Six North Carolina wrestlers learned their seeding and first-round opponents for the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on March 11. The tournament is scheduled to take place from March 19 to 21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The announcement matters as it sets the stage for North Carolina’s participation in one of college wrestling’s most important events, determining the path each athlete must take to advance.
Two Tar Heels received top-15 seeds: Bryce Hepner was seeded ninth at 165 pounds, while Luke Simcox earned the twelfth seed at 141 pounds. Four-time NCAA qualifier Kysen Terukina was awarded the nineteenth seed at 125 pounds. Laird Root received the thirtieth seed at 157 pounds, Collin Carrigan was seeded twenty-seventh at 174 pounds and will face an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in his opening round, and Jake Dailey secured the eighteenth seed at 184 pounds.
The opening matchups are as follows: Terukina will compete against Jacob Moran of Indiana; Simcox faces Tyler Wells of Oklahoma; Root meets Meyer Shapiro of Cornell; Hepner takes on Sean Seefeldt of Penn; Carrigan is matched with Matty Singleton of North Carolina State; and Dailey will wrestle Sal Perrine of Ohio.
As these athletes prepare for their matches, their performance in Cleveland will determine how far they advance in this national competition. The results could have implications for both individual careers and the overall standing of North Carolina’s wrestling program.