Hempstead, NY – The seedings and brackets for the 2021 NCAA Championships were announced by the NCAA Wednesday evening, unveiling the seeds and first-round matchups for the seven Hofstra wrestlers competing from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Junior Holden Heller was named the No. 19 seed in the 157 pound bracket. Heller went a perfect 8-0 on the year and was crowned champion at 157 pounds at the 2021 EIWA Championships. Heller was drawn against Will Lewan of Michigan in the No. 14 seed. Lewan automatically qualified after taking eighth-place at the Big Ten Championships while going 7-2 on the year.

In the 184 pound bracket, senior Charles Small received the No. 23 seed after going 7-2 on the year and taking third at the 2021 EIWA Championships. Small will take on Wyoming's Tate Samuelson as the No. 10 seed. Samuelson went 13-3 on the year and took second-place at the Big 12 Championships.

2020 NCAA qualifier and redshirt junior Zachary Knighton-Ward was placed in the No. 28 seed of the 285 pound bracket. Knighton-Ward finished third at the 2021 EIWA Championships and went 7-3 on the year for the Pride. Squaring off against him will be Iowa's Tony Cassioppi in the No. 5 seed. An All-American in the 2019-20 season, Cassioppi went 8-2 this season and finished third at the Big Ten Championships.

The No. 30 seed was given to junior Trey Rogers in the 197 pound bracket. Rogers went 6-3 on the year and wrestled to a fifth-place finish at this year's EIWA Championships. He will be wrestling against Kordell Norfleet of Arizona State as the No. 3 seed. Norfleet posted a 9-0 record in 2020-21 and was the champion of his weight class at the Pac-12 Championships.

Senior Ricky Stamm was allotted the No. 32 seed in the 165 pound bracket. A 2020 NCAA qualifier, Stamm posted a 7-2 record on the year and placed fifth at the 2021 EIWA Championships. He will be wrestling against No. 33 seed Austin Yant of Northern Iowa. Yant went 4-2 this season and finished fifth at the Big 12 Championships.

Graduate student Greg Gaxiola and senior Vinny Vespa were both drawn as the No. 33 seed at 149 and 141 pounds, taking on the No. 32 seed in their respective weight classes. Gaxiola will be wrestling against Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado, a 4-1 wrestler who qualified as an at-large wrestler after going 0-2 at the Big 12 Championships. Vespa will be matched-up with Indiana's Cayden Rooks, who qualified via an at-large bid after going 5-9 and finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championships.

The seven qualifiers are the most sent to an NCAA Championship by Hofstra since the Pride sent six to the 2012 NCAA Championships. The first day of the 2021 NCAA Championships will begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 18.