MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three West Virginia University wresters have been seeded for the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, as announced by the NCAA Wednesday evening.
 
West Virginia has three wrestlers competing in the tournament, as redshirt junior Zeke Moisey (125), redshirt freshman Matthew Schmitt (133) and redshirt senior Jacob A. Smith (197) all earned automatic bids at the 2018 Big 12 Wrestling Championship last weekend.
 
The NCAA Championships will be held March 15-17, at Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland, Ohio. The first round starts at noon ET on Thursday, March 15.
 
"The postseason is the best time of year," said fourth-year coach Sammie Henson. "It's time for our men to prove themselves and take wins from people. I know they are capable of that, and I'm looking forward to seeing all three wrestlers compete in Cleveland next weekend."
 
As the No. 13 seed at 125 pounds, Moisey (22-9) will compete at the NCAA Championships for the first time since his runner-up finish in 2015. The Northampton, Pennsylvania, native redshirted last season and did not have the chance to repeat his impressive run in 2016, as he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.
 
Moisey, the 2018 Big 12 runner-up, is slated to meet Virginia Tech's Kyle Norstrem (11-14) in the first round. The two wrestlers went head-to-head on Dec. 22, with Moisey winning a 10-3 decision over Norstrem. The 125-pound grappler has a team-leading 22 wins, registering five pins, three tech. falls and two major decisions on the year. He also has topped five opponents ranked inside Intermat's Top-20 Poll this season, most notably upsetting No. 8 Taylor LaMont of Utah Valley in the semifinals of the 2018 Big 12 Wrestling Championship.
 
Schmitt (21-12), who is coming off a fourth-place finish at this year's conference championship, will participate in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career. The Platte City, Missouri, native will face No. 1 seed Seth Gross (24-1) of South Dakota State in the first round of the 133-pound bracket for the third time this season. Most recently, Schmitt dropped a 10-2 major decision to Gross in the Big 12 semifinals. The two grapplers also met back on Feb. 11, with Gross taking an 8-2 decision in Morgantown. Schmitt ranks second on the team with 21 wins, collecting five major decisions and three pins on the year.
 
At 197 pounds, Smith (13-7) will compete on the national stage for the third consecutive year, as he takes on No. 2 seed Ben Darmstadt (30-1) of Cornell. Darmstadt, who ranks at No. 2 in the country with a 30-1 mark, and Smith, who is coming off a second-place finish at Big 12's, have not met this season. The two have a pair of common opponents, with both wrestlers defeating Cordell Eaton of North Dakota State earlier this year. Darmstadt also won a 10-6 decision against Princeton's Patrick Brucki, while Smith dropped a 7-4 decision to Brucki. The Charleston, West Virginia, native has notched 13 wins on the season, including one major decision.
 
Early sessions will be broadcasted on ESPNU, while second round, semifinal and championship matches will be shown live on ESPN. All six sessions also will be available on ESPN3, with live stats on TrackWrestling.
 
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