekend. At 125 pounds, Ezekiel Witt qualifies for his first NCAA Championships as a redshirt freshman.
 
In the 149-pound bracket, Max Petersen qualified for his first NCAA Championships as a junior. However, Petersen was named first alternate as a redshirt freshman and missed the postseason last year due to injury.
 
Fellow junior Devin Wasley also makes his first appearance at NCAAs, qualifying in his second season with the Bison and first year at 197 pounds.
 
NCAA D1 Qualifiers
Including 2026, the Bison have had 74 NCAA Division I qualifiers in 18 years of postseason eligibility, including 30 over the last six seasons, averaging five per year during the span. Rich in wrestling history, the Bison sent 27 to NCAA Div. I Championships from 1971 to 1991, bringing the total to 101.
 
NCAA D1 All-Americans
The Bison have 13 All-Americans at the Div. I Championships, including a best finish of 3rd by Steven Monk at 165 in 2014. In 2015, Kurtis Julson and Hayden Zillmer both placed in the top 8, while Jared Franek and Michael Caliendo earned All-American honors in 2023. Gavin Drexler is the most recent, earning All-American honors last season at 149 pounds.
 
3rd - 1  |  4th - 3  |  5th - 1  |  6th - 3  |  7th - 3  |  8th - 2
 
Battle Tested
Nine of NDSU's 16 Division I opponents this season ranked in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll. NDSU had the fifth strongest strength of schedule in the fall semester and the 22nd strongest overall after the dual season.
 
2x Wrestler of the Week
Devin Wasley was named the final Big 12 Wrestler of the Week, scooping up his second honor of the season.
 
The junior 197 pounder won his first honor on January 21 after a 3-0 weekend at the Davidson Duals, including a win over #10 Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell. Wasley picked up his second honor after helping to lead NDSU to victory over No. 19 South Dakota State with an upset of #4/5 Bennett Berge, coming from behind to win a 9-5 decision.
 
Wasley became the 10th NDSU wrestler to win the award and was the first Bison to win the award since Max Petersen in November 2023. With his second honor this season, Wasley also becomes the first Bison wrestler in program history to secure the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honor multiple times in the same season or in a career.
 
Five Bison Place at Big 12 Championships
NDSU placed five on the podium at the Big 12 Championships, two weeks ago in Tulsa, led by a third-place finish from Ezekiel Witt.
 
The Bison have had a total of 64 placers over the 11 seasons in the Big 12, averaging nearly six placers per year. Aside from the three champions, NDSU has also had 12 second-place finishers and eight third-place finishers.
 
1st - 3 | 2nd - 12 | 3rd - 8 | 4th - 7 | 5th - 7 | 6th - 12 | 7th - 9 | 8th - 6
 
Border Bell Back in Fargo
After losing four-straight in the Battle for the Border Bell series with South Dakota State, the Bison upset No. 19 South Dakota State 20-13 on February 22 in Brookings to reclaim the traveling trophy, a 100-pound kettle bell, which was introduced during the 2013-14 season.
 
Mr. Gator Bacon
Ezekiel Witt has used the gator bacon to secure multiple wins this season, beginning with a splash at the Southern Scuffle to defeat Andrew Binni of Navy in the semis. Witt then pulled the move again at the Davidson Duals, using it to secure a pin of Bucknell's Kade Davidheiser, which proved to be the decisive point in a win for NDSU. He added a variation of it in the third-place match at the Big 12 Championships, helping him secure a pin and second win in two days over #11 Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia
 
Witt has recorded six Top-25 victories this season, beginning with an upset of #14 Trever Anderson of Northern Iowa and #12 Nico Provo of Stanford. In the dual finale, Witt scored a major decision over #20 Brady Roark of South Dakota State. He then majored Roark again at the Big 12 Championships. Witt had a late defeat to #8 Jore Volk at Minnesota, and scored the first takedown in a 6-5 loss to #2 Luke Lilledahl of Penn State in Nashville. At the Southern Scuffle, Witt reached the final, taking Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech to sudden victory.
 
Petersen Recording Key Wins With Tough Schedule
Max Petersen continued to add to his resume late in the season with a dominating win at Oregon State and then in the Big 12 Championships. Going up against #25 Noah Tolentino at Oregon State, Petersen secured six takedowns in a 19-4 tech fall victory.
 
In Tulsa, Petersen shutout Oklahoma's Hunter Hollingsworth, 6-0, before a 9-5 victory over Missouri's #20 Josh Edmond, which helped Petersen secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
 
Petersen has four top-25 wins this year, as he secured a 6-5 win over #16 Caleb Rathjen of Northern Iowa to start his season and an 8-3 win over #20 Lucas Kapusta of Lock Haven.
 
Petersen has wrestled the 8th toughest schedule among NCAA qualifiers at 149 in the country and reeled off a 15-8 record. All eight of Petersen's losses have come to wrestlers currently in the top 30 of the WrestlingByPirate Index. Petersen has wins against five wrestlers currently in the Top 33, which also included a key win in his home state at Minnesota against Drew Roberts. Petersen also has nine wins against the top 50 of 334 wrestlers in the weight class in Division I.
 
Wasley Riding Tough
Devin Wasley moved up two weight classes in 2025-26, making the jump from 174 to 197. After a pair of tough defeats to start the year, Wasley reeled off eight-straight wins, including a title at the Daktronics Invitational and avenging one of the two losses from earlier in the season in the dual at Minnesota.
 
Wasley continued to impress, topping #29 Wolfgang Frable of Army at the Southern Scuffle then won eight-straight duals, including a 5-0 win over #10 Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell in January. The streak came to an end after losing back-to-back decisions against #5 Joey Novak of Wyoming and #6 Justin Rademacher of Oregon State. However, Wasley rebounded with his highest ranked win of his career in the dual finale, scoring two takedowns in a 9-5 win over #4/5 Bennett Berge of South Dakota State.
 
Drexler Looking to Repeat All-American Campaign
Following an All-American campaign and a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships last season at 149 pounds, Gavin Drexler made the move up to 157 pounds in 2025-26. Drexler had growing pains early, losing his first four matches, albeit to four wrestlers currently in the Top 25.
 
Following a stretch of going 5-4 with another top five loss, Drexler generated momentum heading into the postseason with seven-straight dual victories, including a pair of ranked upsets. Drexler started the streak with a 9-3 win over #29 Drayden Morton of California Baptist. The junior continued the streak and ended the regular season with a 6-3 win over #17 Cael Swensen of South Dakota State.
 
At the Big 12 Championships, Drexler secured his first collegiate pin in the opening round and added a major decision victory in his first wrestle back. Drexler then secured a crucial 19-12 win to stay alive for an automatic bid. In a winner take-all spot for the final bid, Drexler upset #16 Teague Travis of Missouri 12-8 to secure a spot in Cleveland.
 
Brenot Generating Momentum
Following a blood-round finish as a redshirt freshman last season, Aidan Brenot struggled early this season, going 6-6 over the first 12 matches with five defeats to currently ranked wrestlers.
 
Over his last seven appearances of the regular season, Brenot generated momentum into Tulsa, going 6-1 in duals with the lone loss to #11 Eddie Neitenbach of Wyoming. He finished Big 12 duals at 5-2, scoring a pin and two major decisions during the run over the last six weeks.
 
Once in Tulsa, Brenot secured a major decision to start the weekend and then punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships for a second-straight season with a grueling sudden victory win over David Alonso of Cal Baptist.
 
Over his last 13 matches, Brenot is 10-3 with five bonus-point decisions.