ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Nahshon Garrett (133 pounds) and junior Gabe Dean (184 pounds) will begin their quests for 2016 NCAA titles with a bullseye square on their backs as both will enter next week's tournament as No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes. The draws were announced by the NCAA on Wednesday evening for the tournament that begins on Thursday, March 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Garrett and Dean represent two of Cornell's four seeded wrestlers, as juniors Brian Realbuto (No. 2 at 174) and Dylan Palacio (No. 5 at 157) also sit among the top 16 wrestlers in their weight class. The Big Red's other five qualifiers will each square off against a seeded wrestler in the first round.

Both Garrett and Dean could face familiar foes in round one. Garrett will get Lehigh's Mason Beckman in the first round, a rematch of the 2016 EIWA final won by the Big Red senior 12-1. Dean, meanwhile, will match up with the winner of the pigtail matchup between Old Dominion's Jack Dechow and Campbell's Ville Heino. Dechow, who was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally last season, met Dean at the NWCA All-Star Classic (Dean won 5-2) and the 2014 NCAAs in the third-place match (Dean won 5-4). It would be Dean's first matchup with Heino.

Realbuto brings a 33-3 record into the tournament and will attempt to top Iowa State's Lelund Weatherspoon in the opening round, and if seeds hold, would meet Amry's Brian Harvey in round two. Realbuto is 3-0 this season against Harvey, includfing a win by fall at the Las Vegas Invitational and a 12-6 triumph in the finals of the EIWA Championship.

The Big Red's four seeded wrestler is Palacio, who enters the tournament with a 13-1 record after missing the entire fall with an injury. The junior, looking for his first All-America honor, opens the tournament against Missouri's LeRoy Barnes (27-8) in a rematch of Palacio's first bout of the year, a 9-7 Big Red victory in a road dual.

At 149 pounds, EIWA runner-up Joey Galasso will set to battle with Nebraska's Jake Sueflohn, while 165-pound EIWA runner-up meets sixth-seeded Steven Rodrigues of Illinois. Both 197-pounder Owen Scott (No. 13 Jacob Smith of West Virginia) and heavyweight Jeramy Sweany (No. 7 Amarveer Dhesi of Oregon State) will also look to pull first round upsets in their first NCAA appearances.

Cornell's lone wildcard selection, freshman Dalton Macri, will face Oregon State's Ronnie Bresser in the first round. Macri brings a 16-7 overall record into his first NCAA tournament. The 11th-seeded Bresser, a two-time Pac 12 finalist and 2015 champion, brings a 28-7 record into the tournament and, like Macri, was also a wild card selection.