INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Junior 184 pounder Caden Steffen is the Mustangs' lone wrestler for the 2022 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships set for March 11-12 at the Chaifetz Center in St. Louis, Mo.
 
Session I is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Friday which includes the preliminaries and first round matches. Session II will be on Friday starting at 5 p.m. with the championship quarterfinals, as well as the first and second rounds of the consolation side. Session III will offer the championship semifinals, third round consolation, consolation semis, and third, fifth and seventh place matches. The championships finals will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Live video can be found on NCAA.com, while live stats can be found on TrackWrestling
 
Steffen, making his second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance after recieving All-American honors last season, is 19-1 overall and earned a trip to nationals after becoming the third wrestler in program history to capture a regional championship at the NCAA Super Region V Tournament in Moorhead, Minn., on Feb. 26. Steffen went a perfect 3-0 at the regional, defeating Reece Woracheck of Parkside 3-1 in the finals. Steffen's only loss this year came by injury default on Aug. 20 at the Augsburg Open, winning 14 matches in a row heading into this weekend.
 
Steffen, ranked fifth at the NCAA Championship, will face unranked Anthony Giampietro (11-6) from Millersville University. Giampietro is in his first year at Millersville after wrestling at Middlesex County College last season. He placed second at the NCAA Super Region I Tournament in Johnstown, Pa., on Feb. 26, going 2-1 on the day before losing to unranked Matt Weinberg of Kutztown in the finals.
 
The top eight finishers at the NCAA Championship earn All-American honors.
 
SMSU has had 50 individuals qualify for the NCAA Championships, with 14 All-Americans and one national champion since moving to Division II in 1996. Link Steffen, Caden's father, is SMSU's lone NCAA national champion capturing the 190-pound title in 1998.