NCAA BRACKETS
 
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs learned their assignments in the NCAA Wrestling Championships this week. Senior Brayden Palmer (125) and freshman Isaiah Powe (141) are in the field and ready to travel next week to Kansas City.
 
The NCAA announced brackets this week with the duo facing ACC and EIWA opponents.
 
125: #22 Brayden Palmer vs. #11 Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech)
141: #17 Isaiah Powe vs. #16 Dylan Chappell (Bucknell)
 
"I think Isaiah at 17 is one of our high seeds we've had in a while minus Rocky Jordan," Coach Kyle Ruschell noted. "It sets himself up well in the tournament when you have a seed like that. Now you still got to wrestle the guy in front of you and you never know what happens.
 
"Brayden is an interesting matchup. Two Tennessee kids...they might be the only two Tennessee kids in the whole entire tournament and they have to wrestle each other in the first round."
 
Palmer is making his second NCAA appearance qualifying as SoCon Champion at 133 at 2023 and again this season at 125. He's 18-2 in 2023-24 with a tournament win at the Clarion Open in November where fourth seed Matt Ramos (Purdue) was a semifinalist.
 
Powe is making his first as a true freshman going 24-2 thus far. He captured the SoCon title as well at 141. He's 3-1 against the field with a sweep of Gardner-Webb's Todd Carter (#33) and a Southern Scuffle loss at the Southern Scuffle against #23 Danny Fongaro (Indiana).
 
"Isaiah can make some noise," Ruschell added. "He can make a deep run and score a lot of points. He can go to his back in a match, give up points and he can still win. So, he's poised for a young athlete and he just keeps wrestling.
 
"Brayden, you saw him back to form this past weekend. He got the chance to avenge his only losses against a guy in the semis. Brayden dominated the whole match and is back to his form. He can beat anybody in the country."
 
The event is March 21-23 in Kansas City. Broadcast and scoring links will be posted on the wrestling schedule page when available.
 
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