March 13, 2013

2013 NCAA Championships Brackets 

INDIANAPOLIS - Huskie redshirt junior Matt Mougin will be Northern Illinois' lone representative at the 2013 NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, the association announced Wednesday.
 
The pick marks the 42nd straight season in which at least one Huskie wrestler has advanced to the NCAA Championships. It also marks the first time that the Columbus Junction, Iowa, native will move on to the national meet in his collegiate career.
 
Mougin's first opponent at the NCAA Championships will be Blake Stauffer of Arizona State. Stauffer, who will enter the tournament as the 11th seed at 174, has a 22-3 record so far in 2012-13. He placed second at the Pac-12 Championships after entering as the tournament's top seed. The redshirt freshman from Neosho, Mo., also placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and sixth at the Southern Scuffle.
 
Following the first match, the Huskie will face either Minnesota's Logan Storley or Cal State-Bakersfield's Bryce Hammond. Storley is the sixth-seeded wrestler at 174 with a record of 24-3 and finished seventh at the Big Ten Championships this past weekend. The sophomore out of Roslyn, S.D., earned All-American honors at the 2012 NCAA Championships with a sixth place finish. In tournament action this season, Storley won the Bison Open and took second at the Southern Scuffle.
 
Meanwhile, Hammond enters the tournament after taking the Pac-12 title at 174 with a 9-4 decision against Stauffer - Mougin's first opponent of the tournament. The redshirt freshman posted a 32-8 record on the season and finished on the podium at the Reno Tournament of Champions (fourth), Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (fifth) and Midlands Championships (seventh).
 
The NCAA Championships get started Thursday, March 21, at 11 a.m. with the opening rounds and continues through the finals on Saturday, March 23. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks starting with Thursday's action on ESPN3 and continuing on Friday on ESPNU.