CLEVELAND — The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee announced seeding and brackets for the 2026 NCAA Championships during its selection show on Wednesday night. First round opponents have been revealed for the four Boilermakers who qualified for the national tournament.
PURDUE SEEDS / FIRST ROUND OPPONENTS
| Weight | Purdue Wrestler (Seed) | Opponent |
| 165 | Joey Blaze (2) | Jared Keslar (31), Pitt |
| 174 | Brody Baumann (22) | MJ Gaitan (11), Iowa State |
| 133 | Blake Boarman (24) | Dominick Serrano (9), Northern Colorado |
| 197 | Ben Vanadia (26) | Cody Merrill (7), Oklahoma State |
On the heels of a 22-1 junior season, Joey Blaze earned the No. 2 seed at 165 pounds, which makes him just the fourth Boilermaker since 1962 to own a top-two seed.
The others all finished on the podium as All-Americans.
| Year | Wrestler | Seed | Finish |
| 1992 | Charles Jones | 2 | Champion |
| 2003 | Chris Fleeger | 1 | 2nd |
| 2025 | Matt Ramos | 2 | 4th |
| 2026 | Joey Blaze | 2 | ? |
Purdue’s 2025 national runner-up at 157, Blaze will aim for the top of the podium at his new weight this season. He has a chance to become Purdue’s first national champion since Jones in 1992 and just the fifth in school history.
Blaze draws No. 31 Jared Keslar (Pittsburgh) in the first round. Keslar is 15-13 this season making his first NCAA tournament appearance as a redshirt junior.
Redshirt junior Brody Baumann (No. 22 at 174) becomes a three-time NCAA qualifier after an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. A two-time state champion from Evansville, Ind., he is one of just three Indiana natives to qualify for nationals in 2024, 2025 and 2026, along with Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) and Evan Bates (Missouri).
Baumann will wrestle No. 11 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State), a three-time national qualifier who just placed third at the Big 12 Championships.
Redshirt senior Blake Boarman (No. 24 at 133) took a big leap forward in last weekend’s Big Ten Championships to secure his second trip to nationals. He qualified last year in his fourth season at Chattanooga before transferring to Purdue for his fifth year.
Boarman will face No. 9 Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado), a three-time NCAA qualifier and 2024 Big 12 champion.
After competing in his fourth and final Big Ten tournament, redshirt senior Ben Vanadia (No. 26 at 197) broke through to reach the NCAA Championships for the first time. Hailing from Brecksville, Ohio, his final run of college wrestling will happen in his home state.
Vanadia will square off with No. 7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State), a redshirt freshman who also placed third at the Big 12 tournament last weekend.
The NCAA Wrestling Championships are set for March 19-21 inside Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, home of the NBA’s Cavaliers. Session 1 will begin at noon ET on Thursday, March 19. Broadcast coverage will be provided by the ESPN family of networks — a more detailed schedule is available here.
MATCHUPS
133 | #24 Blake Boarman - R-Sr.
Round of 32: #9 Dominick Serrano (UNCO)
Round of 16 (if advanced): #8 Markel Baker (NIU) OR #25 Will Betancourt
165 | #2 Joey Blaze - Jr.
Round of 32: #31 Jared Keslar (PITT)
Round of 16 (if advanced): #15 Connor Euton (ISU) OR #18 Gunner Filipowicz (ARMY)
174 | #22 Brody Baumann - R-Jr.
Round of 32: #11 MJ Gaitan (ISU)
Round of 16 (if advanced): #6 Matty Singleton (NCST) OR #27 Collin Carrigan (UNC)
197 | #26 Ben Vanadia - R-Sr.
Round of 32: #7 Cody Merrill (OKST)
Round of 16 (if advanced): #10 Mac Stout (PITT) OR #23 Mikey Squires (BING)