Wrestling | 3/11/2020 11:01:00 PM

NCAA DIVISION I WRESTLING BRACKETS

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - Late Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA released the seeding and the full brackets for the upcoming 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, which will be held at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from Thursday, March 19, through Saturday, March 21. Sophomore Alex Carida (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) and redshirt senior Trevor Allard (Mexico, N.Y./Mexico) will be representing the Huskies at the tournament.

The two NCAA qualifiers for the Huskies are the most in one season since Bloomsburg had six representatives at the 2014 national tournament.

Carida (17-12) is seeded 33rd in the 157-pound bracket and will wrestle in a "pigtail" match against Maryland's Jahi Jones (12-8) who is seeded 32nd. The winner will advance to meet top-seeded, and unbeaten, Ryan Deakin (21-0) of Northwestern University in the opening round and the loser dropping to the consolation bracket.

Meanwhile, Allard (24-4) earned the 25th seed at 184 pounds and will open the tournament against eighth-seeded Andrew Morgan (29-6) of Campbell University. The winner will advance to wrestle on Thursday night against either ninth-seeded Anthony Montalvo (25-6) of Oklahoma State or 24th-seeded Johnny Sebastian (12-8) of Wisconsin. The loser will drop to the consolation bracket.

Carida took an atypical route to clinching a berth into the NCAA Division I National Championships after losing both of his opening matches on Saturday and on Sunday at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships. On day one, Carida lost to top-seed – and eventual champion – Jesse Dellavecchia of Rider before winning his first consolation bout of the day to advance to Sunday. On day two, Carida's day opened inauspiciously as he dropped a 10-2 major decision to Logan Parks of Central Michigan. But, Carida battled back and scored a late takedown to win the seventh-place match, 3-1, over Buffalo's Michael Petite.
 
Carida then became Parks' largest supporter and, when the Central Michigan grappler defeated Carson in the fifth-place bout, Carida and Carson – who didn't meet against one another earlier in the tournament - needed to hook up for the sixth and final qualifying spot in the weight class. Carida fell behind, 3-1, midway through the second period before tying the match at 3-3 with a takedown late in the frame. Carida opened the third with an escape to take a 4-3 lead but Carson tied the match at 4-4 with six seconds left when Carida was called for locking hands. Needing to ride out Carson to force overtime, Carida had other ideas as he was able to get Carson onto his back for a pair of back points to punch his ticket to Minneapolis.
 
Allard earned one of 48 at-large selections announced on Tuesday afternoon by the NCAA.

Allard has been nationally ranked for much of the season and sports a 24-4 overall record following his fifth-place finish at the conference tournament over the weekend. He advanced to the championship semifinals before suffering an 8-5 loss to eventual MAC champion, Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois, on Saturday. He then opened Sunday's action with a loss to Antonio Agee of Old Dominion before bouncing back to defeat Lock Haven's Corey Hazel in the fifth-place bout. Allard, who opened the conference tournament as the top seed at 184 pounds, went 3-2 in the championships and now sports a 96-45 career record.

Action gets underway from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis beginning on Thursday, March 19.