Simma, Fox earn at-large bids to 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships

INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA on Tuesday announced its 2026 Division I wrestling at-large qualifiers with UNI's Jared Simma (174 pounds) and Nick Fox (184 pounds).

The selection of Simma and Fox gives Northern Iowa a total of five wrestlers qualified for this year's national championship tournament. The Panthers earned three automatic qualifiers via pre-allocated spots this past weekend at the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Trever Anderson, who medically withdrew from the conference tournament due to injury, was selected as an alternate at 125 pounds.

Simma, a redshirt senior from Shawnee, Kansas, makes his third trip to the NCAA Championships at 174 pounds after a 14-8 mark this season. Despite coming up short of the podium in Tulsa, Simma has recorded three wins over top-15 ranked opponents and notably finished second at the Cougar Clash in December. At the 2024 national tournament in Kansas City, Simma came one win shy of All-American status with a run to the quarterfinals as an at-large selection, while earning one win in his NCAA Championship appearance last season in Philadelphia.

Fox, a redshirt sophomore from Osage, Iowa, will make his NCAA Championship debut at 184 pounds. Posting a 12-4 record on the year, Fox battled back from an early season injury and rattled off an impressive eight match winning streak during the regular season with three top-ten wins on the year, including a 4-3 victory over No. 9 Brian Soldano (Oklahoma) to place ninth at the Big 12 Championships. Fox was also named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week back on Feb. 3.

Northern Iowa, which finished tenth at the Big 12 Championships this season, has qualified at least five athletes for the NCAA Championships every year since 2016, and at least five wrestlers in 12 of head coach Doug Schwab's 15 seasons.

Seeding and brackets for the 2026 NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio will be announced during the annual tournament selection show on Wednesday night beginning at 7 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.

UNI's 2026 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS

133 | Julian Farber (3rd at Big 12s / 3rd NCAA appearance)
149 | Caleb Rathjen (2nd at Big 12s / 2nd NCAA appearance)
157 | Ryder Downey (4th at Big 12s / 3rd NCAA appearance)
174 | Jared Simma (DNP at Big 12s / 3rd NCAA appearance)
184 | Nick Fox (9th at Big 12s / 1st NCAA appearance)

ALL-AMERICANS IN THE DOUG SCHWAB ERA (since 2011)

David Bonin - 2013
Ryan Loder - 2013
Joe Colon - 2014
Joey Lazor - 2014
Dylan Peters - 2014, 16
Max Thomsen - 2017, 2020*
Drew Foster - 2017, 19
Jacob Holschlag - 2018
Bryce Steiert - 2019, 2020*
Taylor Lujan - 2020*
Carter Isley - 2020*
Michael Blockhus - 2020*
Parker Keckeisen - 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Cael Happel - 2025

* 2020 championships canceled due to COVID-19 / All-American honors determined by pre-championship seeds

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: T13 - 6 qualifiers / 2 All-Americans / 1 Champion
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
2024: 14th - 7 qualifiers / 1 All-American / 1 Champion
2025: 9th - 10 qualifiers / 2 All-Americans
2026: 5 qualifiers

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

UNI wrestling action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (University of Northern Iowa Wrestling), X (@UNI_wrestling) and on Instagram (@uni_panther_wrestling). Check out the latest Panther news and information online at UNIpanthers.com.

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