Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
NCAA Championships
Wrestling Gears Up for NCAA Championships
3/18/2026 6:42:00 PM | Wrestling
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Northwestern wrestling returns to the national stage this week as a pair of qualifiers get set to compete at the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, held March 19th through the 21st in Cleveland, Ohio. Sean Spidle (133 lbs) and Billy Dekraker (141 lbs) will represent the Wildcats at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The wrestlers enter the tournament following a competitive showing at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, highlighted by podium finishes from both qualifiers. Spidle secured an automatic NCAA bid with a seventh-place finish, while Dekraker added an eighth-place finish in his first conference championship appearance.
Spidle enters his second consecutive NCAA Championships riding momentum after a gritty performance at the Big Ten Championships. After dropping his opening match, he battled through the consolation bracket, highlighted by a 1–0 blood-round victory over Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) to clinch automatic qualification. Last season, while at Central Michigan, Spidle picked up a pair of wins at his debut NCAA Championships, including a first-round upset over the No. 10 seed at 133 lbs.
True first-year Dekraker made a statement in his postseason debut. He opened the conference tournament with a 15–0 technical fall over No. 31 Henry Porter (Indiana), then added another ranked win in wrestle-backs. His eighth-place finish marks the best result by a Northwestern true first-year at the Big Ten Championships since 2021 and secured him an at-large bid to the national tournament. He will become the first true first-year to represent the 'Cats on the national stage since 2021.
Spidle and Dekraker begin action on Thursday morning with the tournament's opening round, set to begin at 11 a.m. CT. Action from Session I will be broadcast on ESPN2, followed by Session II on ESPN. Individual mat streams will be viewable on ESPN+ for all sessions except the championship finals.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
All-times CST
Thursday, March 19
Preliminaries | 11 a.m.
Preliminaries and wrestle-backs | 6 p.m.
Friday, March 20
Quarterfinals and wrestle-backs | 11 a.m.
Semifinals and wrestle-backs | 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 21
Consolation finals | 10 a.m.
Championship finals | 5:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
