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IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa redshirt freshman Joey Gunther was awarded an at-large berth to the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 16-18.
The NCAA announced the 330-person tournament field Tuesday.
Gunther is one of seven 165-pounders to earn an at-large berth. He missed an automatic bid to the national tournament by placing outside the top seven at the qualifying tournament in Bloomington, Indiana, last weekend.
He was placed in the field by the tournament committee after posting a season record of 18-8. He is ranked 16th in RPI and 16th in the Coaches’ Poll. He has six wins over wrestlers in the RPI top 28.
The Hawkeyes enter the 2017 NCAA Championships with eight tournament qualifiers. Thomas Gilman (125), Cory Clark (133), Topher Carton (141), Brandon Sorensen (149), Michael Kemerer (157), Alex Meyer (174), and Sammy Brooks (184) earned automatic berths at the Big Ten Championships.
Gunther, Carton, and Kemerer are making their NCAA debuts. Gilman, Clark, Sorensen, Meyer, and Brooks are returning All-Americans.
The NCAA Championships selection show will release tournament seeds and brackets Wednesday at 5 p.m. (CT) at NCAA.com. The top two seeds at each weight class are expected to be released Wednesday afternoon on the NCAA Wrestling social media accounts.
