Five EIWA Wrestlers Receive NCAA At-Large Bids

Army's No. 24 Braden Basile (141) will make his second appearance at the NCAA Wrestling Championship!
Army's No. 24 Braden Basile (141) will make his second appearance at the NCAA Wrestling Championship!
Posted: Mar 10, 2026

By: Austin Sommer, EIWA Sports Information Director

The NCAA released the names of all 42 at-large selections for the NCAA Championships. Five of the wrestlers below will definitely be competing in Cleveland, OH beginning next Thursday March 19. The sixth, Dylan Elmore (165) is the first-alternate at 165lbs.

Of the 42 At-Large selections, five are EIWA wrestlers. The EIWA earned 26 automatic qualifications. The five At-Larges selections means a total of 31 EIWA wrestlers will be competing in the championships. Last season, the EIWA sent 28 wrestlers, so the increase in qualifiers is a positive trend for he conference! Below are the NCAA qualifiers who earned At-Large bids.

125lbs – Desmond Pleasant (Sr.) Drexel – Desmond will be competing for the first time at the NCAA Championships. This weight class will have three representatives.

141lbs – Braden Basile (Jr.) Army West Point – Braden will be competing for the second time at the NCAA Championships. He was a top 16 finisher in 2024 at 133lbs. He will be the fourth EIWA participant at this year's championships at the 141lb weight class.

157lbs – Jonathan Ley (Jr.) Navy – He will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career. He makes three NCAA Qualifiers at this weight class.

184lbs – Tyler Bienus (So.) Bucknell – This will be his first trip to the NCAA Championships. This weight class has now qualified four wrestlers to Cleveland.

285lbs – Emmanual Ulrich (So.) American – This will be his first time competing at the NCAA Championships for Emmanuel. He is the fifth qualifier at this weight class – the most of any weight in the conference.


165lbs – Dylan Elmore of Navy (So.) – Dylan Elmore was named the first alternate at this weight class. Basically, he is the 34th selection of a 33-man bracket. This means he will make the trip to NCAAs but not compete unless there is someone in the field who cannot wrestle for any reason. This could be an injury, sickness, missing weight, or failing skin checks. Alternates have been used a couple of times in the past years, so there is a chance we see Elmore compete.