NCAA Tournament - Lower Weight Preview

There will be 23 Michigan Grapplers competing, including 10 Michigan natives, in the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships this weekend in Kansas City. We break down the draws for 125lbs through 149lbs here, with analysis for the upper weights coming tomorrow. We do our best to predict some match-ups and paths to the podium here, but wild upsets happen at the NCAA tournament, which is one of the best parts of March Matness.

The NCAA Championships will take place in six sessions over three days, beginning at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday, March 21st, with pigtail matches and the first round. The second session will resume later that day at 6 p.m. CT and feature continued preliminary matches as well as the first round of wrestlebacks.

On Friday, wrestling will begin at 11 a.m. CT with the quarterfinal round and continued wrestlebacks. The fourth session is slated for 7 p.m. CT and will feature semifinals and consolation matches. On Saturday, the fifth session is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT and will wrap up the consolation bracket, featuring seventh-, fifth- and third-place matches at all weights. The finals are slated for 6 p.m. CT on Saturday.

View Brackets Here: 2024 NCAA Wrestling Brackets

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Braeden Davis, 125lbs – Penn State
High School: Dundee HS
Seed: #1
First Round Match: Winner of #32 Matt Joyce (Brown) or #33 Tristan Lujan (Michigan State)
Path to the Podium: The B1G champ could realistically see up to five straight B1G opponents for an NCAA championship in Lujan (Michigan State), Peterson (Rutgers), McKee (Minnesota), Ramos (Purdue), and Ayala (Iowa). Assuming Lujan and Peterson win their first matches, Davis would see rematches after beating Lujan twice during the season, and he won in sudden victory over Peterson. A win in the quarterfinals would put Davis in the semis and on the podium, with a match likely against McKee or Figueroa (Arizona State) for a spot in the finals.

Michael DeAugustino, 125lbs – Michigan
High School: Flagler Palm Coast HS (Florida)
Seed: #18
First Round Match: #15 Caleb Smith (Nebraska)
Path to the Podium: The returning All American has a tough match right out of the gate. Smith owns wins over DeAugustino and #1 Davis this season. A loss in the first round would create a long road back to the podium that would require wins over some combination of #16 Peterson (Rutgers), and a few top-10 opponents like #8 Figueroa (Arizona State) or #9 McKee (Minnesota). With a win over Smith, DeAugustino would likely see #2 Stanich (Lehigh). An upset there would put him in a decent spot to reach the podium. Otherwise, DeAugustino would have to rattle off a few tough wins before a blood round match against someone like #4 Ramos (Purdue) or #5 Volk (Wyoming).

Tristan Lujan, 125lbs – Michigan State
High School: Selma HS (California)
Seed: #33
First Round Match: A prelim match against #32 Matt Joyce (Brown)
Path to the Podium: This is a first time trip to the NCAA tournament for Lujan. He will have his work cut out to him for a spot on the podium this year. A win in the prelim round puts him in the first round against #1 Davis. The two have met twice this year, with Davis win both matches by fairly close decisions. A loss against Davis would put Lujan in a similar path to DeAugustino, meaning he would need to rattle off a few upsets before beating someone like #4 Ramos (Purdue) or #5 Volk (Wyoming). A win against Davis and Lujan would steal Davis’s path, which means he would still need another top-10 upset to place.

Dylan Ragusin, 133lbs – Michigan
High School: Montini Catholic HS (Illinois)
Seed: #5
First Round Match: #28 Michael Colaiocco (Penn)
Path to the Podium:  Ragusin, nowa 4x NCAA qualifier, has put himself in solid position after an outstandingSenior season. Ragusin’s first round match is against 2020 All American Colaiocco (Penn), however, Ragusin picked up a 15-3 major decision against Colaiocco earlier this season. In the second round, we would expect Ragusin to see #12 Latona (Virginia Tech), which is another rematch. Ragusin won a close 5-4decision over Latona at Midlands this season. A win there could set up a rematch of the B1G finals against #4 Shawver (Rutgers) for a spot on the podium and in the semis. A loss to Shawver and Ragusin would still need a top-10 win against someone like #7 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock) or #10 Nagao (Penn State).

Sergio Lemley, 141lbs – Michigan
High School: Mt. Carmel HS (Illinois)
Seed: #8
First Round Match: #25 Danny Pucino (Illinois)
Path to the Podium: Lemley has already solidified himself as one of the toughest true freshmen in the country, and he now has a chance to finish on the podium in his first college season. Should Lemley beat Pucino (Illinois) first round, he could see a rubber match against #9 Hardy (Nebraska). Hardy won the first match this season between the two, while Lemley picked up a buzzer-beater takedown at the B1G tournament to beat Hardy 4-2 two weeks ago. A win there would put Lemley in the quarterfinals against #1 Mendez. A big upset win over Mendez puts Lemley on the podium, otherwise he would have a blood round match against someone like #10 Jamison (Oklahoma State), who has a 7-6 win over Lemley this season.

Josh Edmond, 141lbs – Missouri
High School: Detroit Catholic Central HS
Seed: #21
First Round Match: #12 Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven)
Path to the Podium: As far as 21-seeds go, this could be a pretty solid draw for Edmond. A first round match against #12 Henson is winnable and would likely set up a rematch against #5 Echemendia (Iowa State). Echemendia won a wild 10-9 decision over Edmond in the dual this season. If Edmond can keep pulling offupsets, he would potentially have #4 Jack (NC State), which is winnable as far as #21 vs #4 matches go. Otherwise, Edmond will need to beat someone like #7 Happel (Northern Iowa) or #10 Jamison (Oklahoma State) on the back side, and he owns a win over each of them this season.

Jordan Hamdan, 141lbs – Michigan State
High School: Hudson HS
Seed: #28
First Round Match: #5 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State)
Path to the Podium: A first tough round match for the 2x NCAA qualifier. The two have not yet met, but Echemendia has solidified himself as one of the toughest wrestlers in this weight. No matter what, Hamdan will need to string together 3-4 upsets to reach the podium. A win against Echemendia puts Hamdan in the same position as Edmond to reach the podium, potentially setting up a 2^nd round match against Edmond. Otherwise, Hamdan will be looking to beat a few guys like #11 Koderhandt (Navy) and #8 Lemley or #9 Hardy (Nebraska) to place.

Austin Gomez, 149lbs – Michigan
High School: Glenbard North HS (Illinois)
Seed: #6
First Round Match: #27 Jack Crook (Harvard)
Path to the Podium: All American Gomez will look to improve on his 4th place finish in 2022. He starts off the tournament with #27 Crook from Harvard before likely seeing #11 Quinn Kinner (Rider). Gomez would be the heavy favorite in that match, which would put him in position to steal the #3 seed from Jackson Arrington (NC State). Arrington won the ACC but has taken a few losses this season to lower ranked guys. A win there would put Gomez back onto the podium and into the semis. A loss to Arrington would force Gomez go through someone like #8 Swiderski (Iowa State) or #9 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) for an All American spot.

Casey Swiderski, 149lbs – Iowa State
High School: Dundee HS
Seed: #8
First Round Match: #25 Matthew Williams (Army)
Path to the Podium:  Swiderski was an NCAA qualifier last year as a true freshman and will be looking to reach the podium in his second trip. Assuming Swiderski takes care of business in his first match, he would likely see #9 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell). We like Swiderski in this match over the EIWA champ, which would set up a showdown with #1 Lovett (Nebraska). A win over Lovett would secure his place on the podium and put him into the semis, while a loss would put him in the blood round against someone like #14 D'Emilio (Ohio State). Should Swiderski be upset earlier than the quarters, he would have to go through someone like #6 Gomez (Michigan) to become an All American.

Corbyn Munson, 149lbs – Central Michigan
High School: Chelsea HS
Seed: #15
First Round Match: #18 Cody Bond (Appalachian State)
Path to the Podium:  Munson opens up with a tough but winnable match against #18 Bond (Appalachian State). Should he win that, he will have #2 Kyle Parco (Arizona State). With a big upset there, Munson would have another top-10 match against someone like Chance Lamer (Cal Poly) or Tyler Kasak (Penn State). Otherwise, Munson would drop down to the consis and have to rattle off a few wins to reach the blood round. To reach the blood round, Munson would probably see one of the previously mentioned Lamer or Kasak. That would set up a blood round match with someone like #5 Watters (West Virginia) or #4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech).

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