Big 12 Releases Brackets for 2026 Wrestling Championship

NORMAN – The Big 12 Conference released brackets for the 2026 Big 12 Wrestling Championship presented by Allstate on Monday afternoon. A total of six Oklahoma wrestlers received top-eight seeds, with four seeded fifth or better. Eight Sooners will compete in opening-round matches, while Conrad Hendriksen (125) and Brian Soldano (184) earned byes into the quarterfinals.

Carter Schubert earned the No. 2 seed at 174 pounds. A trio of Sooners — Hendriksen (125), DJ Parker (197) and Juan Mora (285) — were named No. 5 seeds after impressive dual seasons in deep weight classes. Rounding out the Sooner seedings, Tyler Wells (141) and Soldano (184) are No. 6 seeds.

Oklahoma will look to crown its first Big 12 Champion since Dom Demas won the 141-pound title in 2021.

The Big 12 was awarded 63 allocations, the second most of any conference. Those allocations are broken down by weight class below and represent how many Big 12 Championship placewinners at each weight will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships.

The conference tournament will be held March 6-7 at the BOK Center in Tulsa. All sessions will be streamed on ESPN+. This marks the 11th neutral-site conference championship for the sport and the 10th in Tulsa.

Single session tickets to the Big 12 Wrestling Championship are now on sale and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.

Oklahoma First Round Matchups

125: No. 5 Conrad Hendriksen received a bye
133: Carter Schmidt vs. No. 5 Gunner Andrick (WVU)
141: No. 6 Tyler Wells vs. Joel Aguilar-Guerrero (UNC)
149: Hunter Hollingsworth vs. No. 4 Maxwell Petersen (NDSU)
157: Layton Schneider vs. No. 1 Kaleb Larkin (ASU)
165: Peyten Kellar vs. No. 3 Nicco Ruiz (ASU)
174: No. 2 Carter Schubert vs. Mason Espinoza (CBU)
184: No. 6 Brian Soldano received a bye
197: No. 5 DJ Parker vs. John Gunderson (UNI)
285: No. 5 Juan Mora vs. Tristan Kemp (CBU)

Big 12 Championship Schedule

Friday, March 6
Session 1: Preliminary & Quarterfinal Matches — 10 a.m. CT (ESPN+)
Session 2: Semifinal & Consolation Quarterfinal Matches — 5 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

Saturday, March 7
Session 3: Consolation Semifinals — Noon CT (ESPN+)
Session 4: Finals — 7 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

Big 12 Allocations By Weight

125: 5
133: 8
141: 7
149: 5
157: 5
165: 4
174: 7
184: 8
197: 8
285: 6
Total: 63

Follow the Sooners

For updates, follow @OU_Wrestling on Twitter, or like Oklahoma Wrestling on Facebook.