OREM, Utah — The NCAA released the brackets for next week's 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and of Utah Valley University's five qualifiers, four drew first-time opponents in the opening round.

141-pound senior Haiden Drury will open with Penn State's Braeden Davis with the victor advancing to wrestle the winner of Nebraska's Brock Hardy and Maryland's Dario Lemus. Drury is 21-9 on the season, with a career-high in wins, and is seeded No. 19 while Davis is 12-5 and the No. 14 seed. Both wrestlers finished seventh at their conference championships.

David Evans is the No. 9 seed and will face No. 24 Andrew Clark of Rutgers. Evans is 20-5 after going 5-1 and taking third at last week's Big 12 Championships at 149 pounds. Clark is 16-10 on the year. The winner will get either No. 8 Casey Swiderski of Oklahoma State, the Big 12 Champion, or Michael Gioffre of Illinois, the sixth-place finisher at the Big Ten Championships.

Caleb Uhlenhopp, at 184 pounds, is the No. 33 seed after taking seventh at the Big 12 Championships. Uhlenhopp will open with the pigtail match against 32-seed Sam Goin of Indiana. Uhlenhopp is 16-14 on the year while Goin is 12-8,  with the winner facing unbeaten top seed and Big Ten champion Rocco Welsh of Penn State, who is 20-0 on the season.

At 197 pounds, Kael Bennie will face No. 2 seed Rocky Elam of Iowa State, who is unbeaten at 18-0 this season and won a Big 12 title last week in Tulsa. The winner of that match will face either Remy Cotton of Rutgers or Andrew Reall from Brown. Bennie wrestled Elam at the Cyclone Invitational earlier this season with the unbeaten ISU wrestler winning 13-2.

Jack Forbes will also face a stiff test against No. 3 seed and Big Ten champion Taye Ghadiali out of Michigan at 285 pounds. The winner between the two Wolverines will face the either Nate Schon (Drexel) or Koy Hopke (Minnesota). Forbes is entering the NCAA Championships with a career-high 19 wins on the season.

Of the five qualifiers for UVU, four are competing at Nationals for the first time. Drury is making his second appearance after competing in 2022. Drury, Evans, and Forbes are all seniors and wrapping up their collegiate careers. The action begins next Thursday, March 19.