UNI wrestling: Centennial season reaches crescendo at NCAA Championships

No. 15 UNI wrestling at NCAA Division I Championships

March 21-23, 2024
Kansas City, Mo. | T-Mobile Center (17,297)
11 a.m. / 6 p.m. CT (Thursday - First/Second Rounds & Consolations)
11 a.m. / 7 p.m. CT (Friday - Quarterfinal/Semifinal Rounds, Consolations & Blood Rounds)
10 a.m. / 6 p.m. CT (Saturday - Medal Round & Finals)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Five Panthers will make their NCAA Championship debuts on Thursday as UNI's seven-man delegation begins competition at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

Fans can catch all the action of this year's NCAA Championships on the networks on ESPN, and with live results available on TrackWrestling. Links to every mat camera for all four sessions can be found online at UNI's 2024 NCAA Championship Hub.

Coming off a fourth Big 12 championship, Parker Keckeisen (184 pounds) seeks to become just the sixth wrestler in Northern Iowa history to earn at least four All-American honors, entering this year's tournament seeded first at 184 pounds for a second straight season. No UNI wrestler has ever earned four Division I All-American honors in the 100 year history of the Panther program.

This is the fourth time a Panther has been seeded first in a weight class at the NCAAs under head coach Doug Schwab (Joe Colon [133] - 2014; Taylor Lujan [184] - 2020; Parker Keckeisen [184] - 2023.

UNI WRESTLERS WITH AT LEAST FOUR ALL-AMERICAN SELECTIONS

6 - Kirk Myers | 1978 (2), 79 (2), 80 (DII), 82 (DI) (Earned both D-I and D-II honors in 1978, 79)
5 - Jim Miller | 1973, 74 (2), 75 (Earned both D-I and D-II honors in 1974, 75)
4 - Ken Gallagher | 1979 (D-II), 80 (D-II), 81 (D-I), 82 (D-1)
4 - Randy Omvig | 1971, 73, 74, 75 (All D-II)
4 - Keith Poolman | 1976, 77, 78, 79 (All D-II)

The Panthers have finished in the top-25 at the Division I NCAA Championships since 2016, which included a tie for 16th place last season in Tulsa. UNI is also on a six-tournament streak of having at least one All-America selection.

Of the seven Panthers qualified for this year's tournament, and three earned top-ten seeds. Two unseeded Panthers, including the first under Schwab, have earned All-America honors under Schwab since he started in 2011. The NCAA did not seed the entire field until 2019.

Contested All-Americans under Schwab from lowest to highest seed (NCAA place | name / weight - year (seed)):

4th | David Bonin / 157 - 2013 (unseeded, which ended at No. 12)
7th | Ryan Loder / 184 - 2013 (6 seed)
6th | Joey Lazor / 141 - 2014 (11 seed)
6th | Dylan Peters / 125 - 2014 (5 seed)
3rd | Joe Colon / 133 - 2014 (1 seed)
6th | Dylan Peters / 125 - 2016 (9 seed)
7th | Drew Foster / 184 - 2017 (12 seed)
5th | Max Thomesn / 149 - 2017 (7 seed)
5th | Jacob Holschlag / 197 - 2018 (unseeded, which ended at No. 16)
8th | Bryce Steiert / 165 - 2019 (11 seed)
1st | Drew Foster / 184 - 2019 (6 seed)
3rd | Parker Keckeisen / 184 - 2021 (4 seed)
3rd | Parker Keckeisen / 184 - 2022 (4 seed)
2nd | Parker Keckeisen / 184 - 2023 (1 seed)

FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS (Seed)

133 | (19) Julian Farber vs. (14) Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska)
Coming off a seventh-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, Farber (20-9) will make his NCAA Championship debut against a familiar foe in Van Dee (22-8), who beat earlier this season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, and in dual competition in January in Lincoln. Farber went 10-4 in his first season in the Panther lineup, and picked up five top-30 wins on the year, including a victory over then-No. 12 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) in December. After redshirting last season for the Cornhuskers, this will also be Van Dee's first appearance at the NCAAs after placing fourth at the Big Ten Championships.

141 | (7) Cael Happel vs. (26) Cleveland Belton (Oregon State)
Happel (19-8) makes his second NCAA Championship appearance after going 2-2 at the tournament last March in Tulsa, facing off in the first-round with Oregon State's Cleveland Belton (18-7). The Big 12 runner-up at 141 pounds, Happel has notched four top-ten victories, including then-No. 6 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) twice. Happel has won 11 of his last 15 bouts, which included an eight-match winning streak in December and January. Belton, who placed second at the Pac-12 Championships last weekend as was last year's conference champion, is making his second NCAA appearance.

157 | (5) Ryder Downey vs. (28) Jared Hill (Oklahoma)
Downey (20-4) will make his NCAA debut against a familiar Big 12 challenger on the opening day of competition in Kansas City, matching up with Oklahoma's Jared Hill (18-7), an opponent he beat in a 13-1 major decision back in January in Norman. The 2024 Big 12 champion and winner of 14 straight matches, Downey has recorded six top-15 wins on the year, which included an upset of then-No. 3 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) in Lincoln. Hill placed sixth at the Big 12 Championships and will be making his second NCAA Championship appearance.

165 | (33) Jack Thomsen vs. (32) Jake Logan (Lehigh)
Thomsen (17-7) will take on Lehigh's Jake Logan (12-11) in a first-round bout with the winner facing top-seeded and defending national champion Keegan O'Toole (Missouri). Making his first to the NCAAs, Thomsen, who placed sixth at the Big 12 Championships, picked up open titles at the Jim Koch and Pat Flanagan Opens before breaking into UNI's lineup late in the season with appearances in three duals. Logan placed fifth at the EIWA Championships and will also be making his NCAA Championship debut.

174 | (28) Jared Simma vs. (5) Philip Conigliaro (Harvard)
Simma's (16-8) NCAA Championship debut begins with a tough first-round matchup against fifth-seeded Philip Conigliaro (24-3) of Harvard. Compiling a 9-5 dual record in his first year in the Panther lineup, Simma placed seventh at the Big 12 Championships that included three bonus-point victories during a season that featured five top-30 wins, headlined by an upset of then-No. 12 Max Maylor (Wisconsin) in Northern Iowa's final dual of the year. Conigliaro, the 2022 EIWA champion who placed fourth at his conference tournament this year, is making his fourth NCAA Championship appearance in Kansas City.

184 | (1) Parker Keckeisen vs. (32) Tomas Brooker (Appalachian State) OR (33) Anthony D'Alesio (Long Island)
Earning his second straight number one seeding at the NCAAs, Keckeisen (26-0) will begin his chase for a national title in Kansas City against the winner of a first-round matchup between Appalachian State's Tomas Brooker (19-13) and Long Island's Anthony D'Alesio (19-12). Keckeisen, UNI's first-ever four-time Big 12 champion, the reigning national runner-up and three-time All-American, carries a perfect 26-0 record into the national championships with bonus-point wins in all but three matches this year. Brooker, the 2024 Southern Conference champion is making his NCAA Championship debut as a true freshman, while D'Alesio, the seventh-place finisher at this year's EIWA Championships, does the same as a true freshman.

197 | (19) Wyatt Voelker vs. (14) John Poznanski (Rutgers)
Coming off a fifth-place effort in Tulsa at the Big 12 Championships, Voelker (18-6) will make his NCAA debut against Big Ten challenger John Poznanski (15-4) of Rutgers. After a stellar redshirt season a year ago, Voelker broke into the UNI lineup with nine straight wins from late January through the open round of the Big 12 Championships, along with an 8-2 record in duals. Poznanski took seventh last weekend at the Big 12 Championships in Maryland and will make his third NCAA appearance in Kansas City, his first since 2022. He also finished fourth in 2021 to earn All-American honors.

UNI at NCAAs under Schwab

2011: T46th - 3 qualifiers
2012: 34th - 5 qualifiers
2013: T15th - 4 qualifiers / 2 All-Americans
2014: 15th - 7 qualifiers / 3 All-Americans
2015: 34th - 4 qualifiers
2016: 25th - 5 qualifiers / 1 All-American
2017: 18th - 7 qualifiers / 2 All-Americans
2018: T24th - 6 qualifiers / 1 All-American
2019: T13th - 6 qualifiers / 2 All-Americans
2020: N/A - 7 qualifiers / 5 All-Americans *
2021: 19th - 6 qualifiers / 1 All-American
2022: T20th - 8 qualifiers / 1 All-American
2023: T16th - 7 qualifiers / 1 All-American

* no tournament due to COVID-19 / seeded wrestlers earned All-America honors

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