DEKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University wrestlers Brock Hudkins and Bryce Gorman are set to compete at the 2018 NCAA National Championships at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday.  
 
Competition begins at 11 a.m. Central on Thursday.  NIU has sent at least one grappler to the NCAA Championships for 47 straight years.
 
"It is the most exciting time of the year," said NIU head wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig.  "This is the culmination of everything that we have all been working for.  Each Individual on that team has been a stepping stone over to where these two are that are taking the mats in Cleveland and we are excited about that."
 
Hudkins, a native of Danville, Ind., enters his second NCAA Championship at 125 with a 16-10 record this season.  The Huskie sophomore went 3-2 at last season's tournament and hopes to duplicate his result from last season.
 
"Going last year [to the NCAA Championships], kind of made my expectation to go this year," Hudkins said.  "It is awesome to go, but I have to go there and do better than I did last year. That is my goal."
 
Hudkins opens the championship with a match versus No. 7 Taylor LeMont from Utah Valley.  LeMont finished the regular season with 25 wins and won the Big 12 Conference's 125 weight-class. 
 
Gorman, who finished the regular season at 11-8, is making his first NCAA Championship and will compete at 184.  The Huskie redshirt-junior suffered a loss in the MAC Championship to Kayne McCallum of Eastern Michigan, but is ready for the NCAA Championships.  
 
Gorman, a native of Manhattan, Ill., squares up with the No. 2 seed Myles Martin of Ohio State.  Martin comes into NCAAs with a 29-2 record and earned All-American honors the last two seasons.
 
"We expect Bryce to compete with the same mindset that he competed in the MAC Championships and add to that with a little more competitive fire," said Ludwig. "Bryce is a very talented and gifted athlete and brings a very competitive mindset.  It is all about that match prep and he has had a really good week. 
 
"We have seen strides since the MAC Championship and we expect him to go into the NCAA Championship with the right focus and letting the environment overwhelm him.  If he can do that, we can expect great things."
 
The NCAA Championships will be live on the ESPN family of networks and lives stats will be available on trackwrestling.com.  Fans can follow Brock Hudkins and Bryce Gorman wrestling through the NCAA Championships on Twitter via @NIUWrestling. 
 
–NIU–