Illinois 3A 113 pounds: No. 4 Noah Surtin (Edwardsville) and No. 8 Dylan Ragusin (Montini Catholic)
Due to the Illinois state tournament relatively making sense in terms of bracketing and separating their sectional champions based on merit, Surtin and Ragusin are in opposite half brackets as the only returning state medalists among the sectional champions. Yes, I know there isn't full double elimination, but small victories my friends.
However, Ragusin likely draws a very tough quarterfinal match with Matt Ramos (Lockport), who lost in the tiebreaker to Surtin in last week's sectional semifinal. The second quarter bracket is an absolute bear as sectional champion Josh Ogunsanya (Oak Park River Forest) is paired with returning state medalist Nathan Cummings (Downers Grove North) in the opening round, while returning state qualifier Enzo Silva (Plainfield North) awaits in the quarterfinal.
Sectional champion Sam Spencer (Huntley) got a rather unpleasant opening round match with Nick Minnito (Plainfield Central), who knocked off returning state champion Jacob Lindsey (Providence Catholic) on the front side at sectional last weekend; Lindsey lost to Ramos in the go-to-bout. The winner of that is looking at a date with freshman Noah Mis (Mt. Carmel), who has multiple wins over returning state placers this season. Down in the bottom quarter, Surtin has the most manageable path with just returning state qualifier Michael Jaffe (Marmion Academy) as his quarterfinal opponent.
Illinois 3A 120 pounds: No. 3 Joey Melendez (Montini Catholic) and No. 6 Travis Ford-Melton (Marian Catholic)
Yet again these best two wrestlers are in separate half brackets. Last year at the state tournament, Melendez won a champ/champ showdown in the quarterfinal with Ford-Melton 4-3 after losing by a totally aberrant pin in the previous week's semifinal. Both Melendez and Ford-Melton knocked off formidable opposition in last week's sectional final: Melendez won a rematch of last year's state final, 4-3 over Domenic Zaccone (Stagg), while Ford-Melton majored returning state placer Anthony Molton (Lockport) 16-5
Melendez is looking at facing one of two returning state qualifiers in the quarterfinal, Anthony Zamora (Plainfield East) or Nico Bolivar (Oak Park River Forest). The other quarter of the top half is likely to feature a second round match between Molton and freshman phenom Joel Vandervere (Warren Township), a sectional champion; Molton does have to face returning state qualifier Alex Giuliano (Conant) in the opening round.
Returning state runner-up Zaccone is in the third quarter of the draw, with returning state qualifier Ben Anderson (St. Charles East) as the sectional champion. Ford-Melton is in the bottom quarter with a potential second round match against Reihan Uribe (Mt. Carmel), who does have one win over Ford-Melton already this season though it has been avenged; Uribe does have returning state qualifier Jake Harrier (Jacobs) in the opening round.
Missouri Class 4 126 pounds: No. 4 Malik Johnson (Christian Brothers College) and No. 19 Cameron Fusco (Seckman)
These two wrestlers met in the district final last weekend, a match that Johnson won 9-4. A third excellent wrestler features in this weight class in two-time state placer Weston DiBlasi (Park Hill), who also was a 2016 Super 32 Challenge placer; DiBlasi has already lost to Fusco earlier in the season. The draw has placed Johnson by himself, while a Fusco vs. DiBlasi semifinal is looming.
Iowa Class 3A 132 pounds: No. 14 Drew Bennett (Fort Dodge) and No. 16 Zach Price (Johnston)
Both wrestlers in question have placed third at state twice in their careers; Bennett doing so the last two years at 106 and 113 pounds, while Price was third as a freshman at 106 and last year at 126 (a fourth place at 120 is sandwiched in there). The wrestlers also split their meetings this season, Bennett winning in a mid-December dual meet and Price in late January at the CIML meet.
While it is not good that Bennett and Price aren't in opposite halves, it could be worse with Iowa "8x2" state tournament format; mercifully this is not a quarterfinal. Bennett has drawn the eventual champ outside of the final in each of the prior two seasons, losing to Kyle Biscoglia in the quarterfinal as a sophomore and the semifinal as a junior.
Two-time state placer Will Foreman (Cedar Rapids Washington) is the likely quarterfinal opponent for Bennett, while Price's path to the Friday night showdown with Bennett is less of a challenge. The likely upper half bracket finalist would come from the winner of a quarterfinal involving a pair of returning fourth place finishers in Eli Loyd (Pleasant Valley) and two-time medalist Matthew Jordan (Des Moines East).
Illinois Class 3A 145 pounds: No. 7 Kendall Coleman (Mt. Carmel) and No. 8 Jake Stiles (Montini Catholic)
These two wrestlers have already met four times on the season, the junior Stiles winning in a dual meet during the first week of December and then in the Cheesehead final during early January; two-time state placer Coleman (returning runner-up) countered with wins in the semifinal at the Chicago Catholic League two weeks later and last weekend's sectional tournament.
Coleman has an extremely manageable half bracket to say the least. Out of the seven other qualifiers, only Alex Rosenbloom (Highland Park) offers any prior state tournament experience. Stiles sits in the bottom quarter of the draw, where returning state qualifier Gannon Hughes (Oswego) likely waits in the second round. The likely semifinal opponent for Stiles would be undefeated Patrick Ryan (New Trier), who is in his third state tournament appearance
Illinois Class 3A 152 pounds: No. 5 Will Lewan (Montini Catholic) and No. 8 Markus Hartman (Barrington)
These two wrestlers met in last year's 145-pound state final, a match that Lewan won 3-1. Since both won their sectional, they are in opposite half brackets as the highest returning state placers. The lone returning state qualifier in Lewan's top half-bracket is Jack Tangen (New Trier), who lost 8-1 to Hartman in the sectional final last week.
The sectional champion in the quarter opposite of Hartman is returning state qualifier Zach Reese (Lockport), and he draws another returning state qualifier in Kenny Kerstein (Deerfield) as a first-round opponent; while Hartman does not have a state experienced participant with him in the bottom most quarter bracket.
Iowa Class 3A 152 pounds: No. 19 Grant Stotts (West Des Moines Valley) and No. 20 Cayd Lara (Fort Dodge)
Both wrestlers were state runners-up last year, Stotts at 145 to Zach Barnes and Lara at this weight to Nelson Brands; each is also a three-time state placer, Stotts going 2-1-2 while Lara has gone 7-8-2. Stotts has beaten Lara in their two meetings this season, in the ultimate tiebreaker at the CIML final in late January and then in the tiebreaker during the dual meet that following week; Lara's third loss came the second week of December, by fall to Nate Larson (Apple Valley, Minn.)
There is a third major factor in this weight class, and that is fellow three-time state placer Harlan Steffensmeier (Fort Madison). He has placements of 7th, 5th, and 3rd in his career, and gave Stotts his lone loss of the season via 5-4 decision at the Ed Winger Invitational in mid-January. Steffensmeier has two losses on the season, one a total baffler to Noah Fye (New Hampton) the opening weekend of the season that was avenged later in the tournament, and then 6-3 to Lara in mid-January during the J-Hawk Invitational final.
This draws out with Steffensmeier likely facing Stotts in a top-half quarterfinal, with the other quarter bracket of the upper half featuring four wrestlers all 14-plus losses. Lara is also looking at a heavy-hitting quarterfinal with two-time state placer Lance Runyon (Southeast Polk), third at 132 pounds last year and a Cadet freestyler All-American this past summer; Runyon and Lara have not met this season, while Runyon is 0-3 against Stotts, his only in-state losses. The Runyon/Lara winner is likely looking at returning state qualifier Lanny Herzog (Council Bluffs Lincoln) in the semifinal.
Missouri Class 4 182 pounds: No. 10 Emille Shannon (Christian Brothers College) and No. 19 Devin Winston (Park Hill)
This is also a battle of returning state champions, with Shannon a two-time state champion. Thankfully the bracketers had enough wisdom to make sure this would be a state final, assuming no upsets. It is also a match that could play a key dynamic in a potential state team title race. On the season, Winston had no losses, while Shannon has not lost a match outside of the three at the Walsh Ironman.
While Shannon's past to the final is almost a free ride, five of the other seven in his half have double digit losses and the other pair have eight and nine respectively, it is anything but for Winston. There looms a possible quarterfinal with returning state placer Chase Stegall (Northwest Cedar Hill), and then a semifinal match against a third returning state champion in this weight class, Kyle Dickhaus (Eureka).
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