March 18, 2009

NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Bracket in PDF Format

ST. LOUIS - Sophomore Cayle Byers and freshman Mendbagana Tovuujav will represent George Mason University at the 2009 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships scheduled for March 19-21 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. Both Byers and Tovuujav are scheduled to wrestle in tomorrow's first round, which will begin at 12 p.m. ET.

Byers, who enters the national tournament with a 27-5 overall record, is the ninth-ranked wrestler in the 197-pound bracket. He will take on Eastern Michigan senior John McClure to open the tournament. McClure comes into the tournament with a 14-15 overall record.

Tovuujav is unranked in the 174-pound bracket. He begins the tournament with a tough match against No. 7 Mike Miller, a sophomore from Central Michigan. Tovuujav enters the tournament with a 24-7 overall record, while Miller counters with a 26-6 record.

The winners of the first round matches will advance to the second round of the tournament, slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be held on Friday, with the finals scheduled for Saturday. ESPNU, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN360.com will combine for expanded live coverage on Friday, March 20, and Saturday, March 21. For the first time, all 11 hours of coverage on ESPNU, ESPN and ESPN2 will be presented in high definition.

Also for the first time, ESPN2 will telecast the semifinals along with ESPNU. The quarterfinals will air Friday, March 20, at 11 a.m. ET on ESPNU and ESPN360.com, and the semifinals at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com. For the third consecutive year, the semifinals will be telecast in a side-by-side format, allowing viewers to see both semifinal matches in each weight class at the same time, both on ESPNU and ESPN2.

ESPNU will telecast the Championship Medal Round on Saturday, March 21, at 10:30 a.m. ET, and the hunt for the Division I title culminates with the Finals at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. During the Finals, two referees per match each will wear a microphone, providing fans with even more access to and understanding of the action. ESPN360.com, ESPN's broadband sports television network, once again will complement the ESPNU HD, ESPN2 HD and ESPN HD telecasts with unparalleled access to all rounds of the championships. ESPN360.com will provide live coverage of all four mats during the quarterfinals and both mats in the semifinals, offering users the option to select the match they want to see.

Dave Armstrong will serve as play-by-play announcer alongside analysts Tim Johnson and Olympic gold medalist Jeff Blatnick, with reporter Quint Kessenich, a former two-time county wrestling champion at New York's Lynnbrook High School. For ESPN360.com coverage, 1981 NCAA 134-pound champion wrestler Jim Gibbons, who coached the 1987 Iowa State Cyclones to the national title, returns as analyst and will be joined by play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney.