JACKS READY FOR NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Thursday, March 19

Cleveland, Ohio

South Dakota State University

NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships

A wrestler in a blue singlet paces back in forth on a mat before a match.

Photo by: Amber Seaton

3/18/2026 2:33:00 PM | Wrestling

Week 17: #21 South Dakota State at NCAA Wrestling Championships
Date	Thursday - Saturday, March 19-21
Location	Cleveland, Ohio
Site	Rocket Arena
Television/Stream	ESPN+
Live Stats	FloWrestling
South Dakota State	Game Notes \| Home Page

Cleveland, Ohio - Six Jackrabbits make the trek to Cleveland, Ohio to compete in the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships this weekend. Among them are Brady Roark, Julian Tagg, Cael Swensen, Moses Espinoza-Owens, Bennett Berge and Luke Rasmussen. Cale Seaton joins the group as the 133-pound alternate. The Jackrabbits are coming off a year at the NCAA Tournament where they qualified nine wrestlers, the most in program history, and had one All-American. The Jacks will look to do more damage this year as they head to the Land.

THE LINEUP:
125: No. 27 Brady Roark (20-7)
133: Cale Seaton (16-11) (ALTERNATE)
141: No. 20 Julian Tagg (18-6)
157: No. 16 Cael Swensen (24-7)
174: No. 14 Moses Espinoza-Owens (24-6)
197: No. 13 Bennett Berge (16-5)
HWT: No. 29 Luke Rasmussen (11-11)
*NCAA Seeds

First Round Matchups
125: No. 27 Brady Roark vs. No. 6 Jore Volk (MINN)
141: No. 20 Julian Tagg vs. No. 13 Wyatt Henson (LH)
157: No. 16 Cael Swensen vs. No. 17 Luke Mechler (WIS)
174: No. 14 Moses Espinoza-Owens vs. No. 19 Logan Messer (GM)
197: No. 13 Bennett Berge vs. No. 20 Wyatt Ingham (WIS)
285: No. 29 Luke Rasmussen vs. No. 4 AJ Ferrari

NCAA SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 19

Preliminaries| 12 p.m.
Preliminaries and wrestle-backs | 7 p.m.

Friday, March 20

Quarterfinals and wrestle-backs | 12 p.m.
Semifinals and wrestle-backs | 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 21

Consolation finals | 11 a.m.
Championship finals | 6:30 p.m.

* All times are EDT

LAST TIME OUT: Big 12 Championships
Cael Swensen punched his ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday as eight Jackrabbit wrestlers finished on the podium at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship.

Cael Swensen ended his run at the Big 12 Tournament as the highest-placing Jackrabbit, taking fourth at a stacked 157-pound weight class. Standing between him and a third NCAA Tournament appearance was NDSU's Gavin Drexler. After a scoreless first, Swensen pulled off a slick go-behind takedown in the second and finished Drexler off with a big slam in the third to secure an 8-3 decision and a ticket to Cleveland. In the third-place match, he faced off with top-10 Ty Watters. Watters got to his offense in the first and third periods as he scored the deciding takedowns, handing Swensen the decision loss.

Bennett Berge and Moses Espinoza-Owens placed fifth in their respective brackets. Berge dropped a consolation semis matchup to 3-seed Cody Merrill but battled back against Colton Hawks in the fifth-place match, putting together a huge sequence in the third to secure the 5-1 decision.

Espinoza-Owens squared off with MJ Gaitan in a rematch from Jan. 25th. Espinoza-Owens struck first, but the crafty Gaitan battled his way back into the match and scored the deciding takedown in the third with 30 seconds left. Espinoza-Owens took fifth after Wyoming's Riley Davis medical forfeited out of the tournament.

Brady Roark, Julian Tagg, Luke Rasmussen and Marcus Espinoza-Owens all took 6th in their respective brackets after going 0-2 on the day. Tagg medical forfeited his way out of the tournament after losing in the semis to 1-seed Sergio Vega of Oklahoma State.

Roark battled against Oklahoma's Conrad Hendriksen in the fifth-place match for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but came up just short as Hendriksen forced three stall calls, which decided the match. Roark will wait to see if his name is called for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Overall, the Jackrabbits qualified 5 wrestlers for the NCAA Tournament due to pre-allocations. Brady Roark was the only Jackrabbit wrestler not to secure a spot, which he allocated, while Luke Rasmussen was the only Jackrabbit wrestler to steal an allocation to the Big Dance

WRESTLERS TO WATCH: Julian Tagg
Julian Tagg is the wrestler to watch this weekend. The senior from Lodi, Ohio, makes his return to his home state to take part in the Big Dance.

Tagg comes in as the 20-seed at 141 pounds. He will match up with the 13-seed Wyatt Henson from Lock Haven in the first round. Tagg comes in with a record of 18-6 overall and was a semi-finalist at 141 pounds at the Big 12 Championships.

He was a round of 16 candidate last year at the NCAA Tournament, defeating Joey Olivieri of Rutgers in the opening round and Nash Singleton in the consolation bracket.

Tagg will look to improve on that finish this year, hunting a podium spot in his very last collegiate competition.

Key Storylines
BACK FOR MORE: The Jackrabbits return Cael Swensen and Alek Martin to their lineup after both sat out the 2024-25 season with injuries

PROGRAM RECORDS: The Jackrabbits continued to set program records under Damion Hahn in 2024-25, sending a record nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia

REPLACING DEVOS: The Jacks will have a few options at 174 pounds this year as they try to replace two-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier Cade DeVos. Moses Espinoza-Owens has taken the spot after jumping up from 157 pounds, qualifying for his first national tournament

MOVIN' ON, MOVIN' UP: All-American Bennett Berge will make the jump from 184 pounds, where he was a two-time NCAA Qualifier and a fourth-place finisher in 2024, to 197 pounds this year, replacing the graduated Zach Glazier. The jump to 197 pounds mirrors Coach Hahn's move from 184 to 197, during which he won two National Championships.

RETURNING PRODUCTION: The Jacks will have an NCAA Qualifier at 7 of their 10 weights this year, while Moses Espinoza-Owens, Brock Fettig and Brady Roark all filled in at their respective weights due to injuries last season.

JACKS IN THE TOURNAMENT: SDSU's highest seed at the NCAA Tournament is No. 13 Bennett Berge, who will face Wyatt Ingham of Wisconsin in the first round. Roark is the 27-seed, Tagg comes in as the 20-seed, Swensen the 16-seed, Espinoza-Owens the 14-seed and Luke Rasmussen the 29-seed.

PROVEN WINNER: Last season, Damion Hahn became the winningest coach at the D1 level in South Dakota State history, passing Chris Bono with 65 wins. Hahn's 84 dual wins for the Jackrabbits rank fourth all-time among all Jackrabbit Wrestling coaches behind Jason Liles, Warren Williamson and Mike Engels.

OFF-SEASON WORK: The JWC was incredibly successful on the freestyle and Greco-Roman circuits between March and August. Quin Morgan took home the U20 Greco-Roman Championship at 97kg at the US Open to start the season. Tommy Dineen and Daniel Guanajuato added runner-up finishes at their respective weights at the U23 Freestyle Nationals. Dineen also added a gold medal at the Junior Pan-American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Last year's freshman class put up an impressive 92-28 total record through open competitions and duals. Leading the way was freshman Logan Swensen with a 28-6 record overall. Swensen looks to back up returning NCAA Qualifier Derrick Cardinal at 133 pounds this year.

STOP SIGNS IN BROOKINGS: The incoming freshmen at SDSU are coming off an impressive summer. Micah Hach (8th), Keenan Sheridan (8th), Conlan Carlson (8th) and Jarrett Wadsen (2nd) all earned All-American honors at the Fargo Nationals in Freestyle. Wadsen (4th) and Bas Diaz (2nd) earned All-American honors in Greco as well.

-GoJacks.com-