Six from @MizzouWrestling Earn Seeds as 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships Brackets Announced
3/8/2017 6:04:00 PM | Wrestling
Six wrestlers earn Top-10 seeds, Cox earns second No. 1 seed of his career
INDIANAPOLIS – Six Mizzou Wrestling grapplers earned top-16 seeds as the brackets for the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships were announced by the NCAA on Wednesday. Mizzou will have eight wrestlers compete in the tournament, marking the seventh consecutive season Mizzou has sent at least eight wrestlers to the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Wrestling in his final NCAA Tournament, senior 197-pounder J'den Cox (Columbia, Mo.) earned the top-seed at 197 pounds for the second time in his career. Cox finished fifth as the No. 1 seed in 2015, and won the NCAA Championship as the No. 2 seed in 2014 and 2016. Coming off his fourth consecutive MAC title, Cox is 23-0 on the season, recording bonus points in 18 victories. The Tiger senior will wrestle Jeric Kasunic of American in his opening round bout.
Redshirt senior 149-pounder Lavion Mayes (Mascoutah, Ill.) and redshirt junior 157-pounder Joey Lavallee (Reno, Nev.) were each given the No. 3 seed as they enter their fourth and third NCAA Wrestling Championships, respectively. Mayes, 19-2 on the season, and Lavallee, 25-1 on the season, both captured a MAC title for the first time in their careers on Sunday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Mayes will begin the tournament with a first round matchup against George Mason's Sahid Kargbo, while Lavallee will wrestle Princeton's Mike D'Angelo.
After a fourth place finish at the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships to cap his debut season as an attached wrestler, redshirt sophomore 165-pounder Daniel Lewis (Blue Springs, Mo.), will begin his second NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 seed. Lewis, who is 24-3 on the season, has recorded nine first-period falls this season and will wrestle the winner of Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State) and Tyrel White (Columbia) in the first round.
Making their NCAA Championships debuts, redshirt freshman 141-pounder Jaydin Eierman (Columbia, Mo.) and redshirt sophomore 133-pounder John Erneste (Kansas City, Mo.) will begin their championship run as the No. 8 and No. 10 seed, respectively. Both wrestlers have had highly impressive seasons in their first year in the starting lineup, as Eierman has posted a record of 24-5 and Erneste a record of 23-6. Eierman will wrestle Logan Everett (Army) in the first round, while Erneste will face Jeffrey Ott (Harvard).
Redshirt junior 125-pounder Barlow McGhee (Rock Island, Ill.) and redshirt heavyweight Austin Myers (Alexandria, Ky.) will each begin the tournament unseeded. McGhee, making his second NCAA Championships appearance, will wrestle Gabe Townsell (Stanford) in a pigtail match, with the winner advancing to a first round matchup against No. 2 seed Joey McKenna (Virginia Tech). Myers, making his NCAA Championships debut, will wrestle No. 8 seed Michael Kroells (Minnesota) in the first round.
Wrestling from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., will begin March 16 and continue through March 18. Two sessions will occur each day, ending with the NCAA Finals on Saturday evening.
For all the latest on Mizzou Wrestling, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MizzouWrestling).
Mizzou NCAA Seeds
| Weight | Name | Seed | First Round Opponent |
| 125 | Barlow McGhee | unseeded | Gabe Townsell (Stanford) |
| 133 | John Erneste | 10 | Jeffrey Ott (Harvard) |
| 141 | Jaydin Eierman | 8 | Logan Everett (Army) |
| 149 | Lavion Mayes | 3 | Sahid Kargbo (George Mason) |
| 157 | Joey Lavallee | 3 | Mike D'Angelo (Princeton) |
| 165 | Daniel Lewis | 6 | wrestle-off |
| 197 | J'den Cox | 1 | Jeric Kasunic (American) |
| HWT | Austin Myers | unseeded | No. 8 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) |
Players Mentioned
