LITTLE ROCK – The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee announced the remaining at-large qualifiers for the Division I Wrestling Championships Tuesday afternoon, naming Little Rock's
Paul Bianchi as one of six remaining 133-pound wrestlers to punch his ticket to the 2021 Championships and the first Trojan in program history.
Seedings and brackets for this year's event will be revealed tomorrow, March 10, during the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Selection Show on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. CT.
The full list of qualifiers can be found here.
64 at-large selections join the 266 student-athletes that qualified through their conference tournament finishes over the last two weekends. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins (defined as wins against wrestlers already in the field), coaches ranking, results against common opponents, conference tournament placement and winning percentage. The committee was also able to use subjective criteria such as, but not limited to, historical performance.
Bianchi checked in at #26 the NCAA Coaches Poll both on Feb. 11 and Feb. 21 before finishing fourth at the Pac-12 Championships, defeating another ranked opponent in the process. The redshirt senior's accomplishments over the past two years have led to several milestones for the Little Rock wrestling program, including the program's first preseason ranking, the first Division I team victory for the Trojans, and now this historic event.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place in St. Louis, Missouri from Thursday, March 18 through Saturday, March 20. For more information on the championship event,
click here.
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out
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