NCAA Championships
Brackets Unveiled for NCAA Wrestling Championships
3/11/2026 9:00:00 PM | Wrestling
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The four Cal Poly wrestlers headed to the NCAA Championships next week in Cleveland received their seeds and learned who they will battle in their opening round matches during a selection show on NCAA.com Wednesday night.
The full 33-man brackets for all 10 weight classes at the NCAA Championships were released, and Koda Holeman (125 pounds), Andre Gonzales (149 pounds), Ceasar Garza (184 pounds) and Trevor Tinker (285 pounds) all discovered their paths to glory. The 2026 NCAA Championships begin next Thursday, March 19, and continue through Saturday, March 21, at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Holeman, the Pac-12 champion at 125 pounds, earned the highest seed for the Mustangs in his second straight trip to the NCAA Championships. Holeman earned the 15th seed with a 19-5 record and will face No. 18 Spencer Moore from Illinois in his opening match. His seed is 13 spots higher than the one he received during his first appearance at NCAAs last season.
The Clovis, Calif. native is fresh off defeating Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria, who is seeded No. 9 in the NCAA Championships, by a 5-4 decision to claim the 125-pound Pac-12 title. He is the third Mustang ever to win a Pac-12 title at 125 pounds and the first since Chad Mendes in 2006. Holeman went 0-2 at NCAAs last year.
Making his fourth straight NCAAs appearance, Tinker enters the event seeded No. 22 at heavyweight. He is set to wrestle Northern Illinois’ Devon Dawson, the No. 11 seed who is the Mid-American Conference champion and 31-4 on the year.
Tinker became the 10th four-time NCAA qualifier in Division I program history last Friday night when he captured his second straight Pac-12 heavyweight title, defeating Little Rock’s Michael Gasper by a 1-0 decision. The St. Louis, Missouri native is the first two-time heavyweight champion in Cal Poly history, and he is the first Mustang to repeat as a Pac-12 champion in their weight class since Chase Pami in 2008-09 (157 pounds). Tinker is 11-4 this season and his appearance at Pac-12s was his first action on the mat since competing in the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29. He will look to improve upon his 2-2 showing at last year’s NCAAs.
Gonzales and Garza are both set to make their NCAA debuts. Garza punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships by winning the Pac-12 title at 184 pounds, defeating Oregon State’s TJ McDonnell for the third time this season. The Oakdale, Calif. native, who transferred to Cal Poly from Michigan State over the offseason, is the second Mustang ever and the first since Ryan Halsey in 2003 to win a Pac-12 title at 184.
Garza is seeded No. 23 and will take on No. 10 Caleb Campos from American, who won the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association title, in his first-round match. Garza is an impressive 18-2 this season.
Gonzales earned the No. 27 seed at 149 and will face No. 6 Caleb Tyus from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the opening round. Tyus is 22-2 this season.
Gonzales placed second at the Pac-12 Championships, upsetting No. 24-ranked Noah Tolentino from Oregon State by a 4-2 decision in the semifinals to book his ticket to NCAAs. Gonzales is an Ohio State transfer who is in his final season of eligibility.
First-round matches at the NCAA Championships start at 9 a.m. PDT next Thursday, March 19, in Cleveland. The entirety of the event will be streamed live on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN+.
NCAA First Round Matches
125: No. 15 Koda Holeman (Cal Poly) 19-5 vs. No. 18 Spencer Moore (Illinois) 17-8.
149: No. 27 Andre Gonzales (Cal Poly) 16-11 vs. No. 6 Caleb Tyus (SIUE) 22-2.
184: No. 23 Ceasar Garza (Cal Poly) 18-2 vs. No. 10 Caleb Campos (American) 25-6.
285: No. 22 Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) 11-4 vs. No. 11 Devon Dawson (NIU) 31-4.
