INDIANAPOLIS – NCAA Wrestling Championships brackets were released on Wednesday evening, announcing the seeding and first round matchups for the five Fighting Illini qualifiers. Isaiah Martinez leads the Illini with the top seed at 165 pounds, joined by No. 10 Seed Emery Parker (184 pounds) and No. 11 Seed Mike Carr (141 pounds). Sophomore Travis Piotrowski and redshirt freshman Dylan Duncan are also in the field for the three-day tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, which begins Thursday, March 15.

Full Brackets

Receiving a No. 1 seed for the third time in his career, Isaiah Martinez (14-0) will wrestle Eastern Michigan's Zachary Carson in the opening round as he seeks to become the 31^st three-time NCAA champion in his final collegiate season. Martinez won a historic fourth Big Ten title last weekend, becoming just the 16^th wrestler to accomplish the feat.

Illinois' wins leader this season, Parker (21-3) enters as the No. 10 seed at 184 pounds and will wrestle North Carolina's Chip Ness to begin the tournament. Nearly earning All-America honors at his first NCAA Championships last season, Parker upset No. 6 seeded Myles Martin (Ohio State) in the second round. This season, Parker won 15 straight matches prior to placing fifth at Big Ten Championships last weekend.

Redshirt freshman Mike Carr (17-5) received the No. 11 seed at 141 pounds after winning 11 of his final 12 matches on the season. With his win streak reaching 11 matches prior to a loss in the Big Ten title match, Carr climbed to No. 8 in the most recent InterMat rankings. Carr will battle South Dakota State's Henry Pohlmeyer in the opening round.

Carr's classmate Dylan Duncan (20-7) will also be making his Championships debut after a 5-1 record at Big Ten Championships earned the No. 7 seed a third-place finish. Second to Parker in wins this season (20), Duncan twice upset higher seeds in at the conference tournament and is ranked No. 19 by InterMat. Duncan draws the No. 4 seed Kaid Brock of Oklahoma State.

Rounding out the five Illini headed to Cleveland, Ohio, sophomore Travis Piotrowski (17-8) will be making his second trip to the national meet after becoming the first Illini true freshman to qualify since 2011. Pitorowski placed ninth at Big Ten Championships and holds a 17-8 record on the season. The Illini sophomore draws the No. 6 seed, and Big 12 champion, Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State.

Held at Quicken Loans Arena, three-day tournament begins Thursday, March 15, and continues through Saturday, March 17. The opening two rounds will be contested on Thursday, followed by quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday and concluding with the 10 title bouts on Saturday.

For the second straight year NCAA Championships will be broadcast live on the ESPN family of networks. ESPNU will broadcast the opening session on each day, while ESPN will carry Thursday and Friday night primetime sessions. Saturday's championship session will be shown on ESPN2 beginning at 7 p.m. central time. Fans can stream the entire tournament on ESPN3 and in the WatchESPN app.

For tickets to NCAA Championships at Quick and Loans Arena, click here.

For complete coverage of Fighting Illini wrestling, go to FIGHTINILLINI.com and follow @IlliniWrestling on Twitter and Instagram.

Illini Notes:

• Isaiah Martinez receives the top seed for the third time in his career. Martinez was the No. 2 seed in 2016 prior to beating No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) in the final. 
• 24 times an Illini has been crowned a national champion, including four times in the last five seasons.
• Illinois' three All-Americans in 2017 made it 26 straight years with at least one All-America honor.
• Head coach Jim Heffernan has guided the Illini to three top-10 finishes at NCAA Championships in his eight seasons, highlighted by seventh place in 2012.
• Illinois enters NCAA Championships with five wrestlers ranked by either InterMat or WIN Magazine, three in the top-10: No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (165), No. 7 Mike Carr (141), No. 8 Emery Parker (184), No. 19 Dylan Duncan (133) and No. 19 Travis Piotrowski (125).
• Isaiah Martinez is seeking to become the 31^st wrestler, and first Illini, to win three NCAA wrestling titles. Martinez is a three-time finalist, carrying a 14-1 record, in his career at the Championships.