NC State Wrestling Qualifies Nine for 2019 NCAA Championships

RALEIGH, N.C. – The 2019 ACC Champion NC State wrestling team will be sending nine of its 10 starters to next week’s 2019 NCAA Championships as announced by the NCAA this afternoon. National seeds and brackets will be announced tomorrow at 6 p.m., and the 2019 NCAA Championships take place in Pittsburgh March 21-23.

For the second straight season, NC State posted a school-record nine automatic qualifiers based off their finishes at this past weekend’s ACC Championship, which saw the Wolfpack take top team honors.

Eight of the Pack’s nine NCAA participants this season will be making a return trip to the NCAA Championships, including three who have already collected All-American honors.

NC State will be led by a pack of five redshirt-sophomores. Hayden Hidlay (157 pounds) was an NCAA Finalist last year in his first trip to the NCAAs, while Tariq Wilson (133) went from unseeded to third place last year as well. In addition, classmates Thomas Bullard (165), Daniel Bullard (174) and Nick Reenan (184) will all be making their second trips.

Three additional members of the Wolfpack will be making their final appearances in the NCAA Championships here in their final seasons. Sean Fausz (125) will be returning to the NCAAs for the fourth time in his career, along with Justin Oliver (149), but his first with the Pack after reaching the NCAAs three times with Central Michigan. 2019 ACC Champion Malik McDonald (197) will be making his second trip, first since 2017.

R-Sr. Jamel Morris, the 2019 ACC Champion at 141 pounds, qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career, in his final season.

Over the last four seasons, NC State has qualified 36 of the possible 40 starters.