SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Eight Southern Conference wrestlers were among the 64 at-large selections for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, which marks the most at-large bids the conference has received since the NCAA began awarding them in 1997. 
 
Twenty-one wrestlers from five of the eight SoCon schools will be represented at the 2021 tournament. App State and Campbell lead the way with seven representatives each, while Chattanooga has four and Gardner-Webb has two. The Citadel’s McAleavey (HWT) will represent the Bulldogs in St. Louis. 
 
Will Formato (165, App State), Thomas Flitz (174, App State), Zurich Storm (125, Campbell), Benjamin Barton (157, Campbell), RJ Mosley (165, Gardner-Webb), Jha’Quan Anderson (185, Gardner-Webb), Fabian Gutierrez (125, Chattanooga) and Logan Andrew (197, Chattanooga) will all join the 10 SoCon wrestling champions and the three who received additional allocations on the NCAA wrestling national stage.
 
Formato, ranked 16^th in the latest NCAA Coaches Rankings, was named SoCon Wrestler of the Year and placed third at the conference championship. Teammate Flitz was the runner-up at 174 pounds and is an NCAA qualifier for the second straight season. In the latest NCAA Coaches Rankings, he was ranked 13^th.   
 
Campbell’s Barton was one of four Camels to earn All-SoCon honors this season and took home bronze at the conference championship. He finished the regular season 9-1 overall and 6-1 in SoCon duals. Storm made his first SoCon finals appearance on Feb. 28 after topping Gutierrez in the semifinal match. In conference bouts, he went 6-2 and finished the season 8-5 overall.
 
Mosley will make his first appearance at the NCAA championships after going 11-4 on the season. Against league opponents in dual action, the redshirt sophomore was 7-1, which included a 12-4 major decision win over SoCon champion Andrew Nicholson of Chattanooga. Anderson, a 2021 SoCon All-Freshman team selection, is also making his first appearance at the NCAA tournament. At the conference championship in Boone, North Carolina, Mosley finished in fourth place and Anderson placed third. 
 
This is the second time Chattanooga’s Gutierrez qualified for the NCAAs. He was 12-3 on the year at 125 pounds and finished third at the SoCon tournament. Andrew is a member of the SoCon All-Freshman team and placed second at the conference championship.  
 
The at-large selections join the 266 student-athletes that qualified through their conference tournament finishes over the last two weekends. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins (defined as wins against wrestlers already in the field), coaches ranking, results against common opponents, conference tournament placement and winning percentage. The committee was also able to use subjective criteria such as, but not limited to, historical performance.
 
Seeding and brackets for this year’s event will be revealed on Wednesday, March 10, during the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Selection Show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. ET.
 
 
Individual champions/NCAA qualifiers
125 – Codi Russell, App State
133 – Sean Carter, App State
141 – Anthony Brito, App State
149 – Jonathan Millner, App State
157 – Cody Bond, App State
165 – Andrew Nicholson, Chattanooga
174 – Austin Murphy, Campbell
184 – Caleb Hopkins, Campbell
197 – Chris Kober, Campbell
HWT – Michael McAleavey, The Citadel
 
Additional NCAA allocations
149 – Joshua Heil, Campbell
184 – Matthew Waddell, Chattanooga
HWT – Taye Ghadiali, Campbell
 
At-large NCAA selections
125 – Zurich Storm, Campbell
125 – Fabian Gutierrez, Chattanooga
157 – Benjamin Barton, Campbell
165 – Will Formato, App State
165 – RJ Mosley, Gardner-Webb
174 – Thomas Flitz, App State
184 – Jha’Quan Anderson, Gardner-Webb
197 – Logan Andrew, Chattanooga