BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell's school record seven qualifiers will begin competition at the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday. The NCAA Championships run Thursday-Saturday (March 18-20) at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Watch the 2021 NCAA Championships on
ESPN. Live results for the championships will also be available through
TrackWrestling.com.
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
Austin Murphy (174),
Chris Kober (197) and
Caleb Hopkins (184). Two more Camels also took true place wins, with
Josh Heil at 149 pounds and
Taye Ghadiali at heavyweight earning NCAA berths.
Two SoCon finalists were later added to the NCAA Championships field, with
Benjamin Barton at 157 pounds and
Zurich Storm at 125 receiving
at-large berths.
Murphy, a perfect 12-0 in the season, worked a 7-0 SoCon slate in his first season as a full time starter in the Campbell lineup. The junior is seeded No. 11 at 174 pounds, facing No. 22 Mason Kauffman (13-4) of Northern Illinois in the opening round of the NCAA Championships. The SoCon champ and
All-SoCon selection was named the SoCon Wrestler of the Week on
January 27.
Following Murphy in the CU lineup and in seeding, Hopkins drew the 14-seed at 184 pounds, going 11-1 overall this season with a perfect 7-0 conference dual mark, including his first SoCon title. The Palmer, Alaska native will take on Illinois' Zach Braunagel (6-6), ranked No. 19. Hopkins was another All-SoCon performer, with his only loss of the year coming to then-No. 2 Hunter Bolen from Virginia Tech, and was
twice named SoCon Wrestler of the Week.
Making his fourth trip to the NCAA Championships, the first Camel to accomplish the feat, 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. Heil, one of eight Camels to make the SoCon finals, was 4-0 against conference foes during the regular season.
Another one of Campbell's three individual SoCon champions, 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. The Havertown, Pa. senior went 4-0 in the regular season, all in SoCon duals, including three bonus point wins.
One of the four Camels making their NCAA Championships debut, 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. The redshirt freshman defeated Anthony Perrine of Gardner-Webb 3-1 in extra time to reach the SoCon finals as the No. 3 seed.
Barton was one of four Camels to earn All-SoCon honors in 2021, finishing the regular season at 9-1 overall and 6-1 in SoCon duals, winning his first nine bouts of the year. The senior, a 2020-21 Preseason All-SoCon pick qualifying for his second trip to the NCAA Championships (2019), was named the SoCon Wrestler of the Week on January 9. He made his second SoCon finals appearance and third podium finish in 2021. Barton was slotted at No. 22 in the 157 pound bracket, and will see Arizona State's Jacori Teemer (7-1) in round one, ranked No. 11.
Rounding out the bracket for the Camels, Storm will be No. 29 at 125 pounds, drawing No. 4 Drew Hildebrandt (10-0) from Central Michigan. Seeded third at 125 in the SoCon Championships, Storm made his first conference finals appearance, topping No. 2 seed Fabian Gutierrez from Chattanooga, 8-6 in overtime. The New Oxford, Pa. native is 8-5 overall on the season, going 6-2 in SoCon bouts, with four of those losses coming against ranked opponents.
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.
