LEXINGTON, Va. – The NCAA announced Wednesday night that VMI Wrestling senior
Ryan Vigil was an automatic qualifier for this year's NCAA Wrestling Championship and will be the 33 seed in the 165 bracket.
Vigil was crowned the 2026 Southern Conference Champion and SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler after going 4-0 through the field, upsetting the nation's No. 24 and SoCon's one seed in the process. Vigil became the first wrestler to ever win the conference title as an eight seed.
In round one of the national tournament, Vigil will wrestle the 32 seed, Cody Walsh from Drexel, with the winner advancing to the next round against the nation's 165 leader, Mitchell Mesenbrink from Penn State. The loser of the opening bout will fall to the Wrestlebacks bracket and await the loser of the three and 30 seeds matchup, which happens to include Vigil's first-round opponent in the SoCon Championship, Thomas Snipes from The Citadel. Vigil's first matches will be on Thursday, March 14.
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