NCAA championship brackets released, 3 CSUB wrestlers learn seedings, opposition
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place March 20-22 in Philadelphia, but the bracket draws involving the three Cal State Bakersfield wrestlers who qualified in the 125-, 197- and 285-pound (heavyweight) divisions were released this week.
AJ Ferrari, an NCAA 2021 national champion at 197 when he was a true freshman at Oklahoma State, won the 2025 Pac-12 Conference title at 197 as a Roadrunner. Ferrari will be the highest seeded wrestler among his fellow CSUB NCAA qualifiers.
Ferrari, who has a 17-0 record, is seeded third. He will open with No. 30 seed Ian Bush of West Virginia. Bush has a 20-12 season record.
Ferrari, a redshirt sophomore who transferred to CSUB this season, is in the same half of the bracket with No. 2 seed Stephen Buchanan of Iowa, who has a 21-1 record. The top seed in 197 is Jacob Cardenas of Michigan (20-1) and Penn State’s Josh Barr (16-3) is the fourth seed.
A first-round win for Ferrari would put him into the second round facing the winner of No. 19 Andy Smith (13-7) from Virginia Tech or South Dakota State’s Zach Glazier (16-6).
CSUB senior Jake Andrews is the 17th seed in the heavyweight division. The Frontier High alumnus, who has a 26-3 season record, will be opening with No. 16 Yaraslau Slavikouski (15-7) of Rutgers.
The reward for winning the opening match? Potentially facing the No. 1 seed, Gable Steveson of Minnesota. He’s 14-0 and has such accolades as being a 2020 Summer Olympics gold medal-winning wrestler and had been under contract to the World Wrestling Federation before returning to Minnesota this season. Steveson awaits his first-round NCAA opponent as the No. 32 and 33 heavyweights, Appalachian State’s Stephan Monchery (19-9) and Purdue’s Hayden Filipovich (12-16), respectively, will meet first.
Andrews reached the NCAAs after a second-place finish at the Pac 12 Conference.
Richard Castro-Sandoval, CSUB’s 125-pound wrestler and another who was second at the Pac 12 Conference tournament, is the 31st-seeded wrestler for the NCAAs. Castro-Sandoval, a redshirt junior from Santa Ynez, has a 17-10 season record. He will battle Purdue’s Matt Ramos, the No. 2 overall seed in the bracket. Ramos has a 26-1 record.
The winner of their bout will face the winner of No. 15 Maximo Renteria (14-7) of Oregon State or No. 18 Jacob Moran (24-9) of Indiana. If Castro-Sandoval meets Renteria, who is the Pac 12 champion at 125, the former will look to avenge a 10-2 major decision loss in the conference tournament.
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