The 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Thursday, March 18 - Saturday, March 20
St. Louis, Mo. / Enterprise Center

How to Watch
Links for mat-by-mat video coverage, updated brackets and live results will all be available at NCAA.com. Every match on every mat will be streamed via ESPN3. First round and quarterfinal action will air on ESPNU, second round, semifinal and medal rounds will air on ESPN2, and the finals will air on ESPN.

Brackets (PDF)

Live Scoring (Via TrackWrestling)

ESPN3 Video Links (Excel)

Notes Package (PDF)

Ten Points About Greg Bulsak

• Senior Greg Bulsak will make his fourth career NCAA appearance when he heads to St. Louis to compete at the 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships at the Enterprise Center
• A nationally-ranked contender at 197 pounds in each of the last three seasons, Bulsak would have been the 10th seed in last year's championships, before the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the event
• Bulsak has been a fixture in the national rankings all season long, and was a top-10 athlete in each of the first NCAA coaches panel rankings this year
• Last year Bulsak became Clarion's first-ever Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion, winning the title at the championships hosted by Northern Illinois. He took third in 2021 to clinch his automatic bid to nationals
• Bulsak boasts a career record of 76-23 with 25 wins by fall, including five this year and a career-high nine wins by fall last year
• The neon lights of Las Vegas have proven to be very good to Bulsak over his career, as he earned sixth-place finishes at each of the last two Cliff Keen Invitationals (2018-19)
• Bulsak has been incredibly consistent over the last two years, winning 27 of his last 28 matches dating back to December 21, 2019
• Last year Bulsak ranked second among all 197-pounders nationally with nine wins by fall, behind only Cornell's Ben Darmstadt
• Bulsak enters the tournament as the 14th-seed at 197 pounds, pitting him against 19th-seeded Thomas Penola of Purdue
• The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) recognized Bulsak as an All-American in 2020, and three times as an NWCA Scholar All-American

Ten Points About Clarion Wrestling

• Clarion is led by head coach Keith Ferraro, who is in his seventh season at the helm of the program
• The Golden Eagles saw two wrestlers earn NWCA All-American status last year, Greg Bulsak and Brock Zacherl, marking the first year they had multiple All-Americans since 2012
• One of the strongest academic programs in the nation, Clarion has ranked in the top 10 percent in NCAA APR in each of the last two years, and is the only Mid-American Conference (MAC) school to do so in that time
• Clarion took seventh place at the 2021 MAC Championships in 2021, a five-place improvement from their finish in 2020
• The Golden Eagles had three NCAA qualifiers a year ago, including Bulsak, Zacherl, and heavyweight Ty Bagoly
• Clarion placed two wrestlers on the NCAA Wrestling's 75th Anniversary team, announced in 2005 - Wade Schalles (middleweights) and Kurt Angle (heavyweights)
• Among the other greats in Clarion Wrestling history is former coach Bob Bubb, a 2005 inductee into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame who served as the Golden Eagles' coach from 1967-92
• The last time a Clarion wrestler fought his way to the podium was in 2013, when James Fleming took eighth place at 157 pounds
• The Golden Eagles have never had an NCAA placewinner at 197 pounds, but Bryan Stout placed three consecutive years (1994-96) at 190 pounds
• Clarion's last national champion was Sheldon Thomas, who win at 118 in 1996

The Lead
Greg Bulsak will chase the dream of a national championship in St. Louis this weekend, when the redshirt senior competes at the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Enterprise Center. The 14th seed in the 197-pound bracket, Bulsak's weekend will start in the afternoon session on Thursday, March 18 when he faces 19th-seeded Thomas Penola of Purdue.

Schedule of Events
 
Thursday, March 18
    11 a.m.     Session 1A (Eight Mats - First Round, 5 weight classes)
    2 p.m.     Session 1B (Eight Mats - First Round, 5 weight classes)
    6 p.m.     Session 2A (Eight Mats - Second Round and Wrestlebacks, 5 weight classes)
    9 p.m.     Session 2B (Eight Mats - Second Round and Wrestlebacks, 5 weight classes)
Friday, March 19
    11 a.m.     Session 3 (Eight Mats - Quarterfinals and Wrestlebacks, 5 weight classes)
    3 p.m.     Session 4 (Eight Mats - Quarterfinals and Wrestlebacks, 5 weight classes)
    8 p.m.     Session 5 (Eight Mats - Semifinals and Wrestlebacks)
Saturday, March 20
    11 a.m.     Session 6 (Four Mats - Wrestlebacks and 3rd-5th-7th Place Matches)
    6:35 p.m.     Grand March - Parade of All-Americans
    7 p.m.     Session 7 (One Mat - Finals and Awards Ceremony)

*All times are Eastern Time.

Broadcast Schedule

First Round	Thursday morning	March 18	11 a.m.	ESPNU
	Thursday afternoon	March 18	2 p.m.	ESPNU
Second Round	Thursday evening	March 18	6 p.m.	ESPN2
	Thursday late evening	March 18	9 p.m.	ESPN2
Quarterfinals	Friday morning	March 19	11 a.m.	ESPNU
	Friday afternoon	March 19	3 p.m.	ESPNU
Semifinals	Friday evening	March 19	8 p.m.	ESPN2
Medal Rounds	Saturday	March 20	11 a.m.	ESPN2
National Championships	Saturday	March 20	7 p.m.	ESPN

Last Time Out
The Golden Eagles took seventh place at the 2021 Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships in the last weekend of February, with Greg Bulsak clinching his automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a third-place finish at 197 pounds. After falling in the semifinals on Day 1, Bulsak needed to win a pair of matches on Feb. 27 to clinch an automatic qualifier spot, and win he did, starting with a bout against Northern Illinois's Gage Braun. Bulsak defeated Braun for the second time this year, with the result never really in doubt as the former controlled action until reaching a 6-2 decision.
 
That set up another meeting with Rider's Matt Correnti in the third-place bout, an opponent that Bulsak had pinned twice this season – once at home, and once in the quarterfinal round on Feb. 26. There were no wins by fall this time, but the result remained the same as Bulsak worked Correnti for a 10-2 major decision and a bid to NCAAs.

About the Coach
Keith Ferraro, a native of Brookville, is in his seventh year as Clarion's head wrestling coach in 2020-21. He has been integral in elevating the Golden Eagles back into the national spotlight.

The Golden Eagle program has made tremendous strides under Ferraro's tutelage, with perhaps no more telling figure than the number of NCAA qualifiers the Golden Eagles have produced.  The team that Ferraro took over in 2014-15 went 1-16 in dual matches and sent no wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.  The Golden Eagles then produced multiple NCAA qualifiers every year from 2016-20, including four in 2017-18, tied for the most in a single season since the Golden Eagles sent five wrestlers to the 2004 Championships. Clarion has had 14 NCAA qualifiers in total under Ferraro.

Academic Success is the Expectation
The Golden Eagles have become leaders in the classroom as well as the wrestling room under head coach Keith Ferraro. Clarion was recognized by the NCAA as being in the top 10 percent of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report in both 2018-19 and 2019-20, the only wrestling program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to earn recognition in either year.  

About 2021 NCAA Qualifier Greg Bulsak    

Known Commodity
Greg Bulsak entered the season as a consensus nationally-ranked contender, and thus far has not disabused anyone of that notion. The redshirt senior is 11-1 on the season and enters the weekend seeded 14th at 197 pounds He was ranked as high as fifth in the nation this year, by The Open Mat, and resided in the top-10 in the national rankings for most of the 2020-21 season.

Racking Them Up...
Greg Bulsak has been a supremely consistent force in the Golden Eagle lineup over the last four years, and is working on an impressive streak as he heads into the NCAA tournament. He has won 27 of his last 28 matches dating back to last season; before falling to Cleveland State's Ben Smith in the MAC semifinals on Feb. 26, his last loss was to Cal Poly's Thomas Davis in the sixth-place match at the 2019 Cliff Keen Invitational.

...And Laying Them Flat
With wins by fall over SIU-Edwardsville's Sergio Villalobos and Rider's Matt Correnti on the first day of the MAC Championships, Bulsak now has five wins by fall on the season. After finishing last year as one of the national leaders in wins by fall for 197 pounders, Bulsak leads the Golden Eagles with five wins by fall this season. He has recorded 25 wins by fall out of his 76 career victories, meaning he is pinning nearly one out of every three opponents he faces. 

Viva Las Vegas
Bulsak showed he belonged among the nation's elite at the 2018 and 2019 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitationals, defeating a number of high profile opponents in each to cement his status as one of the country's top 197-pounders. He took sixth at both events.

In 2018 Bulsak went 3-2 at Cliff Keen before losing as a medical forfeit to Purdue's Christian Brunner in the fifth-place match. He added Missouri's Wyatt Koelling to his hit list with a pin in the second period, and followed with perhaps his best win of the season, an 8-1 decision over Virginia Tech's Tom Sleigh. He dropped decisions to Nathan Traxler and Eric Schultz.

He was even better in 2019, putting together a string of wins against some of the brighter lights in his weight class. Bulsak posted wins by fall over South Dakota State's Tanner Sloan and Wyoming's Stephen Buchanan before defeating Jay Aiello by decision. He again fell to Schultz, as well as Cal Poly's Thomas Davis and Arizona State's Kendall Norfleet.

Setting the Standard
The 2019-20 season was Clarion's first year as an affiliate member of the Mid-American Conference, and Bulsak set program history when he became the Golden Eagles' first-ever MAC champion. He blitzed his way through Day 1 of the tournament, reaching the finals after avenging an early-season loss to Northern Illinois's nationally-ranked Gage Braun in the semis. 

Freshman Phenom
Bulsak had a strong redshirt campaign as a true freshman, racking up a 17-4 record while wrestling unattached. That carried over to his first campaign in the Golden Eagle lineup, when he went 21-9 and earned a spot at the NCAA Tournament at 184 pounds. One of the early season highlights for Bulsak came in Clarion's dual win over Pittsburgh on Dec. 16, 2017, when he pinned Gregg Harvey to put the Golden Eagles ahead of the Panthers for good. 

What Can You Do In Six Seconds?
For Greg Bulsak, the answer is punch your ticket for the NCAA Championships. As a freshman at the 2018 Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Championships, Bulsak faced Bloomsburg's Trevor Allard in a true second place match to determine the league's second NCAA qualifier. Bulsak clinched the riding time point but trailed 5-3 on the scoreboard with just six seconds remaining after a clock stoppage. Bulsak surged forward and took Allard down as time expired, getting the necessary two points to secure his win and his first NCAA appearance.

Quick Hitters
Bulsak is in search of his first career NCAA Championships victory... Bulsak was 2-1 this season over two competitors in the 197-pound bracket, with wins over Colin McCracken (Kent State) and Jacob Koser (Navy) and a loss to Ben Smith (Cleveland State)... last year Bulsak racked up six wins over athletes in this year's bracket, defeating Michael Beard (Penn State), Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming), Jay Aiello (Virginia), Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State),  McCracken and Smith... Bulsak's first-round opponent, Thomas Penola, wrestled at heavyweight in a dual against the Golden Eagles last year, and was defeated by fall by Clarion's Ty Bagoly. 

Proud History
Clarion wrestling enjoys a long, proud history, both on the regional and national levels.  The Golden Eagles have produced eight national champions and 46 All-Americans throughout history.  Two of those national champions were recognized on the NWCA/NCAA 75th Anniversity All-Time Collegiate Team in 2005 - Kurt Angle (1988-92) and Wade Schalles (1971-74). 

Angle went on to reach the height of the sport, winning the gold medal in freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In more recent history, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov represented his home country of Uzbekistan in the 2016 Summer Olympics, defeating Jordan Burroughs before falling just short of a medal in freestyle. 
 
Building the Program
One of the giants of the sport, former head coach Bob Bubb was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005 after a 26-year coaching career that ended in 1992 with 322 career dual wins and a seven individual national champions. Bubb also served as the Secretary Rules Editor of NCAA wrestling from 1989-2011, Executive Director of the NWCA from 1995-99, and Chair of the NCAA Wrestling Committee from 1987-89.
 
"The Little Giants of Wrestling"
Clarion wrestling first rose to national prominence in the early 1970's, when the Golden Eagles combined for five individual titles in two years.  Gary Barton and Wade Schalles won individual titles in 1972, while the trio of Schalles, Don Rohn and Bill "Elbows" Simpson all won in 1973. 
 
Barton's title in 1972 was significant in that he entered the bracket as an unseeded entry and proceeded to defeat the #1, #2, #4 and #5 seeded entries in the 134-pound bracket to claim the national championship.  Rohn's national championship came when he was a true freshman.