Defending NCAA champion Matt McDonough of Iowa is 20-1 this season and has been on a tear lately. He has pinned six of his last seven opponents. Northwestern's Brandon Precin, a two-time All-American and U.S. Open placewinner, is the only wrestler to defeat McDonough this season. That victory came in the finals of the Midlands. Precin scored a first period takedown in that match, which proved to the difference in a 3-1 victory. McDonough came back to avenge the loss by pinning Precin on Jan. 28. Precin led 3-0 in the third period of their rematch before McDonough threw a headlock and picked up a pin with under a minute remaining in the match. That is the only blemish on Precin's record this season. Two-time All-American Zach Sanders of Minnesota is 25-3 and ranked fifth. Sanders has not faced Precin this season, but is coming off a 10-3 loss to McDonough. Prior to that loss, Sanders had reeled off 12 straight victories. Penn State's Brad Pataky, a two-time NCAA qualifier, has battled injuries this season, but should figure into the mix. He lost a close match to Sanders, 10-8, in his first match back in over a month.
Automatic NCAA Qualifiers: Five
Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers:
No. 1 McDonough (Iowa)
No. 3 Precin (Northwestern)
No. 5 Sanders (Minnesota)
No. 10 Pataky (Penn State)
Pre-Seeds:
1. McDonough (Iowa)
2. Precin (Northwestern)
3. Sanders (Minnesota)
4. Pataky (Penn State)
5. Boyle (Michigan)
6. Brooks (Indiana)
7. Eppert (Purdue)
8. Kelliher (Wisconsin)
Andrew Hipps' Finals Prediction: McDonough (Iowa) over Precin (Northwestern)
T.R. Foley's Finals Prediction: Precin (Northwestern) over McDonough (Iowa)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now