BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell's school record seven qualifiers found out their opening round opponents when the 2021 NCAA Championships brackets were unveiled Wednesday evening.
Austin Murphy earned the highest seed among qualifying Camels, coming in at No. 11 at 174 pounds. The SoCon champ, a perfect 12-0 on the season, will face No. 22 Mason Kauffman (13-4) of Northern Illinois.
Following Murphy in the CU lineup and in seeding,
Caleb Hopkins drew the 14-seed at 184 pounds, going 11-1 overall this season, including his first SoCon title. The Palmer, Alaska native will take on Illinois' Zach Braunagel (6-6), ranked No. 19.
Making his fourth trip to the NCAA Championships,
Josh Heil is No. 20 at 149 pounds, heading to the tournament at 7-2. He will face No. 13 Mitch Moore (9-4) of Oklahoma in the opening round.
Another one of Campbell's three individual SoCon champions,
Chris Kober was tabbed the No. 22 seed at 197 pounds. Making his second NCAA Championships appearance, the 6-0 Kober will match up with No. 11 Jay Aiello (9-2) from Virginia.
Also making a return trip to the NCAA Championships after receiving an at-large berth, 157 pounder
Benjamin Barton was slotted at No. 22. Going 10-2 on the season, the
All-SoCon pick will see Arizona State's Jacori Teemer (7-1) in round one, ranked No. 11.
Zurich Storm also picked up an at-large berth and will be No. 29 in the 125 pound bracket, drawing No. 4 Drew Hildebrandt (10-0) from Central Michigan. Storm is 8-5 on the year and was one of a school record eight Camels to make the SoCon finals.
One of four Camels make their NCAA Championships debut,
Taye Ghadiali, at 7-5 overall, heads to St. Louis as the No. 33 seed at heavyweight, matching up with No. 32 Andrew Gunning (4-4) from North Carolina. The winner will take on top-seeded Gable Steveson (12-0) of Minnesota.
Campbell's seven total NCAA qualifiers bests the program's previous all-time high of six (2019, 2020).
Five Camels locked in NCAA berths at the
SoCon Championships, with three earning conference tournament titles, including Murphy (174), Kober (197) and Hopkins (184). Two more Camels also took true place wins, with Heil at 149 pounds and Ghadiali at heavyweight earning NCAA berths.
Two SoCon finalists were added to the NCAA Championships field
on Tuesday, with Barton at 157 pounds and Storm at 125 receiving at-large berths.
Winners of three-straight SoCon regular season championships, Campbell has claimed four of the last five SoCon tournament titles. CU, ranked No. 22 in the NCWA team poll and No. 19 by InterMat, finished the regular season at 8-1 overall, with a perfect 7-0 SoCon mark, going unbeaten in conference duals for the second straight season.
The NCAA Championships are set for March 18-20 in St. Louis, Missouri.
