DES MOINES, Iowa -- (Official Brackets | Live Video Stream) Official brackets for the 2018 NAIA Wrestling National Championships have been released. Session I action inside the Jacobson Exhibition Center starts at 10 a.m. CST. The 61st event consists of four sessions, concluding Saturday with the championship finals at 7 p.m.
All matches at the national championships will be stream live via Trackcast. To access that stream, click here. Additionally, the championship session will also be distributed on ESPN3 (www.watchespn.com).
Official brackets were verified and approved by the NAIA-Wrestling Coaches Association Bracketing Committee Wednesday afternoon.
Championship Notes
• Fifty-three teams are represented at this year's national championships.
• There will be 46 All-Americans in action, including three-time honorees Jake Sinkovics of Cumberlands (Ky.) (133 pounds) and Dean Broghammer of Grand View (Iowa) (285 pounds).
• Five national champions from 2017 return for the 2018 event - Josh Wenger of Grand View (Iowa) (141 pounds), Grand Henderson of Grand View (165 pounds), Lawton Benna of Grand View (174 pounds), Evan Hansen of Grand View (197 pounds) and Brandon Weber of Montana State-Northern (157 pounds).
• Grand View (Iowa) enters the national championship looking for a seventh-straight team title. If the Vikings are victorious, they will become only program in NAIA history to accomplish the feat and only the fourth program in collegiate wrestling history. The other programs to do so are NCAA Division I Iowa (nine-straight 1978-86), NCAA Division I Oklahoma State (seven-straight 1937-1949) and then-NCAA Division II Cal Poly (seven-straight 1968-1974).
• Grand View and Missouri Valley both bring a full roster of 12 individuals to the national championships. Cumberlands, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Williams Baptist (Ark.) are next with 11 wrestlers competing.
• There have been 19 programs to previously claim the team title. Former NAIA members Adams State (Colo.) and Central State (Okla.) each took home eight, which is the most in the 61-year history of the event. Of the current NAIA programs, Grand View and Montana State-Northern are tied for the lead with six each.
• Former NAIA member Simon Fraser (B.C.) boasts the most individual champions with 39, while Southern Oregon is second with 36, followed by Montana State-Northern with 30.
• In 2017, Grand View set a new national championship team scoring record with 234.5 points. The previous mark was 210.
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