InterMat Staff

It’s time to head up the mountain this week, back to Boone, North Carolina for yet another Southern Conference Championship. The Camels were crowned the regular season Conference Champions - with an undefeated 8-0 record, after posting up a 40-0 shut-out against VMI on the final weekend of the regular season. Campbell and Appalachian State finished the season in InterMat’s rankings at #22 and #28, respectively, while the final NWCA poll had the two ranked at #22 and #24 - the Camels and the Mountaineers sending off the season with top-25 rankings. Now let’s talk about these allocations: there are 14 - FOURTEEN - total for the Southern Conference. Let’s not forget the 47 at-large bids that will be up for grabs after the weekend has concluded. Get your calculators out, because we’re about to do some math (or try to, at least), and let’s see what’s in store for the weekend. 2024 Southern Conference Pre-Allocations and At-Large Bids 125 This weight was kind of turned upside-down at the end of November when Brayden Palmer’s (UTC) redshirt was pulled following a season-ending injury for Logan Ashton, putting him in the starting lineup at a new weight class. Palmer, with a 5-1 conference record, his lone loss from App State’s Chad Bellis. Now Campbell’s Anthony Molton appears to have had an undefeated conference schedule. After reviewing the stats from his season, I noticed that Molton v Palmer didn’t occur in this year’s conference dual series - Zander Phaturos (CAMP) was the starter for that dual. Chad Bellis (APP) has wrestled a full conference season, ending with a 7-1 record. His lone loss of the season was to Molton via tech fall, but defeated Palmer by a 10-0 major decision. That will give him the second seed. These three seem to be the top contenders in the weight, but despite Molton and Palmer finishing the season in the Coaches’ Rankings, there is only one pre-allocation for the weight. Expect a dog fight, and expect some tough wrestling. (shameless plug). Seeds: Anthony Molton - Campbell Chad Bellis - App State Brayden Palmer - Chattanooga Drew West - Gardner- Webb Malik Hardy - The Citadel Tony Burke - Virginia Military Institute Enis Ljikovic - Davidson Trenton Dominguez - Presbyterian 133 Another weight with three top contenders in its class, 133 lbs earned three allocations for the NCAA tournament - meaning the top three placements will head to Kansas City. Campbell, App State, and Chattanooga all deliver the top three seeds - Domenic Zaccone, Ethan Oakley, and Blake Boarman. Zaccone zipped through the season with one loss against Oakley, and 9 tech fall victories in dual competition - putting him at the #8 slot in the national leaderboard for technical falls. App State’s Oakley topped off the season 6-1, his only loss was against UTC’s Boarman. Boarman finished his season with a 6-2 record, his losses from Zaccone and the weight’s darkhorse - Dyson Dunham (VMI). Dunham ended the season with a 5-3 record, his losses coming from Rosas (CIT), Lane (GWU), and Zaccone (CAMP). Maybe we’ll see Dunham and Oakley meet during the tournament for a sizzling semifinal match. Seeds Domenic Zaccone - CAMP Ethan Oakley - APP Blake Boarman - UTC Tyson Lane - GWU Dyson Dunham - VMI George Rosas - CIT Hale Robinson - DAV Brayden Adams - PRES 141 Earning one pre-allocation, Isaiah Powe (UTC) ended the season in a POWErful way (haha see what I did there), undefeated in SoCon Competition (8-0). I see him earning the top seed for the weight class and Ike Byers (APP) with the #3-seed. Byers ended the season 6-1, his lone loss from Powe. But a sleeper? Wynton Denkins (CAMP). A true freshman who started in five conference duals, resulting in a 4-1 record - his lone loss against UTC’s Powe. Gardner Webb’s Todd Carter comes in as the second-seed for the tournament - we’ll likely see a Byers/Carter semifinal, which would be their first time facing off in conference competition. Seeds Isaiah Powe - UTC Todd Carter - GWU Ike Byers - APP Jacob Silka - CIT Wynton Denkins - CAMP Patrick Jordon - VMI Josh Viarengo - DAV Ryan Luna - PRES 149 This weight has everything: a seventh-year senior, a world team member, and a grad school transfer. Cody Bond (APP) ended the season undefeated in conference action. Noah Castillo (UTC) also had an unscathed conference record, though he started only two of the conference dual meets. Notably, he also was a world team member for Puerto Rico. The Citadel’s grad transfer from WVU Jeff Boyd is coming into the tournament with the #2-seed. Boyd’s top win this season was over Campbell’s Justin Rivera. This weight has two allocations, so likely it’ll be wrestled first with 165 to determine whether or not there will be a wrestle-off for “true second” or the NCAA-qualifying slot. These feel like some of the most nerve-wracking experiences to watch during finals. Seeing the joy and relief of being finished with wrestling versus the disappointment of defeat coupled with recovering to get back on the mat and get the job done. Anyway - we’ll see 149 and 165 wrestle first (and possibly last) for finals. Seeds Cody Bond - APP Jeff Boyd - CIT Noah Castillo - UTC Justin Rivera - CAMP Zach Price - GWU Ryan Vigil - VMI Tyler-Xavier McKnight - DAV Trenton Donahue - PRES 157 Another weight, another world team member. Tanner Peake comes in as the #2 seed this year, after being Davidson’s first finalist in four years as a true freshman. He represented Puerto Rico as well on the U23 team, making him the third SoCon wrestler to be a world team member this season (shout out to Shannon Hanna with Team Bahamas and Mr. Blue and Yellow aka Dre Simon). App State’s Tommy Askey boasted a 7-0 conference record. I imagine we see an Askey/Peake final, with the potential for an at-large bid to be earned at this weight. Seeds Tommy Askey - APP Tanner Peake - DAV Chris Earnest - CAMP Hayden Watson - CIT Lincoln Heck - UTC Tyler Brignola - GWU Eli Holiday - PRES Josh Yost - VMI 165 I’ve noticed not all starters listed for the tournament have wrestled the full conference schedule, but 165 is a special case. The top seed, Will Miller (APP) had an undefeated conference schedule (8-0, including Bellarmine). Miller and the #2-seed Dom Baker (CAMP) are familiar competitors, their last meeting ending with an 8-2 decision in Miller’s favor in Buies Creek. #3-seeded Ben Haubert will likely end up in the semis against Miller as well, they last wrestled in Boone where Miller garnered an 8-0 major decision victory. This weight has two allocations - which means a true second-place match could occur. (See the explanation in 149). Seeds Will Miller - APP Dom Baker - CAMP Ben Haubert - CIT Bryce Sanderlin - DAV Kamdyn Munro - UTC Andrew Wilson - GWU Michael Ramirez - PRES Caleb Chandler - VMI 174 Austin Murphy (CAMP) made a triumphant return this season after not competing for the ‘22-’23 season, finishing the season undefeated and ranked top-25 between InterMat’s and the Coaches’ Rankings. VMI’s Braxton Lewis takes the second seed, followed by Desiante (UTC) and Uliano (APP). Lewis has a win over Desiante under his belt, and has not wrestled against Uliano this season. Murphy and Desiante, however, have wins over Uliano. This bracket will be a fun one to watch - and I’ve [finally] realized that next season I think I’ll have to make a starter stat tracker…or something like that. From here through heavyweight, there is only one allocation for each weight left. Seeds Austin Murphy - CAMP Braxton Lewis - VMI Sergio Desiante - UTC Luke Uliano - APP Brodie Porter - CIT Marc Koch - DAV Sam Mora - GWU Brandon Jacoby - PRES 184 Honestly, I’m a little surprised there weren’t two allocations for 184 - both Hopkins (CAMP) and Anderson (GWU) have had really strong showings this season; when the two met in Buies Creek last month, Hopkins scored a narrow 1-0 victory over Anderson, earning an escape at the beginning of the second period of their bout. Matches that close sometimes show just how tough the competitors are - and I’m really looking forward to this rematch in the finals (fingers crossed). Anderson made history for the Runnin’ Bulldogs this season, after he became the program’s first Southern Scuffle Champion. Freshman Tomas Brooker (APP) has made a splash this season, finishing the season 6-2 in SoCon competition, only recording losses to Anderson and Hopkins. Seeds Caleb Hopkins - CAMP Jha’Quan Anderson - GWU Tomas Brooker - APP Wyatt Ferguson - DAV Adam Ortega - CIT Tyler Schoffstall - VMI Caleb Roe - PRES Jackson Hurst - UTC 197 Another weight where I felt that the conference deserved two allocations…but I’m also incredibly pro-SoCon. Anyway - Hopkins is a returning Southern Conference Champion, who ended the season top-ten in the country in falls this season along with another undefeated record. Hopkins defeated #2-seed Carson Floyd (APP) by a 7-2 decision, and Floyd beat the #3 seed, Brophy (CIT). Seeds Levi Hopkins - CAMP Carson Floyd - APP Patrick Brophy - CIT Josh McCutcheon - GWU David Harper - UTC Cameo Blankenship - DAV Josh Evans - VMI George Hopkins - PRES 285 Heavyweight has the highest-ranked wrestler in the conference: Taye Ghadiali (CAMP). Ghadiali also finished the season undefeated, the 10th most dominant wrestler in the NCAA, ranked 5th in falls, and 10th in tech falls. The odds are high that Ghadiali will make the podium this year in Kansas City, but let’s also talk about the rest of the bracket. Second-seed Jacob Sartorio (APP) finished the season 5-2, his losses from Ghadiali and Thad Huff (BU, injury default). Seeds Taye Ghadiali - CAMP Jacob Sartorio - APP Ben Stemmet - CIT Jake Fernicola - DAV Tyler Mousaw - VMI Kaleb Snodgrass - UTC Peyton McComas - GWU Morvens Saint-Jean - PRES I can’t wait to see y’all this weekend - if you’re coming to Boone, don’t be shy, come say hi! xoxo

It’s the greatest weekend in college wrestling and you have a lot to do so I won’t even waste time here. Plenty of questions so let’s jump right in! What are the minimum wrestlers PSU could use and still win the Big Ten? Could they win with only seven guys if they wanted to? (133,141,157,165,184,197,285) Dabreadyi They have a hard enough winning the conference tournament with a full squad. I swear it’s like Memphis Raines trying to steal Eleanor. Something always goes wrong. Ok, maybe not always, but it is oddly a thing. But I doubt we see an issue this year even if Starocci can’t go. But yeah, I could see just that seven being enough if you get five champs out of it. Should I change out of my tournament khakis for the SoCon finals? Rachel Gallardo, SoCon correspondent Of course, you should! Khakis are your work clothes and you’re putting in a day’s work covering the matches. The finals is an event and should be treated like the Met Gala. Personally, I like to look as haggard as possible on most days so it’s a bigger surprise when I have to style it up. I tend to get told I clean up well a lot. And have fun! Tell Levi Hopkins I need a title for my fantasy team! Tips for someone attending their first conference tournament! Morgan Hackney I don’t know, I‘ve never been to one! But apparently, khakis are the ideal fit for such a long day. And much like our girl Rachel at the SoCon, the InterMat honeymooners of Morgan and James Hackney have you covered on all things Big 12, so go check them out. The Rolling Stones also recently put out an album called Hackney Diamonds which has nothing to do with this at all, but I’m just stalling until the next question. Tell Troy Spratley I need a title for my fantasy team! We all know #JaggerVision is going to be up all weekend, but what is the setup looking like? How do you decide what goes on the center screen? Fantasy Championship Wrestling For tourney season it’s all about economy and utilizing your space so the biggest screen gets a quad box. Most likely I’ll go with the B12 there and spread the B10 mats across the other four screens. Then I’ll throw what’s left on the computer and tablet devices for quick access when there’s a match I want to see. The start times are all staggered quite nicely where you don’t get overwhelmed by everything at once. The ACC being only on Sunday is a big help and fills the gaps between medal rounds. In total, I can probably get about 16 mats running at once> Will I watch all 16? I doubt it. Will I stare at my phone the entire time and miss all the action? There’s a high probability of that. Who are the most Jersey representatives in each conference that we should watch for? Kevin Claunch Hmm, let me go take a look. The EIWA is loaded with Jersey guys because we’re all Ivy-level brains over here. Certainly, all eyes will be on Luke Stanich and if he can continue his superb true freshman season. Likely an all-Jersey final with Ungar if the seeds hold true. Joey Zargo has had a solid year for Wisconsin and has a chance to finish above his seed at 149 in the Big Ten as the field is pretty open after Lovett and Gomez. The ACC seems to have Vincent Santaniello as our only rep besides the great Mekhi Lewis. I’m also claiming Trent Hidlay because he has family here and we have the best sandwiches. It’s a natural fit. But wait! We’ve also got Dylan Cedeno out there for my man Steve Garland in Virginia! The Big 12 seems to be severely lacking Jersey guys and that makes sense since we don’t like to be landlocked. In the MAC, I’d like to see Quinn Kinner finish strong and not get Munson’d in the middle of nowhere. What is the non-Big Ten weight that Jagger is most looking forward to during the conference tournament weekend? Rhino Easily 141, at the ACC tournament. Check out Robbie Wendell’s preview for more but you have four guys and can win or lose to each other on any given night. It should be interesting. Who is Jagger picking to win each of the seven conference tournaments? Dan Seifring All 70 weights or the seven team champs? It doesn’t matter because I simply don’t have an answer for you. Have you seen my record in the picks contest? The idea that someone pays for my expertise is baffling. Jags, my charming friend, with U Jamestown leaving the NAIA for the NCAA, the NAIA Women’s Tournament (where the headgear is optional but the thrills are not) needs a new home. Where in the best wrestling state would you put the best college freestyle tournament? Salty Walkon Marietta, Georgia seems like the right fit if you ask me. We need more southern exposure and Life U has earned the right to host with the success they’ve had over the years. Earl has noted how much he enjoyed the WCWA tournament when it was run by Life back in the day. From my wife: "What will Jagger do for questions when you have to go back to work?" Burger King of Kings Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t leave now. It’s about to enter the slow period and I need content. You could even get an entire mailbag all to yourself at some point. Keep those questions in drafts for future use. Did the Ivy League make a mistake breaking away from the EIWA? Mike Abromitis I don’t think so. But it will take time to know for sure. I only hope it leads to all the Ivy schools fielding a team, but I know that’s wishful thinking. Well, that’s it. Get your affairs in order and get your screens up. The postseason is here which is a bit sad since it means the end of the season is near. Don’t forget to check the streaming guide for start times!

We've all four guys back and ready to jump into the conference tournaments. They discuss some seeding/allocation notes, the deepest weights at their respective conferences, wrestlers who are x-factors or wild cards and more

It’s the big one! Actually the Big Ten. The constant in the college wrestling world is that the Big Ten rules the roost. 2023-24 is no difference as the Big Ten has earned 85 automatic qualifying bids at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Surely they’ll add a few others during the at-large process, as well. The 2024 Big Ten Championships head to the East Coast and will be hosted by the University of Maryland for the first time since the school joined the conference prior to the 2014-15 school year. The resurgent host school has a second seed, along with three others seeded in the top-seven at their respective weights, three years after scoring only two points in the 2021 tournament. As expected all year, Penn State comes into the tournament as a heavy favorite. Cael Sanderson’s team has five top seeds and only one wrestler seeded below fifth. The Nittany Lions just finished their fourth straight undefeated season and only gave up more than ten points in a dual on one occasion. That begs the question, who finishes second? At times, Iowa, Michigan, and Nebraska all looked like they were capable of doing so. Both Michigan and Nebraska have a number-one seed. Penn State won the 2023 title, but Michigan and Iowa have accounted for the previous two conference titles. Individually, there are seven past Big Ten champions set to compete. Two are in one weight class (197), while one wrestler is going for his third B1G title (Carter Starocci) and another is going for his fourth (Aaron Brooks). Without any more introductions the conference that doesn’t need any introductions. It’s the Big Ten preview. Analysis for each weight and top-eight finishers and more. 125 lbs 1. Matt Ramos (PUR) 2. Drake Ayala (IOWA) 3. Eric Barnett (WIS) 4. Patrick McKee (MINN) 5. Caleb Smith (NEB) 6. Braeden Davis (PSU) 7. Michael DeAugustino (MICH) 8. Brendan McCrone (OSU) 9. Dean Peterson (RUT) 10. Tristan Lujan (MSU) 11. Justin Cardani (ILL) 12. Massey Odiotti (NU) 13. Tommy Capul (MD) 14. Blaine Frazier (IND) NCAA Allocations: (9) First Round Match to Watch: #8 Brendon McCrone (Ohio State) vs. #9 Dean Peterson Projected Semifinals: #1 Matt Ramos (Purdue) vs. #4 Patrick McKee (Minnesota); #2 Drake Ayala (Iowa) vs. #6 Braeden Davis (Penn State) It’s the weight class we’ve been talking about all year! And generally, we have it going chalk, that can’t be right. Can it? Do the upsets happen if we’re expecting them? Or only if they’re unforeseen. But seriously, top-ranked Matt Ramos is seeking to become Purdue’s first Big Ten champion since Ryan Lange in 2004. Ramos was third last year before his remarkable NCAA finals run. In a weird coincidence, but appropriate for this bracket, Ramos and second-seeded Drake Ayala could face opponents who have defeated them already this season before the finals. Ramos has a loss to Caleb Smith, while Ayala’s likely quarterfinal opponent, Michael DeAugustino, defeated him in tiebreakers. Two of the veterans in this weight class could shake things up in Eric Barnett and Patrick McKee. Though he’s a two-time All-American, McKee has only finished higher than sixth at this tournament once - and on that occasion, he lost in the opening round. Barnett is the only wrestler in this bracket who has wrestled in a Big Ten final. Somewhere along the way, we need another matchup between these two. They’ve already met 11 times in their illustrious careers. Perhaps one of the more exciting matches to watch in this bracket is Barnett versus Penn State freshman Braeden Davis. The two did not meet during the regular season. Should Davis pull the slight upset, he could get another crack at Ayala. On a neutral mat, I’d give the freshman a very slight edge. Predictions 1st: Matt Ramos (Purdue) over Braeden Davis (Penn State) 3rd: Drake Ayala (Iowa) over Patrick McKee (Minnesota) 5th: Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) over Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 7th: Michael DeAugustino (Michigan) over Dean Peterson (Rutgers) 133 lbs 1. Dylan Ragusin (MICH) 2. Dylan Shawver (RUT) 3. Nic Bouzakis (OSU) 4. Jacob Van Dee (NEB) 5. Aaron Nagao (PSU) 6. Tony Madrigal (ILL) 7. Braxton Brown (MD) 8. Tyler Wells (MINN) 9. Nicolar Rivera (WIS) 10. Cayden Rooks (IND) 11. Dustin Norris (PUR) 12. Andrew Hampton (MSU) 13. Patrick Adams (NU) 14. Brody Teske (IOWA) NCAA Allocations: (7) First Round Match to Watch: #3 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) vs. #4 Brody Teske (Iowa) Projected Semifinals: #1 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) vs. #5 Aaron Nagao (Penn State); #2 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) vs. #3 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) It’s been discussed ad nauseum already, so we’ll just give it a quick mention. The first-round matchup between Nic Bouzakis and Brody Teske probably should have been a quarterfinal match, but isn’t because Teske was noted as the starter after the conference deadline. That creates a very tough bout for Bouzakis right off the bat and gives Teske a very tough path to the top-seven and automatic qualifier status. With graduations and weight changes, this feels like a very different weight class from years past. Aaron Nagao was a Big Ten finalist for Minnesota last year, but most others in the field have not had high finishes. One of those who has is Dylan Ragusin who was fifth and third in each of the past two years. Ragusin made it into February before suffering his first loss of the year - to Jacob Van Dee. Since no one in the conference was unbeaten and Ragusin still has an extensive list of quality wins, he gets the top seed. On the other half of the bracket is Dylan Shawver, who is the highest-seeded Rutgers grappler this year. Shawver locked up the second seed with three big wins down the home stretch over Nic Bouzakis, Aaron Nagao, and Braxton Brown. To wrestle up to his seed, Shawver may need to replicate the wins over Brown and Bouzakis in the quarters and semis, respectively. Predictions 1st: Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) over Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) 3rd: Aaron Nagao (Penn State) over Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) 5th: Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) over Braxton Brown (Maryland) 7th: Tony Madrigal (Illinois) over Tyler Wells (Minnesota) 141 lbs 1. Beau Bartlett (PSU) 2. Jesse Mendez (OSU) 3. Real Woods (IOWA) 4. Brock Hardy (NEB) 5. Sergio Lemley (MICH) 6. Danny Pucino (ILL) 7. Mitch Moore (RUT) 8. Jordan Hamdan (MSU) T9. Dan Fongaro (IND) T9. Vance VomBaur (MINN) 11. Kal Miller (MD) 12. Greyson Clark (PUR) 13. Kolby McClain (NU) 14. Felix Lettini (WIS) NCAA Allocations: (11) First Round Match to Watch: #6 Danny Pucino (Illinois) vs. #11 Kal Miller Projected Semifinals: #1 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. #5 Sergio Lemley (Michigan); #3 Real Woods (Iowa) vs. #2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) This is a beast of a weight class with 11 NCAA spots available, which is the most out of any weight class in any qualifying tournament. There are actually 12 Big Ten wrestlers currently in the national rankings, so there’s a chance that the conference even gets one or two more depending on what happens in College Park and around the country. It’s rare that you have both Big Ten finalists returning, at the same weight class, and neither comes in as the number one or number two seed. But, it’s the Big Ten - sometimes that’s all that needs to be said. Last year, Beau Bartlett got on the NCAA podium for the first time at his ideal weight class. This year, he’s taken it to another level and comes in unbeaten. There have been times when his offense has opened up against tough competition, but he’ll still have a few close matches that leave him vulnerable to an upset. Coming in at the second seed is Jesse Mendez who held that distinction last year at 133 lbs. Mendez moved up and has been even better than his true freshman season. He emerged victorious in a Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational weight class that featured some of the key players here and from around the nation. One of the most anticipated bouts of this tournament could take place in the semifinals, when Mendez squares off with returning champion Real Woods. Since Iowa and Ohio State did not wrestle this season, these two do not have any collegiate history. One of the better potential quarterfinals to monitor is the #4/#5 match with 2023 Big Ten runner-up Brock Hardy and true freshman Sergio Lemley. The two had a classic, back-and-forth battle in Lincoln before Hardy came out on top. Lemley is your typical talented true freshman who may have taken his lumps in November and December, but seems to be coming into form when it counts. The whole bottom half of this weight class is a mess, which is evident by the fact that the preseeds couldn’t determine who should get the #9, between Dan Fongaro and Vance Vombaur. Anyone between the sixth and 12th seed can, and probably will, beat up on each other. It’s one of those weights where it’s an upset in number only. Predictions 1st: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) over Beau Bartlett (Penn State) 3rd: Real Woods (Iowa) over Sergio Lemley (Michigan) 5th: Brock Hardy (Nebraska) over Danny Pucino (Illinois) 7th: Mitch Moore (Rutgers) over Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) 149 lbs 1. Ridge Lovett (NEB) 2. Austin Gomez (MICH) 3. Caleb Rathjen (IOWA) 4. Tyler Kasak (PSU) 5. Dylan D’Emilio (OSU) 6. Ethen Miller (MD) 7. Joe Zargo (WIS) 8. Graham Rooks (IND) 9. Drew Roberts (MINN) 10. Michael Cetta (RUT) 11. Marcos Polanco (PUR) 12. Braden Stauffenberg (MSU) 13. Aiden Vandenbush (NU) 14. Jake Harrier (ILL) NCAA Allocations: (9) First Round Match to Watch: #7 Joe Zargo (Wisconsin) vs. #10 Michael Cetta (Rutgers) Projected Semifinals: #1 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. #4 Tyler Kasak (Penn State); #2 Austin Gomez (Michigan) vs. #6 Ethen Miller (Maryland) Like 133 lbs, this is a weight class that looks very different from last season. Redshirts, graduation, weight changes, and new freshmen have given this bracket a new feel. The top seed is Ridge Lovett, a 2021 Big Ten runner-up. Though he missed out on the conference finals in 2022, Lovett ended up in the NCAA championship bout. This year he cruised the most of the regular season before suffering a loss to Arizona State’s Kyle Parco on the final weekend of February. We’ll see if that loss refocused Lovett on the task at hand this week. The second seed, Austin Gomez, was focused on an entirely different task last week as he was in Acapulco qualifying himself and Team Mexico for the 2024 Olympics. Gomez joined the Michigan team midseason and has quickly re-emerged as a title contender. In 2022, it was Gomez who pinned Lovett in the Big Ten semifinals, before winning the title and earning All-American honors. To Lovett’s credit, he dominated the rematch earlier this season. One item we’ll be paying attention to is the health of third-seeded Caleb Rathjen. Rathjen missed Iowa’s season-ending win over Oklahoma State as he was nursing a supposedly minor injury. In the second half of the year, Rathjen emerged as the Hawkeyes starter and picked up key wins against Minnesota, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Because he could be limited, I think it’s a possibility that he gets knocked off in the quarters by home favorite Ethen Miller. Miller comes in a winner of his last five Big Ten duals and will have a large home crowd on his side. I like either the #7/10 or the #8/9 matchup as the two best first-round matches. Zargo/Cetta in particular gives the winner a boost and a push towards the top-eight and automatic qualification. A loss likely relegates one to the ninth-place bracket which is far from ideal. Predictions 1st: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) over Austin Gomez (Michigan) 3rd: Tyler Kasak (Penn State) over Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) 5th: Caleb Rathjen (Iowa) over Ethen Miller (Maryland) 7th: Joe Zargo (Wisconsin) over Graham Rooks (Indiana) 157 lbs 1. Levi Haines (PSU) 2. Michael Blockhus (MINN) 3. Brayton Lee (IND) 4. Jared Franek (IOWA) 5. Peyton Robb (NEB) 6. Chase Saldate (MSU) 7. Will Lewan (MICH) 8. Joey Blaze (PUR) 9. Trevor Chumbley (NU) 10. Isaac Wilcox (OSU) 11. Al DeSantis (RUT) 12. Michael North (MD) 13. Luke Mechler (WIS) 14. Logan Swaw (ILL) NCAA Allocations: (9) First Round Match to Watch: #8 Joey Blaze (Purdue) vs. #9 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) Projected Semifinals: #1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. #5 Peyton Robb (Nebraska); #2 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) vs. #3 Brayton Lee (Indiana) This has been my favorite weight class to follow nationally as well as in the Big Ten. There are six past All-Americans, and four Big Ten finalists - including both finalists from last year. In 2023, Peyton Robb was the top seed and was undefeated until he ran into Penn State freshman phenom Levi Haines. Haines prevailed over Robb in the Big Ten finals and again in the NCAA semis. As a sophomore, Haines has won all 15 matches on the year and notched bonus points in two-thirds of those contests. The brackets are set for another Haines/Robb matchup. That is provided Robb can get by rival Jared Franek in the quarters. Franek got by Robb by a point in their dual this year and in overtime at nationals last season. Of course, the NCAA match was while Robb was in the beginning stages of battling a nasty infection that nearly cost him his leg. Earlier in the 2022-23 season, Robb defeated Franek, 7-4. This is a weight where there were likely some questions surrounding the seeding. Brayton Lee enters the postseason unbeaten; however, he only has seen action in eight bouts all year and four B1G duals. Lee wrestled through injuries last season and was nowhere near the wrestler who made the podium in 2021. We’re still not sure how close he is to that form. If he’s close, then he’ll be a finals threat. Chase Saldate was saddled with the sixth seed despite only having one Big Ten loss (Haines) and wrestling in every conference match. And based on the way duals broke, Saldate didn’t hit most of the top contenders in the league. With such a deep weight class you have dangerous wrestlers in that seven through nine range with multi-time All-American Will Lewan (#7), stud freshman Joey Blaze (#8), and Trevor Chumbley (#9), who was the #13 seed at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Predictions 1st: Levi Haines (Penn State) over Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) 3rd: Peyton Robb (Nebraska) over Jared Franek (Iowa) 5th: Chase Saldate (Michigan State) over Brayton Lee (Indiana) 7th: Will Lewan (Michigan) over Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) 165 lbs 1. Dean Hamiti (WIS) 2. Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) 3. Michael Caliendo (IOWA) 4. Caleb Fish (MSU) 5. Antrell Taylor (NEB) 6. Cameron Amine (MICH) 7. Stoney Buell (PUR) 8. Bryce Hepner (OSU) 9. Tyler Lillard (IND) 10. Blaine Brenner (MINN) 11. Chris Moore (ILL) 12. Maxx Mayfield (NU) 13. Anthony White (RUT) 14. AJ Rodrigues (MD) NCAA Allocations: (10) First Round Match to Watch: #8 Bryce Hepner (Ohio State) vs. #9 Tyler Lillard (Indiana) Projected Semifinals: #1 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) vs. #5 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska); #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) Here’s an opportunity to see one of the most anticipated matches of conference weekend with a potential final between the Wisconsin star Dean Hamiti and the Wisconsin high school sensation Mitchell Mesenbrink, who is competing for Penn State. Hamiti captured a Big Ten title last season and was third in 2022, as a true freshman. He’s gone on to place sixth at both NCAA Tournaments. The U20 world champion, Mesenbrink, has taken the collegiate scene by storm winning all 19 of his contests and tallying bonus points in almost 75% of them. So far, he’s knocked off a pair of returning All-Americans - most impressively an 11-1 major decision over 3x AA Cam Amine. Another freshman to watch is the fifth seed, Antrell Taylor. He also fits the bill as a young guy who’s getting better every time he takes the mat. Taylor went 2-2 at the CKLV losing one match via major decision to Stoney Buell. When the two squared off later in the dual season, it was Taylor who prevailed via major. In the lead-up to the release of the Big Ten seeds, many questioned where Amine would end up. He’s been in and out of the Wolverine lineup this year and does not have a Big Ten win. He’s been placed at the sixth slot, though you could have made a case for Buell or Bryce Hepner to be ahead of him. If Amine is healthy, he could give Caliendo fits. Though the two did not meet last season, Amine outplaced him on the NCAA podium. Throughout his career, Amine is someone who has seemed to shine in the postseason. Is this where he turns the corner? Predictions 1st: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) over Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) 3rd: Michael Caliendo (Iowa) over Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 5th: Caleb Fish (Michigan State) over Stoney Buell (Purdue) 7th: Cameron Amine (Michigan) over Bryce Hepner (Ohio State) 174 lbs 1. Carter Starocci (PSU) 2. Shane Griffith (MICH) 3. Patrick Kennedy (IOWA) 4. Edmond Ruth (ILL) 5. Rocco Welsh (OSU) 6. Jackson Turley (RUT) 7. Max Maylor (WIS) 8. DJ Washington (IND) 9. Andrew Sparks (MINN) 10. Brody Baumann (PUR) 11. Dominic Solis (MD) 12. Bubba Wilson (NEB) 13. DJ Shannon (MSU) 14. David Ferrante (NU) NCAA Allocations: (8) First Round Match to Watch: #5 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) vs. #12 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) Projected Semifinals: #4 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) vs. #8 DJ Washington (Indiana); #2 Shane Griffith (Michigan) vs. #3 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) The entire weight class and the predictions here hinge on the status of Carter Starocci. He suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury during the Nittany Lions final dual meet of the regular season. If Starocci is limited Penn State can either injury default him twice, which puts him outside of the top-eight and forces the NCAA committee to give Starocci an at-large berth. He could wrestle in the quarterfinals and, should he win, he’s in the top-six and could default from that point and finish in the top-six. Or if he’s feeling great, he wrestles the entire tournament. For the purposes of our predictions, we’re guessing Starocci and the PSU staff choose the first option and go with back-to-back, one-second injury defaults. If Starocci is out of the picture it opens up the top half of the bracket. That 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal between Edmond Ruth and Rocco Welsh is huge. The two met during the first weekend of Big Ten dual action and Ruth prevailed, 2-1. It’s reasonable to think that a freshman with Welsh’s pedigree and talent is able to reverse that result almost two months later. Before getting to Ruth, Welsh has a tough first-round matchup against Bubba Wilson. Wilson is a two-time national qualifier who ideally would be at 165 lbs, but the presence of Antrell Taylor has made him move. Even if Welsh is too much, Wilson will put up a strong fight. On the bottom half of the bracket, you have 2021 national champion Shane Griffith as the second seed and Patrick Kennedy as the third seed. For most of the 2023-24 season, Griffith has been content to grind out close wins. His 11-1 major decision over Kennedy was probably his most impressive performance of the season. We’ll see if he can channel that win in the semis. Should Starocci not finish the tournament, in some form or fashion, it could open up a qualifying spot for someone in the lower half of the seeds - someone who may not have qualified under normal circumstances. Predictions 1st: Shane Griffith (Michigan) over Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) 3rd: Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) over Jackson Turley (Rutgers) 5th: Edmond Ruth (Illinois) over DJ Washington (Indiana) 7th: Max Maylor (Wisconsin) over Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) 184 lbs 1. Isaiah Salazar (MINN) 2. Lenny Pinto (NEB) 3. Bernie Truax (PSU) 4. Ryder Rogotzke (OSU) 5. Jaden Bullock (MICH) 6. Layne Malczewski (MSU) 7. Shane Liegel (WIS) 8. Brian Soldano (RUT) 9. Troy Fisher (NU) 10. Roman Rogotzke (IND) 11. Dylan Connell (ILL) 12. James Rowley (PUR) 13. Aiden Riggins (IOWA) 14. Chase Mielnik (MD) NCAA Allocations: (8) First Round Match to Watch: #7 Shane Liegel (Wisconsin) vs. #10 Roman Rogotzke (Indiana) Projected Semifinals: #1 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) vs. #4 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State); #2 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) vs. #3 Bernie Truax (Penn State) With the arrival of three-time All-American Bernie Truax in State College, I’m sure many fans expected Truax to immediately jump into the Big Ten finals. Truax has been very good, but not necessarily unbeatable. Of course, he could change the narrative with a couple of slight upsets over the weekend. The top seed is Isaiah Salazar who is probably the most overlooked one seed in the tournament. Salazar comes into the postseason with 18 wins in 19 matches. He is undefeated against Big Ten foes and his most notable victory this year came over Lenny Pinto during early in the conference dual season. Aside from that, Salazar has not met up with many of the top contenders at this weight. This is a weight class that has seen a handful of wrestlers emerge as potential high-finishers and good bets to qualify. True freshman Ryder Rogotzke has become one of the most enjoyable wrestlers in the country to watch and assumed starting duties relatively late in the year. Jaden Bullock used a sixth-place finish in Vegas to solidify his spot in the Wolverine lineup, while Shane Liegel was a DIII national champion for Loras who decided to try his hand at the DI level with his final year of eligibility. He ended up winning Midlands and establishing himself as a legitament threat. One unique feature in this weight class is a set of brothers. We’ve already discussed Ryder, but his older brother, Roman, is the tenth seed for Indiana. Predictions 1st: Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) over Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) 3rd: Bernie Truax (Penn State) over Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State) 5th: Jaden Bullock (Michigan) over Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) 7th: Brian Soldano (Rutgers) over Troy Fisher (Northwestern) 197 lbs 1. Aaron Brooks (PSU) 2. Jaxon Smith (MD) 3. Zach Glazier (IOWA) 4. Silas Allred (NEB) 5. Garrett Joles (MINN) 6. Luke Geog (OSU) 7. John Poznanski (RUT) 8. Evan Bates (NU) 9. Ben Vanadia (PUR) 10. Gabe Sollars (IND) 11. Kael Wisler (MSU) 12. Isiah Pettigrew (ILL) 13. Bobby Striggow (MICH) 14. Josh Otto (WIS) NCAA Allocations: (7) First Round Match to Watch: #6 Luke Geog (Ohio State) vs. #11 Kael Wisler (Michigan State) Projected Semifinals: #1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) vs. #4 Silas Allred (Nebraska); #2 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) vs. #3 Zach Glazier (Iowa) It’s not every year that you have the opportunity to see a pair of returning Big Ten champions meet prior to the finals, but that’s what could happen at 197 lbs. Top-seeded Aaron Brooks has moved up from 184 lbs and looks as good as ever. He’s earned bonus points in 13 of 14 matches this year and has been about as dominant as any wrestler at any weight. Brooks will be aiming for his fourth Big Ten title before moving on to his fourth national chip. A potential semifinal matchup with Brooks could include the 2023 Big Ten champion at this weight, Silas Allred. The two have already met in dual meet competition and Brooks cruised to a 17-4 major decision. It was one of two Big Ten losses on the year for Allred. The other B1G wrestler to beat Allred this year is Iowa’s Zach Glazier. In his first year as a full-time starter, Glazier has been excellent. A 5-1 loss to Brooks represents the only blemish on his record this year. He’s also the only opponent that has held Brooks to a regular decision. Before worrying about another match with Brooks, Glazier will have to contend with the local favorite Jaxon Smith. The sophomore from Maryland was an NCAA Round of 12 finisher last season and was third in the conference, as well. This year he knocked off returning national runner-up, Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) to make the CKLV finals. Smith and Glazier have not met this season. Things could get difficult early on for Smith on the bottom half of the bracket as he could face 2021 All-American John Poznanski in his first bout. Poznanski has lost his last two duals; however, during his All-American run, it was the Big Ten tournament where he first broke out. The first-round match to watch at this weight is between a pair of talented redshirt freshmen Luke Geog and Kael Wisler. The two did not meet in the regular season. Wisler competed early and often and sports a 23-12 record. He did start to take on water a bit as he moved into the B1G schedule. Geog has a relatively modest 12-6 record, but did hand Poznanski his second loss of the season. Predictions 1st: Aaron Brooks (Penn State) over Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 3rd: Zach Glazier (Iowa) over Silas Allred (Nebraska) 5th: Garrett Joles (Minnesota) over John Poznanski (Rutgers) 7th: Luke Geog (Ohio State) over Gabe Sollars (Indiana) 285 lbs 1. Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) 2. Nick Feldman (OSU) 3. Lucas Davison (MICH) 4. Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT) 5. Seth Nevills (MD) 6. Nick Willham (IND) 7. Bradley Hill (IOWA) 8. Bennett Tabor (MINN) 9. Josh Terrill (MSU) 10. Nash Hutmacher (NEB) 11. Jack Jessen (NU) 12. Gannon Rosenfeld (WIS) 13. Peter Marinopoulos (ILL) 14. Hayden Filipovich (PUR) NCAA Allocations: (7) First Round Match to Watch: #7 Bradley Hill (Iowa) vs. #10 Nash Hutmacher (Nebraska) Projected Semifinals: #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #4 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers); #2 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) vs. #3 Lucas Davison (Michigan) In each of the last two years, the Hodge Trophy winner has come from the 285 lb weight class in the Big Ten. There were some monster brackets in both of those seasons. Graduation (and WWE contracts) have made the weight class slightly more manageable, but you still have the undefeated, top-ranked big man in the land sitting atop the bracket in Greg Kerkvliet. Kerkvliet comes into the postseason with a perfect 12-0 record and bonus points in nine of those contests. He also has decisive wins over both the second and third-seeded wrestlers in the bracket. Numbers two and three belong to freshman Nick Feldman and two-time AA Lucas Davison. The pair clashed in the epic dual win that was clinched by Feldman’s third-period takedown over the elder Davison. Feldman was dealing with injuries earlier in the season, but has recently shown the form that made him the top recruit in the high school Class of 2022. Davison is looking to finally break into the Big Ten finals for the first time. Amazingly enough, he has placed fifth at the Big Ten Championships in each of his previous tries. I’m sure that's a trend he’d rather ruin. The top side of the bracket could get interesting with Kerkvliet and former teammate Seth Nevills. Nevills moved on to Maryland in the offseason and finally has gotten extended time as the starter. But to get to match with his old teammate, Nevills would have to go through Yaraslau Slavikouski again. The two met in the final weekend of the Big Ten dual season and Nevills prevailed, 5-2. Slavikouski also transferred last summer. He was seeded sixth at the 2023 NCAA Tournament for Harvard and came up a match shy of All-American status. The first round will provide us with a rematch between Bradley Hill and Nebraska football star Nash Hutmacher. The Cornhusker defensive lineman fell 4-1 in his Big Ten debut to Hill. As a high schooler, Hutmacher placed in the top three in Fargo on six occasions. Despite the fanfare surrounding his football-playing teammate Ben Kueter, Hill put together a very solid redshirt freshman season with 12 wins against only four losses. Predictions 1st: Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) over Lucas Davison (Michigan) 3rd: Nick Feldman (Ohio State) over Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) 5th: Seth Nevills (Maryland) over Bradley Hill (Iowa) 7th: Nick Willham (Indiana) over Nash Hutmacher (Nebraska) Team Score Projection 1st) Penn State 2nd) Michigan 3rd) Nebraska 4th) Iowa 5th) Ohio State

Friday marks the first day of the DI postseason and both women’s national tournaments. With nine different tournaments to follow over a three day span, it can be difficult to find how and when each event and round takes place. InterMat is here to help with a different version of the viewer guide. It’s broken down by day and has times for each round. Beware, there is a link for each tournament; however, ESPN/ACC Network has multiple links for different days/mats/sessions. Hopefully, the initial link will get you in the right direction. Also!!!!! Times listed are Eastern….not local times! Have fun and get those extra screens and devices hooked up! Friday, March 8th: EIWA Championships - FloWrestling 10:30 AM - Round of 32, Round of 16, Consolations 4:30 PM - Quarterfinals, Consolations MAC Championships - ESPN+ 12:00 PM - First Round 2:00 PM - Quarterfinals/Consolations 5:00 PM - Semifinals/Consolations NCWWC National Championships - FloWrestling 12:00 PM - First Round 5:00 PM - Quarterfinals, Consolations NAIA Women's National Championships - FloWrestling 11:00 AM - Championship First and Second Rounds; Consolations 7:00 PM - Quarterfinals; Consolations Saturday, March 9th Big 12 Championships - ESPN+ 11:00 AM - First Round, Quarterfinals 6:00 PM - Semifinals, Consolations Big Ten Championships - B1G+ 10 AM - First Round, Quarterfinals, Consolations 5 PM - Consolations 7 PM - Semifinals EIWA Championships - FloWrestling 10:30 AM - Semifinals, Consolations 4:45 PM - Finals, Placement Matches MAC Championships - ESPN+ 11:30 AM - Consolation Quarterfinals 1:00 PM - Consolation Semifinals 3:00 PM - Championship Finals/Placement Matches NCWWC National Championships - FloWrestling 12:00 PM - Semifinals, Consolation Semifinals, 3rd/5th/7th Place 8:00 PM - Championship Finals NAIA Women's National Championships - FloWrestling 11:00 AM - Semifinals, Consolations, 3rd/5th/7th Place 8:00 PM - Championship Finals SoCon Championships - ESPN+ 10:00 AM - First Round 12:00 PM - Semifinals 2:00 PM - Consolations 5:30 PM- Consolation Finals 7:00 PM - Championship Finals Sunday, March 10th ACC Championships - ESPN+ 11:00 AM - First Round 1:00 PM - Semifinals 3:30 PM - Consolation Semis 5:00 PM - Consolation Finals 7:00 PM - Championship Finals ACC Network Pac-12 Championships - Pac-12 Network 1:00 PM - First Session 9:00 PM - Championship Session Big 12 Championships - ESPN+ 1:00 PM - Placement Matches 8:30 PM - Championship Finals - ESPN2 Big Ten Championships - B1G+ 12:00 PM - Consolation Semis, 7th place Matches 4:30 PM - Placement Matches - Big Ten Network

The Big 12 brackets dropped and gave us a great look at what to expect this year in Tulsa. Based on seeds, Iowa State and Oklahoma State are tied for first. Two-time returning Big 12 champs Missouri are sitting at 3rd in projections and will be looking to surprise people to win their 13th consecutive conference title. For the most part, the seeds follow rankings but there are some weights that have a lot of change, which could create some chaos. The Big 12 has depth in a number of weights that may be missing an AQ or two. For each weight, I threw in some guys I considered “bracket busters”, ones that could rocket to the top or get some upsets that throw things in flux. The Big 12 is shaping up to be a great tournament with a genuine fight for the team title and will give whatever team wins a lot of momentum as a trophy contender. 125lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #11 Noah Surtin, Missouri #13 Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State #7 Stevo Poulin, Northern Colorado #21 Tanner Jordan, South Dakota State #12 Jore Volk, Wyoming #27 Kysen Terukina, Iowa State Jett Strickenberger, West Virginia #26 Trever Anderson, Northern Iowa This bracket, like most of 125 this year, looks like it could be chaos. There are only six qualifying spots at this weight with eight to ten wrestlers I could see finishing that high. Stevo Poulin and Noah Surtin are returning finalists, where Poulin won an 11-4 decision. Troy Spratley actually beat top seed Noah Surtin in an overtime dual match, but losses to Tanner Jordan and Jore Volk dropped him. Returning Big 12 champ Stevo Poulin’s only losses this season are actually to unseeded wrestlers Eli Griffin and Jett Strickenberger, highlighting the craziness of this weight. Griffin was actually my preseason breakout wrestler pick and has the win over Poulin, but losses to Kysen Terukina, Tanner Jordan, and Trever Anderson. He and Anderson have a first-round rematch, with the winner taking on Surtin for the first time. That quarterfinal could get wild, and if Griffin gets hot then look out. Conrad Hendrickson is another unseeded wrestler to look out for, as the true freshman has been in one takedown matches with Troy Spratley and Kysen Terukina. Add in wins over Jett Strickenberger and Trever Anderson and he could be primed for an upset somewhere. Strickenberger is a wildcard himself, with a unique style that can give opponents issues. If he can navigate a rematch with 2023 qualifier Tucker Owens, a match he won 10-8 this season, then a match with Troy Spratley is intriguing. As crazy as this weight *could* get it is hard to not expect some combination of Surtin/Volk/Spratley/Poulin in the finals. All four are the most established, with the biggest wins and for the most part, have been consistent. That doesn’t mean 125 won’t continue to be crazy and the Big 12 has the depth that could see upsets galore and leave some quality wrestlers needing an At-Large bid. Bracket Busters: Eli Griffin (California Baptist), Conrad Hendricksen (Oklahoma) Semifinal Projection: Noah Surtin (Missouri) vs Jore Volk (Wyoming); Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) vs Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) Finals Pick: Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) over Noah Surtin (Missouri) Projected Qualifiers: Noah Surtin, Troy Spratley, Stevo Poulin, Jore Volk, Tanner Jordan, Kysen Terukina 133lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #3 Daton Fix, Oklahoma State #7 Evan Frost, Iowa State #14 Dom Serrano, Northern Colorado #19 Derrick Cardinal, South Dakota State #24 Julian Farber, Northern Iowa #22 Kade Moore, Missouri Hunter Leake, California Baptist Garrett Ricks, Wyoming Daton Fix is looking to make history as the first-ever 5x Big 12 champ, although he could be joined by David Carr later in the night. Fix has never lost to a conference opponent and will be heavily favored to do so again. Earlier this season he beat Evan Frost with an 11-3 major. The battle on the other side of the bracket to get to the finals is intriguing with Frost, Dom Serrano, and Kade Moore. Frost is the most consistent wrestler at this weight this year and has some solid ranked wins. He and Serrano haven’t hit, however, and while Serrano doesn’t have the same high-profile wins he did beat Nasir Bailey, while Frost was teched 15-0. A wildcard looking to prevent that from happening is Kade Moore, a wrestler who pinned Sam Latona and had a wild 10-9 loss to Vito Arujau. He hasn’t wrestled since the Vito match due to an off-the-mat injury, but has an exciting style that had him looking impressive to that point. Looking at other potential upsets, I really like Julian Farber at the five to make the semis. With wins over Nic Bouzakis and Jacob Van Dee, Farber has a lot of upside if he’s wrestling to his potential. Hunter Leake at the seven seed will have to have at least one upset, but I like him and/or Eli Griffin to potentially be the Lancers first qualifier. Fernando Barreto is a name some might not be familiar with but just beat Derrick Cardinal to finish the season and could be dangerous in the right matchup. Bracket Busters: Kade Moore (Missouri), Fernando Barreto (North Dakota State) Semifinal Projection: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs Julian Farber (Northern Iowa); Evan Frost (Iowa State) vs Kade Moore (Missouri) Finals Pick: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) over Evan Frost (Iowa State) Projected Qualifiers: Daton Fix, Evan Frost, Dom Serrano, Kade Moore, Julian Farber, Hunter Leake 141lbs - 5 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #7 Anthony Echemendia, Iowa State #9 Tagen Jamison, Oklahoma State #8 Cael Happel, Northern Iowa #11 Jordan Titus, Western Virginia #22 Clay Carlson, South Dakota State #28 Josh Edmond, Missouri #29 Haiden Drury, Utah Valley #30 Cole Brooks, Wyoming A weight with only five qualifying spots is one of the deepest, with nine ranked wrestlers and four in the top 12. Beyond that top 12 is two-time All-American Clay Carlson and Josh Edmond who have had one-point matches with three of the top four. Echemendia, Jamison, and Happel have all traded wins and losses this season while Titus lost to Jamison and Happel. Echemendia’s style is always fun to watch, and a match with Wyoming true freshman Cole Brooks should be no different. I like Echemendia in that match to take on the winner of Titus vs Carlson. Titus has been mostly dominant this season but Carlson is looking to peak once again late in the season. Last year Carlson was also the fifth seed, but finished third. The bottom half of the bracket has plenty of intrigue, starting with a likely rematch of Happel vs Edmond. In a dual match just a couple weeks ago Edmond scored the 4-3 upset, but Happel was right there late. Ironically, last year Happel was also the third seed, but lost to the sixth seed Allan Hart from Missouri. Haiden Drury is seeded but still gets a ranked opponent in #31 Gavin Drexler of North Dakota State. The two wrestled in an early February dual with Drury getting the 8-7 win. That is a big match for the back half of the team scores, and could play a role in potential At-Large bids. Bracket Busters: Clay Carlson (South Dakota State), Josh Edmond (Missouri), Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) Semifinal Projection: Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) vs Clay Carlson (South Dakota State); Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) vs Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State) Finals Pick: Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) over Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) Projected Qualifiers: Anthony Echemendia, Tagen Jamison, Cael Happel, Jordan Titus, Clay Carlson 149lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #6 Casey Swiderski, Iowa State #17 Willie McDougald, Oklahoma #7 Ty Watters, West Virginia #18 Jordan Williams, Oklahoma State #22 Alek Martin, South Dakota State #31 Maxwell Petersen, North Dakota State #27 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming #26 Logan Gioffre, Missouri As evidenced by the seed and rankings discrepancy, this weight could get weird. Swiderski is undefeated against conference opponents and has plenty of dominant wins to make him an easy one. McDougald didn’t have the best regular season but a win over Ty Watters and two wins over Jordan Williams shot him up to the two seed. On the top side of the bracket, there is likely a quarters match with Swiderski vs Gioffre. Similar to Kade Moore, Gioffre has missed quite a bit of time due to injury for Missouri. When he was healthy he looked like he was going to be a factor with wins over Willie McDougald and Jaden Abas and losses to top-eight opponents. Swiderski has looked dominant and I have him in the finals but look out for Gioffre to make a backside run. Jordan Williams has a nice run to the semis, with a potential rematch against Alek Martin in the quarters. Williams pinned Martin in the dual and if he can repeat the result would score some big bonus points. Known as the “Iceman” in high school, Williams has an X factor on the big stage that could come into play. On the bottom side of the bracket Watters has been one of the best true freshmen this season and his lanky build makes him an excellent scrambler. I like him to make a run to the finals if he can navigate McDougald’s stout defense and underhook. McDougald could have a tough run to make it there with a match against Gabe Willochell. Bracket Busters: Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State), Logan Gioffre (Missouri) Semifinal Projection: Casey Swiderski (Iowa State) vs Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State); Ty Watters (West Virginia) vs Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) Finals Pick: Casey Swiderski (Iowa State) over Ty Watters (West Virginia Projected Qualifiers: Casey Swiderski, Ty Watters, Jordan Williams, Logan Gioffre, Willie McDougald, Maxwell Petersen 157lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #2 Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado #13 Ryder Downey, Northern Iowa #10 Teague Travis, Oklahoma State #14 Cody Chittum, Iowa State #11 Brock Mauller, Missouri #18 Cael Swensen, South Dakota State Landen Johnson, North Dakota State #30 Jared Hill, Oklahoma Vinny Zerban is quietly one of the last undefeated wrestlers at this weight, but he hasn’t wrestled any of the other the top seven seeds. He will likely see Jared Hill in the quarters, a match that was a 4-3 decision win for him at the Southern Scuffle. Surprisingly, a number of the wrestlers in the top six haven’t wrestled each other. The other quarter for that semi could hold the potential finalist with Brock Mauller vs Cody Chittum. Mauller is the established veteran who was a Big 12 finalist last year while Chittum is the blue-chip prospect who has high podium potential. The bottom half of the bracket could see a rematch between Teague Travis and Cael Swensen, which was a 4-1 win for Travis in sudden victory in the dual. Whoever can come through to the semis is likely looking at a match with Ryder Downey. Travis lost to a 4-1 decision to him in the dual, but he’s never wrestled Cael Swensen. Zerban could prove me wrong and win a title, but I think one of the other top five seeds could surprise people and shoot up the rankings. 157 isn’t 125 but has had quite a bit of volatility this season and I think that continues with this bracket. Bracket Busters: Brock Mauller (Missouri), Jared Hill (Oklahoma), Cael Swensen (South Dakota State) Semifinal Projection: Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado) vs Cody Chittum (Iowa State), Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) vs Ryder Downey (Northern Colorado) Finals Pick: Ryder Downey (Northern Colorado) over Cody Chittum (Iowa State) Projected Qualifiers: Ryder Downey, Cody Chittum, Brock Mauller, Teague Travis, Vinny Zerban, Cael Swensen 165lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #1 Keegan O’Toole, Missouri #2 David Carr, Iowa State #7 Peyton Hall, West Virginia #8 Izzak Olejnik, Oklahoma State #13 Giano Petrucelli, Air Force #25 Cael Carlson, Oklahoma Tanner Cook, South Dakota State Cooper Voorhees, Wyoming The match of the tournament is shaping up to be David Carr vs Keegan O’Toole, with Carr looking to finish his career with five Big 12 titles. It won’t exactly come easy with top opponents in Izzak Olejnik and Peyton Hall looking to avenge regular season losses. With the projected semifinals of Carr vs Hall and O’Toole vs Olejnik, both have happened this season. Carr beat Hall 10-5 and O’Toole beat Olejnik 5-1. Both wrestlers are savvy and could certainly make things interesting but it would be surprising to see an upset. The backside of the bracket could get interesting with another potential rematch in the third-place match between Olejnik and Hall. Hall won the dual match with a 5-1 decision and the only takedown in the match. The top four could wrestle to seed, but with six qualifier spots look out for Tanner Cook looking to make something happen. He hasn’t had the consistency with injuries this year, but he’s always dangerous and could certainly be someone to look out for. If Cook can get some bonus points on the backside that could be a big swing for the Jackrabbits as well. Other than that I think this weight will be pretty chalk and set up a thriller finale. Bracket Busters: Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) Semifinal Projection: Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State); David Carr (Iowa State) vs Peyton Hall (West Virginia) Finals Pick: Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) over David Carr (Iowa State) Projected Qualifiers: Keegan O’Toole, David Carr, Peyton Hall, Izzak Olejnik, Giano Petrucelli, Cael Carlson 174lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #4 Cade DeVos, South Dakota State #19 MJ Gaitan, Iowa State #21 Brayden Thompson, Oklahoma State #10 Peyton Mocco, Missouri #22 Jared Simma, Northern Iowa #31 Tate Picklo, Oklahoma #20 Gaven Sax, North Dakota State #29 Brody Conley, West Virginia Another Big 12 weight where it feels short an AQ spot or two, there are only six spots with eight ranked wrestlers. The rankings and the seeds are all over the place, which only adds to the chaos. Rising above all that is Cade DeVos who has wins over five of the top seven seeds. Undefeated in conference, he feels primed to be the Jackrabbits first Big 12 champ since Seth Gross in 2018. To do that he’ll likely see Peyton Mocco, a wrestler he’s 2-3 against but won the most recent match in the dual. Mocco is likely to have a highly entertaining match with Jared Simma, who will likely be more than willing to mix it up in the scrambles. The bottom half of the bracket has plenty of intrigue and potential rematches. Brayden Thompson majored Tate Picklo in the first Bedlam, but lost in overtime in the second one. The two are set up to meet in the quarters in a match that could go a lot of ways with the two scrambling. The winner of that is likely to see MJ Gaitan, who pinned Tate Picklo but had a close overtime win with Brayden Thompson. Both Iowa State and Oklahoma State will be looking to their starters to make the finals if they meet up. Some dark horses I like are the aforementioned Picklo, who if he gets hot like last year could make a shocking run. Brody Conley at the eighth seed is intriguing as well as he had a buzzer-beater loss to Jared Simma and a quick fall loss to MJ Gaitan but hasn’t seen any other seeded wrestlers. Running into DeVos early is tough, but I like his chances to make a run on the backside. Bracket Busters: Tate Picklo (Oklahoma), Brody Conley (West Virginia) Semifinal Projection: Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) vs Peyton Mocco (Missouri); Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) vs MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) Finals Pick: Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) over MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) Projected Qualifiers: Cade DeVos, MJ Gaitan, Peyton Mocco, Brayden Thompson, Tate Picklo, Brody Conley 184 lbs - 5 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #1 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa #2 Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State #8 Bennett Berge, South Dakota State #13 Colton Hawks, Missouri #14 Will Feldkamp, Iowa State #11 Sam Wolf, Air Force #28 Dennis Robin, West Virginia Ethan Ducca, Wyoming Despite six wrestlers ranked in the top 15, this weight only has five automatic qualifier spots. Parker Keckeisen is undefeated against Big 12 competition in his career and the heavy favorite to win his fourth Big 12 title with wins over three of the top four. His quarterfinals match will be against Colton Hawks or Will Feldkamp, both wrestlers he majored this season. Despite not starting most of the season, Hawks won the starting spot over Clayton Whiting late in the year including a win over Will Feldkamp. Hawks also has wins over Aaron Ayzerov and Isaiah Salazar this season, but hasn’t had consistency. That could create an opportunity for Feldkamp to get revenge, but if he goes to the backside then Iowa State could score big bonus points with Feldkamp’s skill set. Despite being a returning All-American he is still the five seed and someone I think could outplace his seed significantly. The bottom half of the bracket is shaping up for a Dustin Plott vs Bennett Berge rematch. The two went to overtime in the dual with Plott needing a comeback to tie and scored the winning takedown. Plott is a two-time Big 12 champ at 174 though, and as veteran as it gets for the young Jackrabbit. Dennis Robin could be one to look out for as he just hasn’t seen too much in conference competition. He had a close loss to Sam Wolf, who’s been in and out of the lineup, but otherwise has only seen Dustin Plott and Parker Keckeisen which makes his ceiling tough to gauge. Breaking the top five will be tough, but Robin could surprise with an upset somewhere. Sam Wolf is another one that has potential, but has an injury history and missed Air Force’s last two duals. He had regular-season wins over Clayton Whiting, Dennis Robin, Jaden Bullock, and Chris Foca so he is dangerous. Bracket Busters: Sam Wolf (Air Force), Dennis Robin (West Virginia) Semifinal Projection: Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs Colton Hawks (Missouri); Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) vs Bennett Berge (South Dakota State) Finals Pick: Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) over Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) Projected Qualifiers: Parker Keckeisen, Dustin Plott, Bennett Berge, Colton Hawks, Will Feldkamp 197lbs - 6 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #5 Tanner Sloan, South Dakota State #6 Stephen Buchanan, Oklahoma #10 Rocky Elam, Missouri #14 Evan Bockman, Utah Valley #24 Wyatt Voelker, Northern Iowa #19 Joey Novak, Wyoming #16 Luke Surber, Oklahoma State Austin Cooley, West Virginia The top of this weight class is stacked with returning Big 12 champ Rocky Elam as the three seed. Tanner Sloan beat both him and Stephen Buchanan this season, and like DeVos is a strong contender to be SDSU’s first champ in over five years. The last time we saw Buchanan, he was also winning a Big 12 title and while we haven’t seen him as much lately, is a strong contender. Sloan seems like a near-semis lock and will likely see the winner of Wyatt Voelker vs Evan Bockman. Bockman won a 4-2 decision last time but I always think it's interesting when a young guy like Voelker can wrestle close against a veteran like Bockman. Both wrestlers are hard to score on so a one takedown match is likely, but a win here gets you to the semis and NCAA’s. On the bottom half of the bracket is a similar story with a potential rematch with Rocky Elam and Joey Novak. A true freshman phenom for Wyoming, Novak had a 5-3 match with Elam in the dual early this season. Even if Novak drops that one, I still like him making it happen to qualify on the backside. Luke Surber at the seven seed would shock many at the beginning of the season but injuries have hampered his season significantly. He’s had close matches with highly ranked wrestlers lately, but hasn’t been able to come up on the winning side. If he and Buchanan are both beat up in a quarters match, it could be a coin flip and Surber has a lot of upside. If brackets go chalk, a match between Surber and Novak on the backside to automatically qualify has fireworks all over it as my two bracket-buster picks. Bracket Busters: Luke Surber (Oklahoma State), Joey Novak (Wyoming) Semifinal Projection: Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) vs Evan Bockman (Utah Valley); Rocky Elam (Missouri) vs Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma) Finals Pick: Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) over Stephen Buchanan (Oklahoma) Projected Qualifiers: Tanner Sloan, Stephen Buchanan, Rocky Elam, Evan Bockman, Joey Novak, Wyatt Voelker 285lbs - 5 AQ’s Seeded Wrestlers: #2 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force #3 Yonger Bastida, Iowa State #5 Zach Elam, Missouri #10 Josh Heindselman, Oklahoma #11 Konner Doucet, Oklahoma State #15 Tyrell Gordon, Northern Iowa Michael Wolfgram, West Virginia Kevin Zimmer, Wyoming The top two wrestlers at this weight are both undefeated and have a combined 80% bonus rate this year. Bastida has the stronger overall resume this year, but Hendrickson is the two-time returning Big 12 champ. He hasn’t had the strongest competition but has been dominant against whom he’s faced with 16 pins this year. He is likely looking at a match against the winner between Konner Doucet and Josh Heindselman. These two are very familiar with each other and have traded wins in their careers and this season. Heindselman won the last match in Bedlam, but this match is the epitome of a tossup as the score in every match has been 2-1. Doucet’s defensive-heavy style doesn’t make for exciting matches, but with so many overtime matches his ability to outplace his seed wouldn’t be shocking. The bottom half of the bracket has an intriguing match with Zach Elam vs Tyrell Gordon likely. Elam is 4-0 against Gordon but went to rideouts in the dual recently. Gordon’s athleticism can be tough to deal with at heavyweight and he is someone I wouldn’t be shocked to find an upset to get a qualifying spot. With Yonger just recently majoring Elam 13-4, it seems like a finals match between Bastida and Hendrickson is certain. The two both have absurd athleticism to go with high-level skill and have mostly been untouched this year. Hendrickson’s top work and scrambling is an X factor, but Yonger’s speed and neutral ability feels near unmatched. Whoever wins this match is likely to get the two seed at NCAA’s and heavy favorites to make the finals in an incredible potential heavyweight matchup. Bracket Busters: Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State), Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa), Semifinal Projection: Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma); Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs Zach Elam (Missouri) Finals Pick: Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) over Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) Projected Qualifiers: Yonger Bastida, Wyatt Hendrickson, Zach Elam, Konner Doucet, Josh Heindselman

How many times have we heard the saying “All that matters is what happens in March.” Well, March is here and we’re ready to get the part of the season that we’ve all been waiting for. However, while that saying may be true for the history books and what gets remembered most, it’s not completely accurate. What happened throughout the season certainly matters too. It gives us context, storylines, and obviously the seeds. And for this, we are going to look at the regular seasons of the top seeds in each weight class, pull out some key potential rematches, and the matches we didn’t get during the dual meet season. Also, it’s important to point out that Ohio State did not wrestle Iowa or Nebraska this season, however, we did see two big matchups at CKLV when Brock Hardy wrestled Jesse Mendez and Ridge Lovett faced Dylan D’Emilio. (For this I only looked at guys seeded in the top 10 + Brody Teske at 133 who got the 14 seed.) # - seed 125: Matt Ramos (Purdue) Key potential rematches: #2 Drake Ayala (Iowa); #5 Caleb Smith (Nebraska) Most relevant missed meetings: #6 Braeden Davis (Penn State); #7 Michael DeAugustino (Michigan) Summary: Ramos dominated the headlines at the start of the season but not for the reason he wanted. Taking losses to high schooler Marcus Blaze and ACC top seed Jakob Camacho (NC State) probably wasn’t the start he was looking for. He also took losses to Caleb Smith and Nico Provo at CKLV. But since then, he’s held down the fort to finish the regular season as the top-ranked guy at the weight after holding that spot at the beginning as well. Despite how well Ramos has bounced back after the early losses to maintain the No. 1 ranking, this weight still doesn’t have a complete favorite in my opinion. 125 has been a roller coaster the entire year with a number of guys from different conferences being at the top, two of which came from the Big 10. Of the potential rematches that could give the top-seeded Ramos some trouble, it’s the one against Ayala that could come in the finals. 133: Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) Key potential rematches: #3 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State); #4 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska); #5 Aaron Nagao (PSU) Most relevant missed meetings: #6 Tony Madrigal (Illinois); #7 Braxton Brown (Maryland); #14 Brody Teske Summary: It’s honestly been a dominant year for Ragusin both in redshirt and when he rejoined the lineup at 133. Even though he defeated both Bouzakis and Nagao by bonus points, I still think they are worthy of being listed as big potential rematches, specifically the one with Nagao, who took Ragusin to overtime and was pinned in one of the funkiest ways I’ve ever seen. But the biggest potential rematch is with Van Dee who handed him his lone loss of the season. Van Dee wrestled probably his best match that night and had the home crowd behind him as well. In a neutral setting, things are surely in favor of top-seeded Ragusin if Van Dee gets to the semis to meet him again. 141: Beau Bartlett (PSU) Key potential rematches: #2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State); #3 Real Woods (Iowa); #4 Brock Hardy (Nebraska) Most relevant missed meetings: #6 Danny Pucino (Illinois); #7 Mitch Moore (Rutgers) Summary: This weight class has been ruled by the top four guys the entire year, with a surprise cameo appearance by Michigan’s Sergio Lemley in week 11. Outside of that, the strong wall of Bartlett, Mendez, Woods, and Hardy have held down the conference for most of the season. Those guys should be the last four standing looking to punch their ticket to the finals with an outside chance of Lemley pulling an upset over Hardy. All eyes should be on the 2 vs 3 battle between Mendez and Woods who would be facing off for the first time. 149: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) Key potential rematches: #2 Austin Gomez (Michigan); #4 Tyler Kasak (PSU) Most relevant missed meeting: #7 Joey Zargo (Wisconsin) Summary: Lovett went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the weight class despite his lone loss coming to ASU Kyle Parco at the end of the regular season. However, the two potential key rematches for him are with Kasak, who he could see in the semis and Gomez in the finals. Gomez is coming off a stellar performance at the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier where he punched his ticket to the Olympics, so expect a supercharged and ultra-confident version of the guy we saw in Lincoln, NE a month ago. And I’m giving Kasak the Cael preparation caveat here. We’ve seen PSU wrestlers adjust the second time around and come out on top before. Obviously, Lovett is still the heavy favorite here, I just know that we’ve seen Kasak look good since gaining some confidence as the season has gone on. 157: Levi Haines (PSU) Key potential rematches: #4 Jared Franek (Iowa); #5 Peyton Robb (Nebraska); #6 Chase Saldate (MSU); #7 Will Lewan (Michigan) Most relevant missed meetings: #2 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota); #8 Joey Blaze (Purdue) Summary: This is the deepest weight at the Big 10 tournament in my opinion. And let me explain why I have so many guys listed here that could (emphasis on ‘could’) be in the way of Haines here. The first two are obvious, Franek and Robb have been top contenders all year. We know what they bring to the table. However, Haines dismantled both this year in impressive fashion. The other two potential rematches are the more intriguing here as both were 1-point decision wins for Haines during the season. Saldate took him to overtime rideouts and Lewan deployed some of his best defense against the returning NCAA runner-up. When it comes to the missed meetings I’ll start with Blaze. We’ve seen him have some peaks and valleys this season. Of note, he pinned Robb, so he can compete at a high level, he could potentially be Haines' first match of the tournament. Secondly, Blockhus earns the #2-seed and is wrestling very well this season. He has a pretty favorable draw and could meet Haines in the finals. 165: Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) Key potential rematches: #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa); #4 Caleb Fish (MSU); #5 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) Most relevant missed meetings: #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU); #6 Cam Amine (Michigan) Summary: This is going to be a fun weight. Most people believe that Mesenbrink can be on the raised stage at the NCAA Championships. But first is the potential matchup between him and top-seeded Hamiti, who haven’t met yet this year. Hamiti has a great in-conference year going undefeated and will look to do so this weekend to put himself in a great position at NCAAs. His matches with Fish and Taylor were both regular decisions during the year with his match against Fish being a 2-point win. P.S. The potential rematch between Caliendo and Messenbrink will be must-see as well. 174: Carter Starocci (PSU) Key potential rematch: #5 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) Most relevant missed meetings: #2 Shane Griffith (Michigan); #4 Edmond Ruth (Illinois) Summary: Starocci has been super dominant this season. He has one regular decision win on the year and that came against Welsh a little over a month ago. Welsh could be waiting for Starocci in the semis if he does wrestle after suffering a knee injury to cap off his tech fall in the last regular season dual. On the opposite side of that are the two bouts we didn’t get during the year. First, is the one with Ruth. PSU and Illinois didn’t wrestle this year and there weren’t any other opportunities for them to hit so this could be the first time in their careers they take the mat against each other. And lastly, there is the potential match with fellow NCAA Champ Shane Griffith. During the dual, Griffith showed up, but Starocci sat out with an illness. These two have never met before either with this being Griffith's first time up at 174. 184: Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) Key potential rematch: #2 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) Most relevant missed meetings: #3 Bernie Truax (PSU); #4 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State); #5 Jaden Bullock (Michigan); #8 Brian Soldano (Rutgers) Summary: For me this is the most interesting weight because top-seeded Salazar has only wrestled one top-five-seeded guy this entire year and that was a 4-1 win over Pinto, who he could see in the finals. After that, there aren’t any other results from this season between Salazar and the field, which is all very close. 197: Aaron Brooks (PSU) Key potential rematch: #2 Zach Glazier (Iowa) Most relevant missed meetings: #5 Garrett Joles (Minnesota); #7 John Poznanski (Rutgers) Summary: Exactly like Starocci, Brooks has one regular decision on the year and that came against Glazier. Of note, Brooks has had 3 matches go the distance this entire season. The only two guys that he hasn’t hit are Joles and Poznanaski. When PSU faced Rutgers, Brooks defeated Mike Toranzo by tech fall as Poznanski had the night off. 285: Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) Most relevant missed meeting: #5 Seth Nevills (Maryland) Summary: It’s not a mistake that the key potential rematches section is missing for Kerkvliet. There really aren’t any. He crushed everyone in his path the entire year. His closest in-conference result was an 8-3 win over third-seeded Lucas Davison. It was one of the three regular decisions that he’s had the entire year. Outside of that, the most intriguing missed match is with his old teammate and partner Seth Nevills, who is now at Maryland with the fifth seed. Kerkvliet pinned Jordan Gabriel when the teams faced off earlier this season.

Big 12 correspondent James Hackney goes bracket-by-bracket through the ten Big 12 weights breaking down all of the key matches, past results, and why wrestlers were seeded where they were.

The 2023-2024 NCAA regular season has come and gone. This weekend the seven conferences that sponsor Division I wrestling will host their conference tournaments. The events will not only determine team and individual bragging rights but also qualification for the upcoming NCAA tournament. The following looks at the highest-ranked potential matches from each of the tournaments. ACC 149: No. 2 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 5 Jackson Arrington (NC State) Henson finished the regular season with a 24-1 record. His lone loss on the year came at the Cliff Keen International where he dropped a one-point match against No. 1 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska). Along the way, the Hokie wrestler picked up signature victories over No. 7 Ty Watters (West Virginia), No. 3 Kyle Parco (Arizona State), and, in his last match of the regular season, No. 5 Jackson Arrington. The bout between Henson and Arrington was a key match in one of the best duals of the year. NC State managed to escape with the 20-12 team victory, but Henson did his part. He scored a 4-1 victory over Arrington. Outside of that loss, the NC State wrestler has only two other losses on his record. He dropped a 9-8 match against No. 10 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State), and he got charged with a loss for medically forfeiting out of the event. Arrington got the win over D’Emilio in the rematch and also knocked off No. 18 Jordan Williams (Oklahoma State) and No. 21 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell). With the three-point takedown, their 4-1 match in the season finale was basically a one-move match. This bout could easily be one of the most high-profile and high-drama matches in the ACC tournament. Big 12 165: No. 1 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) vs. No. 2 David Carr (Iowa State) Fans were robbed of this national championship rematch last week. The Missouri staff did the right thing and announced ahead of time that many of their starters would be out due to illness before their match against Iowa State. The wrestling world hopes both of these competitors are at the top of their game heading into the Big 12 tournament. Last season, Carr looked destined to pick up his second NCAA title. He went undefeated through the regular season including a 7-2 decision over O’Toole in February. He followed that up with a fall in overtime against the Missouri wrestler in the Big 12 final. However, O’Toole turned the tables in the national finals and handed Carr his first loss of the season. This year, Carr has gone 19-1 with his only defeat coming against No. 3 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) at the Cliff Keen Invitational. O’Toole has managed to keep a clean record through 16 matches. 184: No. 1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs. No. 2 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) After an undefeated regular season, Keckeisen came up short against three-time champion Aaron Brooks (Penn State) in the NCAA finals last year. With Brooks moving up to 197 pounds, the Northern Iowa wrestler became the clear favorite down at 184 pounds. He has certainly looked the part this season with an undefeated 20-0 record. One of the clear contenders at the weight is Plott. The two faced off in late January, and Keckeisen handed the Oklahoma State wrestler a 12-6 defeat. It was only the second blemish on Plott’s record this year as he previously dropped a bout against No. 3 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska), which he quickly avenged in the same tournament. Big Ten 125: No. 1 Matt Ramos (Purdue) vs. No. 2 Drake Ayala (Iowa) The 125-pound weight class has been a wild ride this year, but at the end of the regular season, the highest returning placer from last year’s NCAA tournament once again finds himself at the top of the rankings. Ramos took some early season losses including a sudden victory match against high school wrestler Marcus Blaze. However, he finished the year on a 12-match winning streak, and he went undefeated in Big Ten dual matches. The streak includes a 4-1 victory over Ayala back in January. The Iowa wrestler also had a bit of a wild season, but he finds himself ranked second heading in the postseason tournaments. Outside of the loss against Ramos, he also dropped matches against No. 16 Michael DeAugustino (Michigan) and No. 17 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State). Ramos crushed the Hawkeyes with a shocking upset over Spencer Lee at the last NCAA tournament, and the Iowa fans will likely relish any opportunity to hand him a loss. 141: No. 1 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) Beau Bartlett clearly developed this season as Penn State wrestlers are known to do. After going 15-10 and qualifying for the NCAA tournament in 2022, he improved to 27-3 and finished third last year. This season, he has gone 18-0 and knocked off the highest returning placer. He should be the favorite heading into the NCAA tournament, if he is able to win the Big Ten tournament and pick up another victory over Jesse Mendez. As a true freshman, Jesse Mendez took sixth in the Big Ten and then matched that placement in Tulsa. That came down at 133 lbs. He’s now up at 141 and looks even better. Mendez took the title in a CKLV weight class that featured eight of the top-ten wrestlers in the nation, from InterMat’s final rankings. Mendez has two losses on the year, but only one is to a Big Ten opponent, Bartlett - in sudden victory. EIWA 125: No. 1 Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) vs. No. 2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) Crookham picked up one of the biggest victories of the early season when he upset Arujau at the Journeymen Classic. The Cornell wrestler was coming off an incredible run in 2023 that saw him win titles at the NCAA tournament, the Pan American Championships, and the World Championships. In the early season match, Crookham was able to score an 8-4 decision victory. The Lehigh wrestler was then able to maintain his momentum through the season. He finished with only 15 matches, but he went undefeated and picked up another signature victory over No. 11 Aaron Nagao (Penn State). It was seemingly the plan for Arujau to wrestle sparingly on the collegiate scene this year with the Olympic Trials process starting soon after the NCAA tournament. The returning champion wrestled in only 11 bouts and outside of the loss against Crookham went undefeated including victory over No. 9 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) and No. 6 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock). MAC 149: No. 14 Corbyn Munson (Central Michigan) vs. No. 20 Caleb Tyus (SIUE) Munson has been a mainstay in the Central Michigan lineup for the last few seasons. He qualified for the last two NCAA tournaments and is looking to make a run at the podium this season. He completed the regular season with a 21-4 record. So far this season, Munson and Tyus have faced off twice. They met at the Midlands tournament, and the Central Michigan representative was able to escape with a 6-3 decision in sudden victory. The rematch came in the dual in late January. Munson was once again successful and prevailed with a 6-4 victory. Tyus has also worked his way into the rankings this year thanks to a 15-6 record. Since the Midlands, he has won all of his matches outside the two-point loss to Munson. Pac-12 157: No. 3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) vs. No. 8 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) After back-to-back All-American seasons in 2021 and 2022, Teemer sat out last season with an injury. He returned to the Sun Devil lineup this year and compiled a 19-3 record. After a loss against No. 14 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) in early January, Teemer ended the year on an undefeated nine-match winning streak that includes wins over No. 10 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) and Cardenas. The Stanford wrestler made the round of 12 last year after wrestling in only four dual meet matches. This year, he has been the starter from the jump and put together a 22-5 record. During the year, he picked up signature wins over Chittum, No. 16 Will Lewan (Michigan), No. 9 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech), and No. 6 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell). SoCon 125: No. 20 Anthony Molton (Campbell) vs. No. 25 Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) Molton won only three of his first seven matches. However, since dropping a 10-6 decision against No. 1 Matt Ramos (Purdue) in December, Molton has won his last 15 matches. However, during the season, he did not wrestle against conference rival and fellow ranked wrestler Palmer. This sets up an interesting potential SoCon tournament match. Palmer started the season with an impressive showing at the Clarion Open. He won the tournament and knocked off high school wrestler Marcus Blaze right after he defeated Ramos. He finished the season with a 14-2 record with one of those losses coming via injury default. His only other loss was against Appalachian State’s Chad Bellis.

This is the last EIWA Championships that will include the Ivy League schools. Next season, the Ivies will host their own conference championship tournament. Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Princeton were original founding members in 1905. Cornell joined in 1908, making them the fourth longest-tenured school in the conference. Next season, Lehigh will become the longest-tenured school, joining the EIWA in 1913. Army and Navy each joined in 1941. The Sharks of Long Island University are the newest members of the conference. LIU became a member in 2019. The Mountain Hawks of Lehigh led the conference with a 7-0 record this season. Cornell won the Ivy League Championship for the third straight season. They have won 20 of the last 21 Ivy League titles. This year, the NCAA allocations were generous to the conference. The 2023 total number was 45 at this time. This year’s net total was 53 – an increase of 8. Another way to look at it – almost every weight class gained an extra automatic spot. It’s a good indication of how the conference compares to a year ago. Looking at other conferences, the EIWA had the highest increase from last season. For what it’s worth, the 6 Ivy League schools leaving the conference, starting next year, earned 23 of the 54 spots. Below is a breakdown of each weight class with summaries of results of last season. It will highlight returning NCAA qualifiers from last season, discuss ranked wrestlers at each weight, plus much more. Hopefully, this improves your viewing experience by providing you with some helpful information. 125 This weight class qualified six wrestlers for the 2023 NCAA Championships. Last season, Princeton’s Patrick Glory was crowned EIWA Champion and became the school’s first NCAA Champion in 72 years. With Glory’s departure, this weight class will see a new champion. Five NCAA qualifiers from a season ago are back to try and claim this title. These five include Brett Ungar of Cornell, Diego Sotelo of Harvard, Ethan Berginc of Army, and Nick Babin of Columbia. Jack Maida was an NCAA qualifier last season up at 133 lbs. Ryan Miller of Penn has been replaced by rookie Max Gallagher. He’s been having a great freshman year. Brett Ungar’s round-of-12 finish last season was the best of this group. Lehigh’s freshman phenom, Luke Stanich is the highest-ranked wrestler in the weight class. Stanich and Maida both have very few EIWA matches this season, putting them in unique positions compared to the rest of the bracket who will have plenty of rematches heading into the weekend. Some other names to watch include Drew Heethuis from Princeton, Carson Wagner of Binghamton, Desmond Pleasant of Drexel, Robbie Sagaris of LIU, and Michael Joyce of Brown. The current coaches’ rankings include five wrestlers - Stanich #3, Ungar #15, Sotelo #24, Maida #28, and Berginc #31. With some quality depth to this weight class, it’s very possible someone will not make a return trip to NCAAs this season. With five automatic qualifiers in this weight class, there will be some talented wrestlers looking for one of the six available at-large bids. This will make the semifinals and consolation semifinals vitally important. Prediction: Until proven otherwise, Stanich is the favorite at this weight. I think he will prevail over Ungar in the finals. Ungar seems to have everyone else’s number over the past two seasons. But, the competition he’ll need to beat to make the final is no easy task. Dark Horse Watch: Princeton’s true freshman Drew Heethuis has a win over Nick Babin – who was an NCAA Qualifier last season. Carson Wagner of Binghamton is another true freshman to be on the lookout for. He has a win over Heethuis this season. Plus, I love myself a fellow Northampton Konkrete Kid alum! What to watch for: 7 wrestlers in this bracket have been in the national rankings at some point during the year. There are only 5 automatic spots up for grabs – leaving two very talented guys looking for at-large bids. All of these quarterfinal matchups will be fun to watch. Personally, I believe Gallagher at the 7 seed taking on #2 Ungar will have upset potential. Gallagher is a tough freshman. If we see a Sotelo and Babin quarter, it will be a fun match. Babin is able to pin almost anyone. 2023 Results 1st - Pat Glory, Princeton*** 2nd- Brett Ungar, Cornell* 3rd - Ryan Miller, Penn* 4th - Ethan Berginc, Army West Point* 5th - Nick Babin, Columbia* 6th - Diego Sotelo, Harvard* 7th - Carter Bailey, Lehigh 8th - Mason Leiphart, Franklin & Marshall * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 133 Last year’s champion at this weight was Vito Arujau of Cornell. Like Glory at 125lbs, Arujau went on to become NCAA Champion. He also won a world title over the summer. Including Arujau, there were seven NCAA qualifiers last season from this weight. Unfortunately, Connor McGonagle’s injury did not allow him to compete, so only six ended up participating. Looking to make it to the championships again are Vito Arujau of Cornell, Michael Colaiocco of Penn, Angelo Rini of Columbia, Brendan Ferretti of Navy, and Kurtis Phipps of Bucknell. Lehigh’s undefeated freshman, Ryan Crookham, is the top-ranked wrestler in the nation after knocking off Arujau in November. Mason Leiphart of Franklin & Marshall placed 8th at 125 lbs at last season’s conference championships. He is in the top ten for technical falls this season – so he knows how to put points on the board. Michael Colaiocco was an EIWA Champ in 2022. Kurt Phipps of Bucknell was crowned champion at the Southern Scuffle tournament this year. Angelo Rini has been injured in the second semester, so his EIWA competition during the year is extremely limited. Army’s Braden Basile completes the remainder of ranked wrestlers in the deep weight. Drexel’s John Hildebrandt has wins over Colaiocco and Leiphart. Another wrestler to keep an eye on is Sacred Heart’s best wrestler Andrew Fallon. He’s 13-2 on the year. He has a 50% bonus rate, and both losses are to ranked opponents. Max Leete of American is another tough wrestler at this weight to keep an eye on. Micah Roes of Binghamton has some quality wins and will be a threat to place high on the podium. The coaches’ rankings currently include 7 EIWA wrestlers - Crookham #1, Arujau #3, Colaiocco #12, Phipps #16, Leiphart #29, Basile #30, and Ferretti #33. The top five in this bracket will automatically earn a trip to NCAAs. It appears, as of now, that Basile and Ferretti are the ranked wrestlers on the outside looking in, based solely on rankings. The quarterfinal matchups will be entertaining, but the consolation rounds in this bracket may be more exciting. Get ready for some potential upsets here! Prediction: Crookham and Vito will most likely be the final here. Flip a coin for the winner. Crookham won the first meeting in November, 8-4. Vito is the reigning EIWA and NCAA Champion. His run to achieve this last season was so dominant – it’s hard to look past that. They have each been affected by injuries. Both have wrestled only three matches each in the month of February. Dark Horse Watch: Although, he’s far from a dark horse. Angelo Rini is more of a wild card. He’s ranked 21st in the national rankings. The downfall is the lack of mat time. His last match was a medical forfeit loss at the Soldier Salute a few days before the 2024 calendar year began. How serious will his injury be? If 100%, he will be in the running for a top-5 finish. For reference, in the early part of the season, he had a win over #10 Bouzakis of Ohio State. For a dark horse candidate, Micah Roes is a guy to watch. The Binghamton Bearcat has seen some time in the rankings. He’s seemed to have better results in the second half of the year. He has two wins over Ferretti of Navy, proving he can beat quality wrestlers. What to watch for: We have a similar scenario here as 125lbs. Two ranked wrestlers did not make the cut to automatically qualify a spot. Ferretti was a qualifier last season, he will need to outwrestle his 7th seed to qualify. His first opponent is 10th-seeded Hildebrandt of Drexel. He has wins over Colaiocco and Leiphart this season. Angelo Rini will be the 8th seed. He really throws a wrench into this bracket – giving Crookham a potentially tough matchup during Friday night’s quarterfinal. Of course, Rini has not seen competition since December. He will need to get by Roes of Binghamton (9th seed) in the first round. This may be the best first-round matchup across all weights. I also really like 11th seed Leete of American vs Basile of Army in this round as well. 2023 Results 1st - Vito Arujau, Cornell*** 2nd - Michael Colaiocco, Penn* 3rd - Angelo Rini, Columbia* 4th - Brendan Ferretti, Navy* 5th - Jack Maida, American* 6th - Kyle Waterman, Drexel 7th - Kurtis Phipps, Bucknell*^ 8th - Hunter Adrian, Brown DNP – Connor McGonagle, Lehigh*^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 141 Vince Cornella, of Cornell, was last year’s champion in this weight class. His freshman campaign was cut short after winning one match at NCAAs. Lehigh’s Malyke Hines was an EIWA champion back in 2021 when he was still at 133lbs. Josh Koderhandt of Navy has been an EIWA finalist in the past. He has qualified for “The Big Dance” twice before. Last year, Dylan Chappell of Bucknell was the EIWA runner-up at 149lbs. It’s safe to say this class has a ton of quality talent. Not to mention, CJ Composto is the lone returning All-American in the weight class. He claimed 8th place at 141 lbs at the 2022 NCAA Championships. This was following a runner-up finish at conferences two weeks prior. Hines was also a round-of-12 placer last season, just one win shy of the podium. He has the most NCAA Tournament appearances with three. If you add a guy like Columbia’s Kai Owen, who has a win by fall over #6 Cael Happel of Northern Iowa – this weight class is very competitive. Interestingly, there are only three returning placers from this weight last year back in the bracket this season. Under the radar guys would include Jordan Soriano of Drexel, Tyler Vasquez of Princeton, Pat Phillips of F&M, and Harvard’s Michael Jaffe. Looking at coaches’ rankings, the EIWA has 5 ranked wrestlers – Cornella #12, Koderhandt #13, Hines #17, Composto #18, and Owen #t-32. The top four will earn automatic bids for NCAAs. The potential semifinals for this weight class will be very entertaining, as the top four are so close to one another in the national rankings. Winning this bracket could give the champion a top-10 seed at NCAAs, putting them in a great position to go on a run and earn a spot on the podium. Prediction: Cornella’s injured knee is pretty evident. How much will it hinder his performance? Koderhandt has one loss this semester to returning All-American, McNeil of UNC. He’s been looking great. I’ll take him to win it all. Dark Horse Watch: I like Michael Jaffe of Harvard here. He’s a senior who only wrestled the second semester. He was up big against Composto in a dual but ended up losing the match. He has the potential to beat some of the higher seeds. Coincidentally, he will have Composto in the first round to avenge his earlier loss. What to watch for: The top 4 seeds all have a legit chance of winning this bracket. Dylan Chappell at the 7th seed is something to look out for. He was the runner-up at 149 lbs last season. Cornella suffered a knee injury that looked somewhat serious at the end of January – causing him to miss a few weeks. These two circumstances can make this quarterfinal match-up interesting. Phillips and Soriano will face each other for a third time in the first round. Phillips won the first two meetings. 2023 Results 1st - Vince Cornella, Cornell* 2nd - Carmen Ferrante, Penn* 3rd - Josh Koderhandt, Navy* 4th - Malyke Hines, Lehigh* 5th - Matt Kazimir, Columbia* 6th - Darren Miller, Bucknell 7th - Justin Hoyle, Hofstra 8th - Julian Sanchez, Army * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 149 This bracket will be wildly compelling, as none of the returning podium winners return for action this season. Yianni Diakomihalis claimed his fourth EIWA and NCAA title last season. Leading the way with the top seed this year will be his replacement, Ethan Fernandez of Cornell. He’s been undefeated in EIWA competition thus far. Eligh Rivera of Princeton has had a fine freshman year, as did Lehigh’s pinning machine Kelvin Griffin. Matthew Williams of Army is a senior putting together a nice campaign. Jack Crook from Harvard is in the mix too. He has wins over Williams and Rivera, making him a threat to place high. Two freshmen can bust this bracket open. Penn’s Jude Swisher spent half the season at 157 lbs, before coming down to 149 lbs in the beginning of February. He has a fall over Crook, plus some quality wins up at 157 lbs. The other freshman to keep an eye on is Hofstra’s Noah Tapia. His signature win on the season is over Oklahoma State’s Jordan Williams – who was ranked #14 at the time. The coaches’ rankings only include three EIWA wrestlers at the moment – Fernandez #21, Swisher #28, and Rivera #31. The NCAA allocated four automatic bids for this weight class. With the seven names mentioned above, it’s easy to see multiple people may be left home when all 33 qualifiers are announced for this weight. Last season, this weight class only had two automatic qualifiers with one at-large bid selection. Once again, this weight class is one of the least deep weights in the conference. Prediction: Looking at how the seeds turned out, I would argue the two highest-ranked wrestlers will be on the same side of the bracket. Fernandez and Swisher will meet in the semis. I think the winner of this match takes the title. Fernandez had a one-point win over Swisher. I think Swisher avenges the loss to take the EIWA crown. Griffin is dangerous on the bottom half of the bracket. But, Williams of Army has beaten him twice this season already. Dark Horse Watch: I like two freshmen. Dom Findora of Drexel has 21 wins on the year. Noah Tapia of Hofstra is an option here too with 20 wins. He has a win over #18 Jordan Williams of Oklahoma State. Findora won the head-to-head match-up. This bracket will only qualify 4 wrestlers, so they will need to pull off a few wins here to qualify for the national tournament. What to watch for: As mentioned, there is not a ton of depth here. Unfortunately, my two darkhorses will square off in the first round. Rivera, Crook, and Smith are all very capable of earning at-large bids if needed – assuming they do not knock off any higher seeds. I would not count that out as a possibility. The quarterfinal matchups could be entertaining, especially Smith and Williams. Who does not love watching Army and Navy battle it out!? Griffin and Crook could be an interesting match as well. 2023 Results 149 – 2 Automatic Qualifiers, 1 At-Large Selection ** 1st - Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell*** 2nd - Dylan Chappell, Bucknell* 3rd - Doug Zapf, Penn*^ 4th - Trae McDaniel, Army 5th - Luke Nichter, Drexel 6th - Danny Fongaro, Columbia 7th - Max Brignola, Lehigh 8th - Marshall Keller, Princeton * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 157 Cornell’s freshman phenom Meyer Shapiro leads the way at this weight. Since his two losses at the CKLV Invite in early December, he’s been nearly untouchable. He has over 19 wins on the year, only five of those wins were by decision. Interestingly, three of those five wins came from conference opponents. Lucas Revano of Penn was one of them. Revano has been a multiple-time EIWA place winner at 165 lbs and qualified for NCAAs once in that span. Lehigh’s Max Brignola is also a multiple-time place finisher, and one-time NCAA qualifier. The final former qualifier is Nate Lukez of Army. Drexel’s Tyler Williams is one of two returning placers from this weight class a year ago, along with Lukez. Blake Saito of Brown and Rocco Camillaci of Princeton each have a win over Williams this season. At least on paper, the top four are pretty set. The remainder of the guys may be battling for the 5th through 8th podium spots. LIU’s Rhise Royster was one of the opponents to not be majored, or worse, by Shapiro. Expect him to potentially stir things up in this bracket. Also keep an eye on guys like Jonathan Ley of Navy, Jaden Le of Columbia, and Jimmy Harrington of Harvard. The coaches’ rankings show 3 EIWA wrestlers – Shapiro #6, Brignola #20, and Revano #25. We will only see three automatic bids to NCAAs here. It appears Lukez just missed the cut line for an auto bid. There is potential to have a fourth via at-large selection for whomever earns that placement. It will always depend on how the bracket shapes up over the weekend – and across the country. Prediction: Shapiro is the favorite here. The bigger question is – who he will face in the finals? If seeds hold, a Revano vs Brignola rubber match semi-final will be exciting. Shapiro has decision wins over both opponents during the year. Dark Horse Watch: Tyler Williams of Drexel went on an impressive run last season at EIWA’s when he earned 8th place as a 12 seed. He’s made a run before, why not again? With a minimal amount of automatic qualifiers, he’ll need to have more than one upset. Although Harrington is seeded 7th, he may be someone who overperforms his seed and places high enough for an automatic bid. What to watch for: There are not many allocations here. It looks like Army’s 4th seed, Nate Lukez, will need to wrestle above his seed to earn an automatic allocation to make a return trip to NCAAs. A majority of these first-round matches will be great, as many of these wrestlers have beaten each other over the course of the season. Clark of Hofstra with the 6 seed against Williams of Drexel at 11th seed is a rematch from this season where Williams won. Another first-round match I like is Camillaci of Princeton versus Harrington of Harvard. Camillaci won the previous meeting in sudden victory. 2023 Results 1st - Josh Humphreys, Lehigh** 2nd - Anthony Artalona, Penn* 3rd - Nathan Lukez. Army* 4th - Trevor Tarsi, Harvard 5th - Nick Delp, Bucknell 6th - Jack Nies, American 7th - Ty Whalen, Princeton 8th - Tyler Williams, Drexel DNP - Cesar Alvan, Columbia *^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 165 This weight class seems to be one of the deepest weights every year. This year is no different. Last year’s champion, Julian Ramirez, is back to defend his title. His season came to a heartbreaking end when he lost in the bloodround at NCAAs. Brevin Cassella of Binghamton is looking to qualify for NCAAs once again. Andrew Cerniglia is up at a new weight for Navy. He’s been a place winner at 157 lbs and has stormed onto the scene as of late this season. Bucknell’s Southern Scuffle Champion, Noah Mulvaney, is looking for his first NCAA trip after an impressive start to his career. Army’s Gunner Filipowicz is looking to become a first-time qualifier as a freshman. Lehigh’s Jake Logan placed 8th at 174 lbs last season at conferences. He’s hovered around the .500 mark all year – but his recent win over Mulvaney is a quality one. Other names to look out for include Drexel’s Cody Walsh and Blaine Bergey of Princeton. Columbia’s Kyle Mosher has been hot the second half of the year as well. Expect some fireworks here. With a late substitution, Harvard will utilize Cael Berg in lieu of last year’s NCAA qualifier, Josh Kim. Penn’s Kaya Sement has been replaced by Adam Thomson also. Looking at the coaches rankings, the EIWA is well represented with 7 wrestlers – Ramirez #3, Cassella #15, Cerniglia #17, Mulvaney #19, Filipowicz #21, Logan #31, and Walsh #33. There are only five automatic bids this season – leaving two ranked wrestlers on the outside looking in. Last year’s bracket ended with six NCAA qualifiers. This year has the same potential. With deep brackets like this one, the quarterfinals and wrestle-backs will be exciting with so much on the line early on. Prediction: It’s pretty self-explanatory as to why Julian Ramirez is the favorite. He’s the returning champion and ranked #3 nationally at the moment. His likely finals opponent can be either Cassella of Binghamton or Cerniglia of Navy. Dark Horse Watch: Kyle Mosher of Columbia is sneaky 10-seed. His first-round match with Logan may be a toss-up. Mosher has been wrestling well the last half of the season. Blaine Bergey is a guy who can catch fire out of the 12th seed spot too. Adam Thomson is last minute addition, being thrown in at the 15th seed. He represents Team Canada on the freestyle scene, so he has some skills that should be taken seriously in folkstyle. What to watch for: With only 5 automatic bids to NCAAs, there will be major talent not making the cut and relying on an at-large bid. As of now, both Walsh and Logan are on the outside looking in. Keep an eye out for Logan at the 7 seed. We’ve seen him beat Mulvaney, so Cassella better be ready for a tough match-up. 2023 Results 1st – Julian Ramirez, Cornell* 2nd – Quincy Monday, Princeton** 3rd – Josh Ogunsanya, Columbia* 4th – Brevin Cassella, Binghamton* 5th – Josh Kim, Harvard* 6th – Dalton Harkins, Army 7th – Lucas Revano, Penn 8th – Evan Barczak, Drexel*^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 174 This is another deep weight class. This year’s bracket contains two former EIWA champions, Phil Conigliaro of Harvard and Ben Pasiuk of Army. Conigliaro won at 165 lbs in 2022. Pasiuk was a champion at 174 lbs in 2021. Conigliaro finished in the Round of 12 that season, while Pasiuk’s highest placement at NCAAs is a top-16 finish. Penn’s Nick Incontrera has been very solid all year, being ranked inside the top 10 nearly all season. Navy’s freshman, Danny Wask, is wrestling at a high level inside and outside of the conference. Expect him to be in the mix for the top four. Lennox Wolak of Columbia was 3rd place in last year’s bracket. He will look for another podium finish and a trip to NCAAs. Myles Takats of Bucknell is having a great freshman year with over 20 wins. Hofstra’s veteran, Ross McFarland, is a name to know as well. He was 7th in the bracket a season ago. Franklin & Marshall’s Noah Fox has a win over McFarland, as does LIU’s Chris Connolly. Other names to watch include Dimitri Gamkrelidze of Binghamton, Jack Janda of Drexel, Connor Herceg of Lehigh, Lucas White of American, and Jonathan Conrad of Brown. Cornell’s Benny Baker has come on strong as of late. Many of these guys have beaten each other, so they are all in the mix to find the podium. The coaches’ rankings have a healthy number of EIWA representatives with 5 ranked wrestlers – Conigliaro #5, Incontrera #7, Pasiuk #12, Wolak #14, and Wask #26. In terms of automatic qualifiers, expect the six in the bracket to move onto The Big Dance. This will be a fun bracket to watch, with many rematches from earlier in the year that could have gone either way. There will be some great first-round matches here, and there will be plenty of battles just to make the podium. Prediction: The top two here are Incontrera and Conigliaro. Conigliaro has already been an EIWA champion in years past. He won the only matchup this year between them in a tight bout. This is essentially a coin flip, assuming they both meet in the finals. I have a gut feeling Penn will make the adjustments and Incontrera will win the rematch. The winner of this bout will be in the driver’s seat for a top-8 NCAA seed once brackets are released. Dark Horse Watch: There are a handful of dark horse options at this weight. Based on recency bias, Benny Baker makes the most sense. He has a recent win over #31 Faison of NC State. After that, he beat a tough Gamkrelidze of Binghamton, who wrestles everyone close. Lehigh’s Connor Herceg has a win over Baker in their dual meet matchup. This will be a fun bracket to see who steps up. With 5 ranked wrestlers and 6 automatic bids – it will be an entertaining battle for an automatic spot. What to watch for: The first of the opening round match-ups I love here is Fox and Gamkrekidze. Takats and McFarland is the other one to keep an eye on. The assumed Wask and Pasiuk quarterfinal match will be a good one. The two EIWA champions will be on the same side of the bracket. Conigliaro and Pasiuk would be a matchup worth watching if it occurs. 2023 Results 1st - Chris Foca, Cornell** 2nd - Benjamin Pasiuk, Army* 3rd - Lennox Wolak, Columbia* 4th - Philip Conigliaro, Harvard* 5th - Sammy Starr, Navy 6th - Nick Incontrera, Penn*^ 7th - Ross McFarland, Hofstra 8th - Jake Logan, Lehigh DNP – Mickey O’Malley, Drexel*^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 184 The deep brackets continue at this weight. Chris Foca of Cornell was an All-American last season after a 3rd place finish at NCAAs while at 174l bs. He’s bumped up to 184 lbs and maintained a top-10 ranking all season. Columbia’s Aaron Ayzerov seems to have Foca’s number, beating him twice this season. He’s looking to be an NCAA qualifier for the first time. Last year’s runner-up, Jacob Nolan of Binghamton, has been to NCAAs three times already, finishing in the top-16 a year ago. James Conway of Franklin & Marshall claims the most overall wins on the year with 26. Penn’s Max Hale and Princeton’s Nate Dugan are each in the podium hunt as well – as both wrestlers find themselves in the rankings. Navy’s David Key has had a quiet year, but he’s a two-time NCAA qualifier. He will be ready to go for the postseason. Bucknell’s sophomore, Mikey Bartush, has had a nice season thus far. Expect him to be in the mix for the top eight. Anthony D’Alesio of LIU has a win over Conway and has put together a strong second half of the season. Leo Tarantino of Harvard will find himself in the mix as well. His win over All-American, Gavin Kane of North Carolina, in January is a sign he can win over quality opponents. The coaches’ rankings include a healthy number of 6 wrestlers – Foca #7, Nolan #13, Hale #19, Ayzerov #20, Dugan #21, and Conway #23. With so many EIWA wrestlers in the rankings, there will be 7 auto bids to NCAAs. From the quarterfinals and on, expect some tightly contested matches with so much at stake. Prediction: It’s hard to go against the returning All-American in Chris Foca. The Cornell stud was at 174 lbs last season where he finished 1st at EIWAs and 3rd at NCAAs. He just can’t seem to find a way to overcome Columbia’s Aaron Ayzerov. Interestingly, Ayzerov has beaten Foca twice this season. We can see a third match between them if Ayzerov wins in the quarters. The bottom half has a handful of options for finalists. Nolan earned the sixth seed, while being the highest ranked behind Foca. He will be my pick. Dark Horse Watch: LIU’s Anthony D’Alesio may be someone to bust this bracket. He has a win over F&M’s Conway when he was ranked top 20. An overtime loss to Nolan is impressive too. Showing a little bias, it would be awesome to see D’Alesio be LIU’s first D1 NCAA qualifier. As mentioned, Harvard’s Tarantino has a quality win over a returning All-American. Do not count him out. What to watch for: Another seven versus ten match-up is on my list here. D’Alesio is a dangerous 10 seed. His first-round opponent in Bartush of Bucknell has an overtime win against him. If D’Alesio can win that, he would have Conway in the quarterfinals – whom he has a win over already. If you are LIU, you have to like his path to a semifinal match. If seeds stick, the quarter match-ups between Dugan and Nolan, and Hale and Ayzerov will be great wrestling with a trip to NCAAs on the line. 2023 Results 1st - Tate Samuelson, Lehigh* 2nd - Jacob Nolan, Binghamton* 3rd - David Key, Navy* 4th - Brian Bonino, Drexel* 5th - Nate Dugan, Princeton 6th - Jacob Ferreira, Hofstra*^ 7th - James Conway, Franklin & Marshall 8th - Aaron Ayzerov, Columbia * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 197 The 197lbs weight class in the EIWA is the most impressive, many would argue, in terms of both quantity and quality. Three All-Americans lead the charge here between Michael Beard of Lehigh, Jacob Cardenas of Cornell, and Lou DePrez of Binghamton. Beard was an All-American in 2021 while at Penn State. He was a victim of the infamous bloodround last year. DePrez was an All-American during the 2021 season and has lost in the Round of 12 twice. DePrez’s story has been unique, as he started the season on staff. He became eligible for one more semester thanks to a medical redshirt after a season-ending injury last year. Cardenas earned a podium finish last season when he was 8th at NCAAs. He followed that up with a world title at the U23 championships over the summer. He will look to defend his title as EIWA Champion. This top-heavy bracket is still full of quality wrestlers after these three. Luke Stout of Princeton has been ranked in the top 15 nationally all season. He’s been an NCAA qualifier twice before. Also looking to return to The Big Show is Penn’s Cole Urbas. His long and lengthy style can cause fits for wrestlers. John Crawford from Franklin & Marshall has good wins under his belt. Expect him to be in the run to qualify for NCAAs, which would be his first trip. Last year’s 6th-place finisher was Jack Wehmeyer of Columbia. He is ready to make some noise and become an NCAA qualifier for the first time also. Bucknell’s Logan Deacetis will be in this same boat as well. The coaches’ rankings have many EIWA wrestlers – 7 to be exact – Beard #3, DePrez #7, Cardenas #8, Stout #12, Urbas #26, Crawford #29, Wehmeyer #30. This will be another weight where most of the podium will qualify you for NCAAs. There are six automatic bids up for grabs, but a 7th place finish could earn an at-large bid. We will see how the cards fall, but the depth of the bracket makes it one to keep a close eye on! Prediction: Michael Beard of Lehigh has beaten everyone else in the conference handily this season. He should be the favorite until proven otherwise. His finals opponent will most likely be Lou DePrez of Binghamton or Jacob Cardenas of Cornell. DePrez won the regular season matchup between them. For what it’s worth, Cardenas was the EIWA champ last year after avenging a loss to Beard in the finals. This year, Cardenas will need to avenge two losses to reclaim the EIWA title. Dark Horse Watch: I’ve been a Cael Crebs fan before he stepped onto Navy’s campus. He’s battled injury this year, which reflects on his 7-8 record. Assuming he can come into EIWAs healthy, he is able to go on a run. He’s tough on top and long – which may cause fits for some of the 197lbs wrestlers. I like his opportunity to be a double-digit seed on the podium when it’s all said and done. What to watch for: The top four in this weight class are a tier above the rest. I do not foresee too much bracket-busting, unfortunately. The likely quarter between Urbas and Stout has been a recurring theme – however, Stout has won all four career matches. Will we see a rematch of last year’s final in Beard and Cardenas? 2023 Results 1st - Jacob Cardenas, Cornell** 2nd - Michael Beard, Lehigh* 3rd -Luke Stout, Princeton* 4th - Jacob Koser, Navy* 5th - Trey Rogers, Hofstra* 6th - Jack Wehmeyer, Columbia 7th - Sean O`Malley, Drexel* 8th - Daniel Lawrence, Army DNP – Cole Urbas, Penn*^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion 285 The big boys make an argument that the EIWA is the deepest conference at heavyweight across the nation. The conference’s 8 automatic qualifiers are good enough proof to make this claim – as it is more than any other conference. Last year’s champ, Grady Griess of Navy, returns this year. In order to defend his crown, he will have a tough path with such a loaded bracket. Nathan Taylor of Lehigh has been a force this season while beating everyone in the conference he’s faced. Binghamton’s Cory Day is looking to return to NCAAs once again. His skillset on top is what separates him from most heavyweights. Speaking of top wrestling, the same can be said about Cornell’s Lewis Fernandes. He has won a lot of close matches in his career thanks to his mat wrestling ability. Keaton Kluever is new to the conference. The Hofstra heavyweight has an early season win over Fernandes. He will make his EIWA Championship debut, and possibly, NCAA championships debut. Bucknell’s Dorian Crosby has competed at NCAAs before, as has Matt Cover of Princeton. Freshman, Lucas Stoddard of Army, has wins over both of them. He is one to watch as well, making his first EIWA Championships appearance. William Jarrell of American has had a nice season also. He knocked off Campbell’s Ghadiali in a dual, who was ranked 8th at the time in the national rankings. John Stout of Penn has been coming on strong at the end of the year. He may be someone who can earn his way onto the podium. The coaches’ rankings include 8 EIWA wrestlers. Considering they rank 33, the conference makes up a quarter of the rankings at this weight. EIWA ranked wrestlers include Taylor #t-7, Day #14, Griess #15, Fernandes #17, Kluever #19, Stoddard #24, Crosby #25, and Cover #28. All 8 place-finishers on the podium will advance to NCAAs. Because of this, the conference will have a 9th place wrestle off for the first time in history. A wrestler finishing one spot outside of the automatic allocation placement goes a long way for the at-large selection process. Expect the four wrestlers that lose in the second round of wrestlebacks (bloodround) to be placed in a single elimination bracket on Saturday. The winner of this mini bracket will earn 9th place. This is an added wrinkle to this year’s conference tournament. Prediction: Nathan Taylor has made vast improvements since last year. He is a legit All-American threat. He’s beaten all other heavyweights in the conference during the year. He will be the favorite. Binghamton’s Cory Day and Grady Griess may be slight favorites over the field to face Taylor. Griess was last year’s EIWA champion, but Day has two wins over him thus far. This is a deep weight, so assuming one of them makes the finals may be a stretch. Dark Horse Watch: Columbia’s Vincent Mueller should be considered a potential dark horse threat. He has a late-season win over American’s Jarrell. Jarrell was in the coaches’ rankings thanks to a win over #8 Ghadiali of Campbell in January. Mueller’s lone losses in the conference are to Stoddard and Crosby – both of whom are ranked in the nation. This is a very deep weight, so expect some tight matches early on. What to watch for: For the first time in EIWA history, the conference will wrestle for 9th place. Since the top-8 advance to NCAAs, there needs to be an alternate in case there’s an injury, disqualification, etc. Plus, the 9th-place finisher has better odds of earning an at-large bid since the final placement in the conference is just one spot outside the allotted auto-bid placement. In the early round, Jarrell and Crosby will be good. Both guys have seen the national rankings at one point this season. Crosby won the dual during the year 7-2. I expect the two middle quarters to be great. Kluever vs Fernandes is a rematch from November that Kluever won via fall. Stoddard and Griess is a classic Army vs Navy battle. Griess is the returning EIWA champ and defeated Stoddard in overtime when they met in mid-February. It’s worth repeating how deep this bracket is. This was a historic year for the conference at the 285lbs weight class. 2023 Results 1st - Grady Griess, Navy* 2nd - Nathan Taylor, Lehigh* 3rd - Yaraslau Slavikouski, Harvard* 4th - Ben Goldin, Penn* 5th - Cory Day, Binghamton* 6th - Dorian Crosby, Bucknell* 7th - Brendan Furman, Conell* 8th - Austin Kohlhofer, Army DNP – Travis Stefanik, Princeton*^ * denotes NCAA Qualifier *^ denotes NCAA Qualifier via At-Large Bid ** denotes NCAA All-American *** denotes NCAA Champion Team Looking to defend the team title is Cornell University. The Big Red scored 165.5 team points at the 2023 EIWA Championships with six individual champions. The team race is most likely Cornell’s to lose, barring anything crazy happening. If the race plays out similar to last year, it will be locked up after the first day. Last year’s runner-up was Lehigh with 120.5 points. Penn was third with 106. Columbia and Navy tied for fourth with 95 points each. Cornell will look to three-peat as EIWA Champions after winning the team title at EIWA’s in 2022 as well. These same teams will be in the hunt for the top-5. Army will be a new team to discuss. They finished in 6th last year. They have some more firepower this year after earning a top-25 team ranking to conclude the season. Binghamton is ready to make a top-5 run as well. They have a ton of talent in the upper weights. If their lightweights can pull some upsets, it could help the Bearcats break through.

The DI postseason kicks off on Friday as two of the seven conferences will hold their two-day conference tournaments on the eighth, as well as Saturday, the ninth. The. conference we’re looking at now is the MAC which has 22 allocations on the lineup. All year I’ve gone back and forth between who I thought would prevail in this MAC team race. We’re in early March, only two days away from the first whistle being blown and I don’t have much more clarity. Lock Haven has won the last two MAC titles and has the firepower in the front of their lineup with three number-one seeds. Rider navigated the dual season without a conference loss and has some big guns that could make for a deep run. Ohio has emerged as a threat in large tournaments. They have potential champions at 157-184 lbs, which may be enough to propel them. Perennial power Central Michigan looks tough and capable. Digging deeper, Cleveland State could have multiple champions and should everything come together; could take home the title. Here’s a weight-by-weight look at the conference along with predictions for the top four at each weight class (except 157 lbs) and picks for the team race. 125 lbs 2 allocations We start at a weight with a clear-cut favorite in Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) who is the only MAC wrestler to have assumed the #1 ranking nationally this year. Noto has won each of the last two MAC titles at this weight. Earlier this year, Noto suffered his first loss to a MAC opponent when he was beaten by Joey Fischer (Clarion). Fischer has traditionally been close with Noto - taking him to sudden victory at the 2022 MAC Tournament. Most are assuming that Noto gets one of the two allocations at this weight. After him, there are a handful of capable competitors who could grab the other one on their best day. Northern Illinois’ Blake West is responsible for earning that second allocation and has been very consistent all year. Last season, West went 24-9 and fell in the true second-place match with a berth in Tulsa on the line. West comes into Kent a winner of his last seven matches. His most recent loss came in the fifth-place bout at the Midlands in late December. Tyler Klinsky had one of the biggest wins of any MAC 125 lber when he knocked off then-#2 Dean Peterson (Rutgers). Klinsky hasn’t necessarily been consistent outside of the conference, but he’s only lost to Noto and West in-conference. The wrestler responsible for West’s only MAC loss is Central Michigan’s Sean Spidle. Spidle got the best of West at the Michigan State Open; however, West turned the tables in dual competition. Spidle finished the regular season with dual wins over Fischer and past qualifier Tristan Lujan (Michigan State). Along with Fischer, one of the others capable of crashing the top two is Cleveland State’s Ben Aranda. Aranda has wrestled better in the second half of the year and has a win over Fischer and took Klinsky to sudden victory during the final weekend of the regular season. Predictions 1st) Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) 2nd) Blake West (Northern Illinois) 3rd) Joey Fischer (Clarion) 4th) Tyler Klinsky (Rider) 133 lbs 1 allocation Just like last year, 133 lbs only has one allocation. And like last year, it was Gable Strickland who earned it. Strickland ended up winning the MAC and was the only wrestler from the conference to compete at 133 lbs in Tulsa. This year, Strickland has racked up the wins (28 total), but had a few head-scratching losses along the way. While he has the gaudy win totals, history on his side, and the allocation, he isn’t without a few conference blemishes. He’s taken two losses to MAC opponents this year, a sudden victory loss to Richie Koehler (Rider) and in mid-February he was pinned by Nick Molchak (Cleveland State). Koehler is the only one in the field with just one conference loss on the year. He’s beaten Strickland but lost to SIU Edwardsville’s Marcel Lopez - though that was in sudden victory at the Midlands, a few months after he had majored Lopez in a dual. Aside from Strickland, Koehler is the only wrestler in this field with past NCAA experience. He qualified in both 2021 and 2022. While Strickland/Koehler are the prohibitive favorites, this weight is still more wide-open than most and could have four or five other title contenders. Each of the remaining contenders has a good win or two under their respective belts, yet they have also a couple of losses, likely to each other. Molchak has also beaten Koehler, but has a loss to Bloomsburg’s Bronson Garber. Lopez split matches with Koehler but has also lost to Mikey Kaminski (Northern Illinois). Kaminski has a Lopez win but has fallen to Tommy Maddox (Buffalo). Maddox has split matches with Pablo Castro (Kent State). Pay attention, there will be a test on this later! I don’t envy anyone trying to make sense out of this weight for seeding purposes. Predictions 1st) Richie Koehler (Rider) 2nd) Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) 3rd) Nick Molchak (Cleveland State) 4th) Marcel Lopez (SIU Edwardsville) 141 lbs 1 allocation Like 133 lbs, this weight only has one automatic bid available and it was earned by a Lock Haven wrestler. This time it’s Wyatt Henson. Henson competed for the first half of the year unattached while straightening out NCAA eligibility issues. He suffered a loss in the season-opening Princeton Open, then proceeded to win four straight open tournaments and racked up bonus points more often than not. Once Henson made his way into the Bald Eagle lineup he won 12 of 13 duals and posted tech falls in his first seven contested bouts. Unlike 133 lbs, this weight has a clear-cut favorite in Henson. Any result other than him taking the title would be pretty surprising. After Henson it gets kind of fuzzy. Jacob Brya has not lost to anyone in the conference after Henson. The redshirt freshman from Northern Illinois has only seen action in 13 bouts, but has been very solid. He has no real puzzling losses. Similar to Brya, Clarion’s Ryan Sullivan is someone who has impressed in small doses. Aside from Henson, Sullivan is the only entrant in the bracket with past NCAA experience. He qualified for West Virginia in 2021. Sullivan is 9-2 on the year with losses to Henson and Central Michigan’s Jimmy Nugent. Nugent is expected to get the third seed after a really solid sophomore year. As a true freshman, in 2022-23, Nugent went 7-16 including a 1-2 showing at the MAC meet. This year he’s 17-9 with wins over Sullivan and Dylan Layton (Cleveland State), among others. Outside of the MAC, Nugent scored a win against Virginia’s Jack Gioffre, who is someone who earned an AQ for the ACC. Layton appeared to be on his way to qualifying for nationals last season before his season was cut short via an injury. This year hasn’t been quite as smooth, though he did take eighth at the Midlands. Others to watch in this bracket include Eric Almarinez (SIU Edwardsville) and Billy Meiszner (Kent State). Alarminez has a win over Nugent and Meiszner is approaching the 20-win mark. Predictions 1st) Wyatt Henson (Lock Haven) 2nd) Jimmy Nugent (Central Michigan) 3rd) Jacob Brya (Northern Illinois) 4th) Dylan Layton (Cleveland State) 149 lbs 3 allocations Now we’re cooking! It’s a weight class with three allocations. 149 lbs is a weight class with a handful of veterans who have already been to the big show multiple times, along with a few others who have been on the cusp of going. Most notable is Corbyn Munson, who finished the year ranked 14th in the nation and who has qualified for nationals twice. Even so, Munson is still seeking his first MAC finals appearance. He has placed fourth and third in the past two postseasons. Munson and teammate Johnny Lovett have flip-flopped between 149 and 157 lbs during the past three years. He was at 149 in 2022 and 157 last season. Munson did not lose to a MAC opponent this season and his last overall loss came in the third-place bout at the Midlands. The only MAC foe that even pushed Munson to extra time was SIU Edwardsville’s Caleb Tyus. That happened at the Midlands, though Munson prevailed by two points in regular time in dual competition. Tyus would go on to place seventh at the Midlands. Last year, Tyus was the MAC’s top seed at this weight class, but fell short of qualification with his sixth-place finish and needed an at-large berth. Also likely on the bottom half of the bracket is three-time national qualifier Quinn Kinner. Kinner likely gets the second seed based off of his head-to-head win over Tyus in the second week of the season. Kinner doesn’t have the consistency he’s had in years past, but is still very dangerous. He’s looking to get back to the top of the MAC podium, a feat he achieved at 141 lbs in 2022. The wrestler responsible for Kinner’s only MAC loss of 2023-24 was Lock Haven’s Nick Stonecheck. Last season, Stonecheck seemed to be a decent candidate for an at-large berth but was hampered by a 1-2 MAC tournament. This time around he’s probably not in as good of a position as last year, but is capable of going on a run resulting in an NCAA berth. After injury defaulting out of the Navy Classic, Stonecheck hit a rough patch in December, but rallied to finish the year winning 10 of his last 11 duals. The only wrestler to defeat Stonecheck during his late-season surge was Jaivon Jones of Northern Illinois. Jones is only 10-5 on the year, with four of those losses coming to wrestlers expected to assume the top-three seeds in this tournament. Though he’s looking for his first NCAA berth, Jones has posted winning seasons every year of his career. You could probably go eight or nine deep with wrestlers who are capable of making a run and grabbing that third qualifying spot. Kaleb Burgess (Buffalo), Derek Raike (Ohio), Douglas Terry (Cleveland State), Kyle Schickel (Clarion), and Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) have all shown flashes of that type of potential. All they need to do is channel that potential for three or four matches this week. Predictions 1st) Corbyn Munson (Central Michigan) 2nd) Quinn Kinner (Rider) 3rd) Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville) 4th) Nick Stonecheck (Lock Haven) 157 lbs 5 allocations 157 lbs is easily the deepest in the MAC and the only one with five automatic allocations. Last year, the weight had four. Even with two seniors leaving, others in the weight have stepped up to maintain a high level of competition here and nationally. Leading the charge is Peyten Keller, a third-place finisher as a freshman for Ohio in 2023. Kellar comes into Kent with an 18-2 record and is ranked #17 at an extremely deep 157 lb weight class. His only two losses this season came via one point and in sudden victory at the CKLV Invitational. Kellar is riding a ten-match winning streak that dates back to early-December and only had one conference bout within a three-point margin. The other veteran at this weight is Central Michigan’s Johnny Lovett. Lovett has been a two-time MAC finalist - winning the title in 2023 at 149 lbs. He’s looking to get back on the winning track after a couple of non-conference losses to top-20 opponents during the final weekend of the regular season. Lovett started his 2023-24 campaign with six-straight wins a span that included a title at the Michigan State Open. The highest of the three MAC placewinners at the Midlands was George Mason’s redshirt freshman DJ McGee. McGee posted a head-to-head victory over Lovett on his way to a fourth-place finish. Lovett was right behind him at fifth and Rider’s Colton Washleski was sixth. McGee started his year with seven straight wins and posted a huge upset of Minnesota All-American Michael Blockhus. It remains the only blemish on the record of the returning Big Ten finalist. The aforementioned Washleski has been an excellent revelation for the Broncs. He doesn’t have any bad losses on his resume and has only had one defeat since the calendar changed to 2024. Expect him as the fourth seed. The fifth automatic qualifying bid was earned by Clarion’s Alejandro Herrera-Rondon. Herrera-Rondon has an 18-6 record and hasn’t lost since going 2-2 at the Southern Scuffle on the first two days of the year. Since the Scuffle, Herrera-Rondon has only been held to a regular decision on one occasion. Lurking somewhere after the top five is two-time national qualifier Marcus Robinson of Cleveland State. Robinson only has five total matches on the year and is 4-1 in those contests. His lone loss came via a one-point decision to Washleski. If healthy and near top form, he could be a major player here. Others to look out for are SIU Edwardsville’s true freshman Brock Woodcock and Northern Illinois’ Munkhtulga Zuunbayan. Both have solid conference records without any bad losses; however, they also lack signature wins. Predictions 1st) Peyten Kellar (Ohio) 2nd) Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) 3rd) DJ McGee (George Mason) 4th) Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State) 5th) Colton Washleski (Rider) 6th) Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Clarion) 165 lbs 1 allocation 157 lbs was the start of an imposing run for Ohio and that continues with top-seeded Garrett Thompson. Thompson’s emergence has been one of the pleasant surprises for the conference this year. After going 14-9 primary in open competition as a redshirt freshman, Thompson turned it up in 2023-24 with a 23-5 overall record. Thompson announced his presence with a title during the opening weekend of the year, at the Southeast Open, but his signature performance was a fifth-place finish at the CKLV. We’ll see if Thompson is vulnerable at the MAC Championships, as he was undefeated against conference competition; however, he did wrestle some close bouts down the stretch. One of those close matches came against George Mason’s Evan Maag. Maag finished the regular season of his redshirt freshman year with a nice 23-9 record, almost a third of which came via falls. Maag will probably have to settle for the third seed behind Cleveland State’s Tate Geiser. In December, Geiser notched a 10-3 win over Maag. His only loss against a wrestler in this field is to Thompson; however, Geiser does have three losses to MAC wrestlers that are not entered here. This is the weight where we’ll likely have the highest-seeded Bloomsburg wrestler in Caden Dobbins. Dobbins is 16-11 on the year and has head-to-head wins over a handful of wrestlers who could be seeded in his vicinity. The only wrestler in this bracket with past NCAA experience is Rider’s Jake Silverstein who was selected for an at-large berth in 2021. Silverstein holds a win this year over Maag and Clarion’s Eli Brinsky. Predictions 1st) Garrett Thompson (Ohio) 2nd) Evan Maag (George Mason) 3rd) Jake Silverstein (Rider) 4th) Tate Geiser (Cleveland State) 174 lbs 2 allocations 174 is an odd weight class with incredible depth. Seven entrants at this weight have qualified for nationals at one time or another in their careers. Now, not every one of them had their best year, based on the fact that only two allocations were awarded to this weight. Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) and Sal Perrine (Ohio) are responsible for the AQ’s. Perrine had some massive wins on his way to a fifth-place finish at the CKLV. He defeated two returning qualifiers along with a pair of promising true freshmen. Cramer’s big tournament finish was a seventh-place showing at the Midlands. When these two clashed it was Cramer who prevailed with a takedown in sudden victory. Despite the past credentials of the rest of the field, I’d expect Rider’s Michael Wilson to get the third seed. Wilson's only loss to a conference competitor came to Cramer. On the other side of the ledger, he has wins over past NQ’s Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven) and DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State). Stoltzfus has missed significant time this year due to injuries, while Nassar is adjusting to a new weight. He’s down at 174 after spending the previous four seasons competing at 184 lbs. The story of this weight class in 2023 was unseeded John Worthing’s run to the finals and an NCAA berth. Worthing suffered his share of losses this year and had to injury default out of a bout with Stoltzfus in early-February and hasn’t competed since. It’s unclear how effective he’ll be. The other past qualifiers in this bracket are AJ Burkhart (Kent State) and Jay Nivison (Buffalo). Burkhart is just barely above .500, but comes in off of a win over Nassar in the final weekend of the regular season. Nivison's impact has been limited as he’s only seen the mat in ten duals this year. He could be trending in the right direction as he won four straight matches before closing the dual season with very tight losses to Perrine and Cramer. Predictions 1st) Alex Cramer (Central Michigan) 2nd) Sal Perrine (Ohio) 3rd) John Worthing (Clarion) 4th) Michael Wilson (Rider) 184 lbs 2 allocations I enjoy weights like this one where we’ve come into the postseason and some top contenders have not met each other this season. That level of uncertainty can make for an entertaining tournament. The returning runner-up at this weight is Zayne Lehman (Ohio), who made the finals and went on to compete at his first national tournament. Lehman doesn’t have any MAC losses this year and hasn’t lost since early January. Though he didn’t place at the CKLV, Lehman did rack up three wins, and two over ranked opponents. Even though Lehman has a longer track record, he didn’t earn an allocation at this weight, Cam Pine (Clarion) and Matt Zuber (Northern Illinois) did. Pine jumped up two weights in the offseason and has been better than ever at 184 lbs. After a loss in the Southern Scuffle finals, Pine has reeled off nine straight wins, only two of which came via regular decision. With a 21-7 record headed into the MAC Tournament last season, Pine could have been on the qualification bubble - before he went on to finish seventh. Zuber was under .500 last year - his first as a full-time starter, however, he’s reversed that and comes in with an 18-6 mark. Despite his excellent record, Zuber does have a pair of losses to MAC competitors in Isaac Dean (Rider) and Deron Pulliam (SIU Edwardsville). That could leave him with the third seed. Right behind the big three is George Mason’s Malachi Duvall. Duvall has only lost to Pine and Lehman this year, within the conference. He does own an overtime win over Dean along with Lock Haven’s Colin Fegley. At this point, the brackets could get difficult to project. Chase Krantiz (Buffalo), Pulliam, Dean, and Adrien Cramer (Central Michigan) all have a good win or two, but also a loss or losses that could ding them seeding-wise. Predictions 1st) Zayne Lehman (Ohio) 2nd) Cam Pine (Clarion) 3rd) Matt Zuber (Northern Illinois) 4th) Malachi Duvall (George Mason) 197 lbs 2 allocations Like 184 lbs, we have multiple allocations available and a pair of veterans who are the frontrunners for them and neither has met during the 2023-24 campaign. Both Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) and Ben Smith (Cleveland State) finished the year in the national rankings and each earned an AQ for the conference. While they didn’t meet this year, they have an extensive history. Smith beat Mitchell in the 2021-22 season and even farther back, in 2019-20. Other than a mental edge, I’m not sure if either result is really relevant at this point. Since early-December, Mitchell is 11-2 with his two losses coming to former All-Americans. Smith is on a similar run, having won 14 of 16; however, one of his defeats came to an unranked wrestler, which briefly knocked him out of the top-33. This weight could provide the best opportunity for the host Golden Flashes to get a national qualifier with Blake Schaffer. The sophomore is 22-9 with only two MAC losses on the year. One came to Smith and the other was from Austin Starr (Ohio). Starr has had a solid redshirt freshman year and has been very competitive. In the same vein as Schaffer, Jack Kilner may represent Edinboro’s best shot at a national qualifier. The veteran has a handful of conference losses; however, most have been one-takedown affairs. One long shot to monitor is Central Michigan’s Cameron Wood. The sophomore has a record under .500 but most of his losses have come out of the MAC. He has wins over Starr and Kilner. Predictions 1st) Ben Smith (Cleveland State) 2nd) Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) 3rd) Blake Schaffer (Kent State) 4th) Cameron Wood (Central Michigan) 285 lbs 3 allocations We’ll close things out with a strong heavyweight crop that will be fighting for three allocations. Coming into the final weekend of the regular season, Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) was your clear-cut favorite. At that time, he hadn't lost since the Navy Classic in mid-November. That winning streak came to an abrupt halt when he was majored by Rider’s David Szuba. Szuba is a junior who has been solid for his entire career and was close to qualifying for nationals, yet is still looking for his first trip. Barring a stunning chain of events, Szuba is looking like a good bet to be in Kansas City after the Bucknavich win and a nine-match unbeaten streak to finish the regular season. Of course, seeding will be difficult at this weight as Szuba’s only MAC loss is to Jacobi Jackson (Northern Illinois), someone who Bucknavich edged, 2-1. Jackson has been an excellent revelation for the Huskies and garnered an AQ for the conference after going 12-4. His loss to Bucknavich and an early-season setback to Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) account for his only MAC losses. Jackson was able to get a measure of revenge with a 4-1 dual win in late-January. Caves likely gets the fourth seed. He was third in the MAC last season, as a redshirt freshman, and appeared ready to take another step forward in 2023-24. That hasn’t necessarily happened and Caves comes in with an 11-13 record. Still, the regular season is in the rearview mirror and Caves could certainly grab that third spot. Others who could throw a wrench into this bracket are Jordan Greer (Ohio) and John Meyers (Clarion). Greer’s only MAC loss was a close decision to Bucknavich; however, he’s lacking in the significant win category. Meyers started the year with a win over a returning national qualifier at the Clarion Open, but went into a slump for all of December. Predictions 1st) Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) 2nd) David Szuba (Rider) 3rd) Jacobi Jackson (Northern Illinois) 4th) Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) Team Race Projection 1st) Central Michigan 2nd) Ohio 3rd) Rider 4th) Lock Haven 5th) Cleveland State 6th) Northern Illinois

In the interim between the B1G regular season and the B1G conference tournament, I couldn’t figure out what to write about. Then I thought, everyone loves awards and categories (everyone does, this is not up for debate), so that’s what I’m giving you. Will these awards be repeated next year? Who knows! Are there physical awards being handed out? Absolutely not! Will the winners be telling their grandkids about this? Most definitely. Let’s get right to it! Breakout star - This award goes to Ryder Rogotzke of Ohio State. There were several strong candidates for this award, but I can’t get past Ryder “Ride or Die” Rogotzke and his ability to seemingly beat anyone at any given time. The Buckeye true freshman started the season by losing his challenge match to Seth Shumate, but has finished the season by earning the coveted “Black Shirt” status, and compiling a 15-6 record (13 pins and one technical fall, which if my math checks out, means that he had 1 actual decision victory on the year). There has been some exciting action from newcomers this season, but none as consistently exciting as Ryder. He’s ready to get weird with it, so be ready to watch it all unfold. B1G Wrestler of the Year - People think that wrestlers go through a grind during the college wrestling season. I’m not saying that they don’t, but don’t underestimate the grind and laborious nature of picking the B1G Wrestler of the Year. So many Nittany Lions to choose from! Do we go with the most wins? I can’t bring myself to do that. Despite Beau Bartlett having the most wins, he was less dominant than many of his high-profile teammates. I can’t use winning percentage, because there are too many guys who remain undefeated on the team (the aforementioned Beau Bartlett, Levi Haines, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, and Greg Kerkvliet). All of those guys also have won more than half of their matches by bonus points, but Aaron Brooks has an absurd 92.86% bonus point winning percentage (shoutout WrestleStat). Of his 14 wins, 13 have been by bonus points. In fact, to this point in the season, the only person to hold him to a regular decision was Zach Glazier of Iowa (5-1 decision) the 3 seed at 197 for the B1G tournament. It’s hard to argue that someone this dominant isn’t the B1G Wrestler of the Year. So congratulations Aaron Brooks! You did it! B1G Match of the Year - This is kind of a legacy award for me, but these two deserve it. I love the Wisconsin v Minnesota battles, and most specifically, the 125 pounders. We have been so lucky to watch Pat McKee and Eric Barnett battle so many times, and despite the head-to-head record being slightly in favor of McKee (6-4 McKee > Barnett to this point), the matches always seem to be insane and exciting to watch. I was genuinely bummed to see that McKee and Barnett weren’t on the same side of the B1G tournament brackets, but I truly hope they either both make the finals, or meet on the backside, because it’s straight-fire watching these two battle. It’s like the Game of Thrones episode “Battle of the Bastards”, but a wrestling match. This season, in McKee’s last home dual of his career, it started with a takedown for Barnett (who at this point held a 3-1 regular season win total over McKee) and an eventual 4-1 lead after an escape in the second. McKee however gets a shot of his own, culminating in a wild scramble, and an eventual figure four on the head of Barnett, ending up in a pin for the Golden Gopher. You’d think that maybe an overtime match or something else would win this award, but not this year. Congratulations to Barnett and McKee for this match, and the battles over the years. B1G Dual of the Year - There was a lot of build-up headed into Michigan v Ohio State, and it absolutely delivered. The Buckeyes hosted the Wolverines in this season's installment of the continued rivalry. The dual started in just about complete control for the road team, as they won four of the first five matches. Sadly, we missed out on a potentially awesome match at 141, as Sergio Lemley did not pass the skin check. I don’t know when it will happen, but Mendez v Lemley will eventually be so much fun for us all. I hope it happens sooner rather than later. The Buckeyes win their first match of the dual at 165 with a late takedown for Bryce Hepner to take the 12-10 win over Beau Mantanona. Shane Griffith gets the 2-1 win at 174 over another stud freshman in Rocco Welsh, bringing the Wolverine lead to 19-9. With three matches left, two of which Michigan was favored in, it felt like the dual was essentially over. At this point, Michigan had won all of the actual matches except for one. This is when Ohio State turned up the heat, with a huge 21-0 technical fall for Ryder Rogotzke over Jaden Bullock followed by a decision for Luke Geog over Rylan Rogers. Two matches and eight team points later, we enter heavyweight with freshman Nick Feldman taking on Lucas Davison, the multiple-time All-American transfer from Northwestern. Feldman stepped up big at home for his team, and sealed the dual victory with a 4-3 victory over Davison, declaring to the NCAA field that he is as dangerous as they come. It was a wild dual to watch when it happened, and kind of more wild to recap after the fact. Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes on winning dual of the year. B1G Coach of the Year - This award I had to break up and share between two coaches. Cael Sanderson is undoubtedly one of those recipients. He just continues to win! Sure, he was expected to win with this roster and some of the recent transfers, but this has been especially impressive. Messenbrink is probably somehow better than we thought (and I thought he was going to be a super freak, but this is nuts), Starocci and Brooks' dominance has been great. Kerkvliet in a field without Parris or Steveson has clearly shown that he’s head and shoulders above the competition, and they even seemingly broke the curse of 125 with a beast in Braeden Davis. All of this deserves recognition and a share of the Coach of the Year award. But this is what was expected on some level right? We thought this team was going to be amazing, and it turns out that they’ve delivered on those expectations. What was a little surprising to me was just what Nebraska and coach Mark Manning have done. We knew that there were some returning studs in guys like Hardy, Lovett, Robb, and Allred, but what to expect from the rest of the Cornhusker team? Well, it turns out the answer was a lot. Caleb Smith has shown the ability to beat some of the nation's best as he transferred in from the SoCon, Antrell Taylor has beaten All-Americans and is clearly a guy to watch out for, they even got a 300+ pound defensive tackle from the football team to cut weight and be their Heavyweight. They currently sit in third place in both the Intermat dual and tournament rankings, and I don’t know if even the biggest Husker fan would have predicted that at the beginning of this season. Also, Lenny Pinto has clearly jumped levels this year and has a bright future for this squad. So congratulations to both Mark Manning and Cael Sanderson on your shared B1G Coach of the Year award.

This weekend will be the 2nd annual NAIA Women’s Freestyle Championships. Here are some previews for each weight. 101 lbs: Top seed - Erin Hikiji, Providence Erin Hikiji is hoping to cap off a tremendous season with a redemption finals result to end up on top. Standing in her way will be a few tough wrestlers that Hikiji has previously beaten on that side of the bracket with Alyssa Quezaire of Missouri Baptist, whom Hikiji teched at the Warrior Open, and Esther Walker of Midland, whom Hikiji teched at the North Central Open. However, 2-seed Stefana Jalacic of Lourdes will certainly press Hikiji in the finals, if she can make it past a tough Kayla McKinley-Johnson of Menlo. There is also an unseeded but tough Devyn Gomez here who could certainly shake things up. 109 lbs: Top seed - Mia Palumbo, William Penn Mia Palumbo has already teched the 2-seed Alexsys Jacquez of St. Mary earlier this season, but there are plenty of ways this finals match could shape up. I would keep an eye on Providence’s Paige Morales at the 4 seed and Tehani Soares of Indiana Tech to make things interesting in their respective halves of the bracket. Regardless, I think Palumbo is on her way to an individual championship here as a leader on this William Penn team. 116 lbs: Top seed - Juliana Diaz, Missouri Baptist Diaz got the win over Avery Ashley of Oklahoma City at conferences to claim the top spot, but I wouldn’t guarantee you’d see the same result if they were to meet up again. Ashley is a tough competitor who’s seen a lot of action this season only dropping three matches including the one to Diaz, and thrives in a tournament setting. After finishing in 5th last season, look for Ashley to solidify a much higher All-American finish. Also bound to make waves at 116 will be Camille Fournier of Texas Wesleyan and Icart Galumette of Campbellsville. Galumette was the individual champ at Mid South Conferences after two quick pins and a big decision over Ariana Martinez of Life, seeded 7th at this tournament. If I had to pick a weight I was least confident in predicting the finals, it would be this one. 123 lbs: Top seed - Cristelle Rodriguez, Doane Cristelle Rodriguez battled to a 3rd place finish at 130 lbs last season, but has been even more dominant at 123 lbs. While there is a lot of tough competition, she should hold her own here. Look for a possible semis matchup between her and Anna Krejsa of Life, given that Krejsa gets past a tough Sophia Smith of Oklahoma City. Maya Davis, the 3-seed, of Grand View poses a real threat to Vanderwood making it to the finals as well. 130 lbs: Top seed - Carolina Moreno, Southern Oregon This should be a good one, and while the top two seeds are talented, so are their competitors. Moreno could see Alyssa Randles of Providence, whom Moreno recently teched at the dual. On the other side, two-seed Sarah Savidge of Life will likely meet up with Louisa Schwab of Menlo, whom Savidge pinned in the first period at National Duals this year. There is a lot of talent from the four top teams here, so keep an eye on those semifinal matches, in particular, and don’t count anyone out. 136 lbs: Top seed - Adaugo Nwachuckwu, William Penn Nwachuckwu is arguably the top pound-for-pound wrestler, and I don’t think anyone stops her from another title here. Her biggest competition should be two-seed Andrea Schlabach, but Nwachuckwu got the tech fall against her recently at conference finals. With that, Schlabach has earlier problems to worry about with a tough Zaynah McBryde of Life likely to find her in the semis. You also can’t count out former champ Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp of Providence; however in their previous meetings, she has not had much to stop Nwachuckwu from dominating. 143 lbs: Top seed - Jamilah McBryde, Life McBryde is Life’s only top seed in this tournament, and she’ll need to wrestle hard here to claim the title for the team. At the two seed you have Mea Mohler of Texas Wesleyan, who is a two-time All-American at 136 lbs, who has a strong, technical style that could put McBryde on notice. While I’d love to see these two in the finals, they’ve got a tough seven seed Bella Amaro of Southern Oregon who could go for a run, and an unseeded Madison Diaz of Grand View who gets a bye in the first. I would also keep an eye on Serenity De La Garza of Missouri Valley who will have McBryde in her first match, but I like her chances to wrestle back tough on the backside. 155 lbs: Top seed - Caitlyn Davis, Southern Oregon I really hope this one goes according to seeding, at least with the one and two to give us a Caitlyn Davis vs Latifah McBryde (Life) finals. McBryde was the only one to keep it close with Davis at the Menlo Open, losing 3-1, and with the team title on the line possibly between these two teams, Life could use an upset win here for another championship placement. I also think the first-round match between 4-seed Flor Parker-Borreo of Evergreen and Kendra Thompson of Campbellsville could make for a potential early upset for this bracket. 170 lbs: Top seed - Abby McIntyre, Grand View This finals match is seeded to be between Abby McIntyre and two-seed Ashley Lekas of William Penn. So far, the two are 1-1 this season with McIntyre getting the most recent win of the two at conference finals. It is hard to pick out a clear favorite based on their previous matches, so I am excited for the opportunity for them to settle it on the mat. Also, look for Shenita Lawson to wrestle to her seed and make it to the 3rd place match to score some pivotal team points for Southern Oregon. 191 lbs: Top seed - Tavia Heidelberg-Tillitson, Menlo Similar to Life as I mentioned above, Menlo only has one top-seeded wrestler in Heidelberg-Tillitson. She beat this year’s 2-seed Joanna Hendricks of Waldorf in the quarterfinals last year, but both have had success in the regular season this year that could mix things up if they make it to a finals face-off. I think the potential quarterfinals match between Madeline Welch of Life and Maquoia Bernabe of Cumberlands could be fireworks. At the dual between the two teams, Bernabe got off to an early lead before she got shut down by a flurry of offense from Welch. This top team placement really seems like a toss-up at this point. As you can see by the top seeds, there are no clear front runners. As far as qualifiers, Menlo will be sending the most wrestlers to compete with 12; Grand View, Southern Oregon, Life, and Texas Wesleyan will be sending 11; and the University of Providence is sending 10. Each team will need points from wrestlers on the back end and bonus points from techs and pins. As a reminder, unlike the NCWWC, all wrestlers from the team can score points for the team, even if there are more than one at the same weight. However, in teammate matchups, bonus points are not awarded. Please see my graphic for how team scoring will work at this tournament:

The postseason is upon us and the ACC will be taking center stage on Sunday in Chapel Hill. Brackets were just released so let's take a look at what we will see on Sunday. 125: 2 Automatic Qualifiers Jakob Camacho gets the top seed via his victory over Cooper Flynn in the dual. Spencer Moore earns the 3 seed and will look to avenge his only ACC loss against Cooper Flynn in the semifinals. Kyle Montaperto returns from a knee injury to face Logan Agin for a chance to meet Camacho in the semis. I expect this bracket to stay chalk but the Moore-Flynn match could be a dogfight. Moore has had a quietly strong season and his defensive ability could be a huge asset in the postseason. 133: 3 Automatic Qualifiers Dual matches played a big role in how this weight is going to shape up. Kai Orine gets the top seed and Marlon Yarbrough is the 2 with a dominant head-to-head win over Sam Latona who got the 3 seed. Vinnie Santaniello, who has some great wins in an up-and-down season will face Jace Palmer for a chance to square off with Kai Orine in the semis. I’m very much looking forward to Yarbrough-Latona II. Yarbrough has quietly had a great year and looked All-American caliber in his win over Latona in the dual. Latona has consistently shown that he can, and will, win when the stakes are the highest, so I expect a much better outing from him. There is a great chance we see a rematch of last year’s ACC final with Orine and Latona. Their series is 2-2 with the pair splitting in the 2022-23 regular season and the 2023 ACC Tournament. Latona ended the year with a 3-1 win in the NCAA 7th place match, but Orine got a measure of revenge in this year’s dual meet. This one could go a long way in determining the team title. 141: 3 Automatic Qualifiers This was the weight that most were interested to see how the bracket shaped up. And it has the makings of potential chaos. Cole Matthews earned the top seed with his undefeated run through the ACC. Ryan Jack is the 2, Tom Crook the 3 and Lachlan McNeil the 4; Jack Gioffre, who earned the 3rd allocation, will be the 5 seed. If we’ve learned anything from this weight this year, it is to expect the unexpected. Lachlan McNeil is the 5th ranked wrestler in the country and is 0-4 in conference; Cole Matthews entered ACC duals ranked 25 and went 5-0 and has three top-5 upsets on the year. If it goes to seed, we will have All-Americans Cole Matthews and Lachlan McNeil in the top side semifinal and Ryan Jack versus Tom Crook on the bottom. With only 3 allocations, backside matches are going to be critical. The fourth-place wrestler will have a very strong resume for an at-large. This weight will also have a major bearing on team score and will be an important one to keep an eye on. 149: 2 Automatic Qualifiers Top-seeded Caleb Henson and second-seeded Jackson Arrington have separated themselves from the field at this weight and are expected to be the finals matchup. Jayden Scott, the 3-seed, will face Jarred Papscy with the winner getting Arrington in the semis; on the top side, Finn Solomon and Michael Gioffre will square off in a sneaky good matchup to earn the semi against Henson. I would be very surprised to see a final that doesn’t have Henson versus Arrington, but stranger things have happened in the ACC tournament. They have both looked incredible this year and are legitimate NCAA title threats. 157: 2 Automatic Qualifiers This weight had two wrestlers who were on the bubble of earning allocations with Dylan Cedeno and Sonny Santiago, so there will be some stout competition for the two spots. That being said, the two that earned the allocations will be facing off in the semifinals. Sonny Santiago gets the top seed holding a win over Ed Scott. Scott is the second seed with Bryce Andonian at the three coming off a lengthy absence with a knee injury. Cedeno, who is also returning from an injury, will check in at four. If it goes to seed, Santiago and Cedeno will be on the top side and Andonian and Scott will have, yet another chapter in their rivalry, on the bottom side. This match will have major, major implications on the team race. Whoever places third will likely receive an at-large, and the 4th place wrestler will have a good case to be made as well. 165: 2 Automatic Qualifiers I was surprised by the seeding at this weight. The allocations were earned by Derek Fields and Connor Brady, with Holden Heller just missing criteria for winning percentage by 0.5%. Fields gets the top seed, despite a loss to Brady, who lost to Heller. Heller gets the 2 seed with Brady at 3 and Nick Hamilton at 4. Brady will open with Gaetano Console and Hamilton will have Isaias Estrada for a shot at the semis. Seeds have Fields facing Hamilton and Brady against Heller. Fields has looked excellent this year and has the edge over Hamilton, I see Brady-Heller as a complete toss-up. Will we see the Connor Brady who was aggressive and offensive against Fields, or the defensive and tentative Brady who has several close losses? That will determine who we see in finals. 174: 4 Automatic Qualifiers This one shook out mostly as expected; Mekhi Lewis-1, Justin McCoy-2, Tyler Eischens-3, Alex Faison-4. Faison will face Luca Augustine to open the tournament and Eischens will face Jack Wimmer. The Faison-Augustine match is very intriguing to me; Faison is 4-0 lifetime against Augustine, but Luca has looked excellent this year. McCoy and Eischens had a fun match in the dual that will make for an interesting rematch. I lean towards a Mekhi Lewis versus Justin McCoy final; Lewis won a 2-0 decision in the dual. 184: 4 Automatic Qualifiers The final week of the season had a major impact on this bracket. TJ Stewart knocked off Dylan Fishback in the dual, who was ranked in the top ten at the time. Stewart gets the top seed, with Reece Heller 2, Dylan Fishback 3 and returning All-American Gavin Kane 4. Kane will face Ethan Weatherspoon for a shot at Stewart and Fishback will have Conor Becker with a semifinal trip on the line. I love how this shapes up with youth versus veterans for both semifinals. If it goes to seed we have redshirt freshman TJ Stewart versus All-American and two-time NCAA qualifier Gavin Kane on the top side, with redshirt freshman Dylan Fishback against three-year starter and one-time NCAA qualifier Reece Heller. Stewart comes in with an incredible amount of momentum and back-to-back top-10 victories, it will be interesting to see if he can keep that momentum alive. 197: 4 Automatic Qualifiers Trent Hidlay stands alone atop the bracket at 197, having dominant wins over everyone in the conference. Andy Smith was 4-1 in conference and gets the 2 seed with Max Shaw at 3 and Mac Stout at 4. Shaw will open with Kwasi Bonsu for a shot at the semifinal opposite Smith. Stout will face Krystian Kinsey for a spot against Hidlay. The dual match between Andy Smith and Max Shaw was a 4-2 upset in favor of Smith; I would expect another tight match here to earn a finals berth. The Hokies will need Smith to make the finals to stay in the team race with NC State. Hidlay is a heavy heavy favorite here and will be looking to make a statement going into the NCAA tournament. 285: 2 Automatic Qualifiers This is another weight where the conference just missed an extra allocation and it is going to make the semifinals even crazier. Owen Trephan made it through the conference season unscathed to get the top seed. Hunter Catka earned the 2 opposite his brother Ryan who is the 3; we will likely see the brother battle determine a guaranteed trip to Kansas City. The wildcard here is Dayton Pitzer, at the 4, seed who has been out since injuring his shoulder against Cohlton Schultz. Pitzer has shown that he can compete with anyone in the country when healthy--but how healthy will he be when he takes the mat on Sunday? Connor Barket will be looking to play the bad guy and get some upsets on his way to a bid; he has had some big wins this year and Duke heavyweights tend to be dialed in for the postseason. If it goes chalk, we will have Trephan and Hunter Catka which we haven’t seen this season--Trephan got a late takedown to beat Jimmy Mullen in the dual.

Brackets are out for the 2024 Nation Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, and it is going to be an exciting one. With the addition of a seemingly unstoppable Iowa team in their inaugural run at the title, plus returning champs North Central also maxing out their lineup, it’s truly anyone’s game. And that is not even factoring in historically top talent from McKendree and King. You won't want to miss the action this weekend, so here are a few things to keep an eye out for at each weight. 101 lbs: Top seed - Emilie Gonzalez, Iowa Iowa is claiming the top 2 spots at this weight with Emilie Gonzalez as the 1 seed and Sterling Dias at 2. However, with how volatile these lower weights can be, I would not expect most seeds to hold. Keep an eye out for Avery Kibelbek of King, who receives a bye in her first round and will then likely see Genesis Ramirez of Aurora, whom she beat 8-0 in a dual earlier this year, before meeting up with Gonzalez. On the opposite side of the bracket, look out for Madison Avila to make a run where she’ll likely meet up with Jessica Corredor of King, which was a semifinal match last year that ended with a 9-0 win for Avila after putting Corredor on her back and working for the pin for the last 30 seconds of the match. If brackets do hold, Gonzalez does have the most recent win over Dias from regionals, but it could go either way. 109 lbs: Top seed - Kendra Ryan, North Central Behind Kendra Ryan, is Ava Bayless of Iowa who has really shown out this season. I would be really curious to see which one could pull off the win if they were to meet in the finals. The two did face off at US Nationals last year with Ryan getting a dominant tech, but I do think Bayless could even the score especially if she has a dominant run in the rest of the tournament. Her first big obstacle should be Jaslynn Gallegos of North Central in the semis, which would be fireworks after the two met up at National Duals with Bayless winning the 5-5 decision on criteria. I think that makes this match a real toss-up for the finals, which could end up all North Central. However, Ryan’s side of the bracket will not be any easier, with returning All-Americans Pauline Granados of McKendree, and Kaelani Shufledt of Lock Haven. 116 lbs: Top seed - Samara Chavez, King Both Chavez and 2-seed Sydney Petzinger of North Central will have to get through some tough competition, including an Iowa wrestler on each side of the bracket to make it to the finals. I am looking for Felicity Taylor to make this one interesting after having a bye in the first and then a probable match against Tatiana Walker of Sacred Heart before meeting up with Chavez. With Taylor bumping down weights late in the season, she has not seen a lot of the competitors at the weight, but on the flip side, they have not gotten to test her either. Also representing the Hawkeyes, Iowa’s Brianna Gonzalez dropped her most recent match to Petzinger 8-4, so she’ll need to reverse that result to make it into the finals. 123 lbs: Top seed - Shelby Moore, McKendree This is a weight that has the potential for some upsets and interesting quarters and semis matches, but I could still see a scenario where the 1 and 2 still match up in the finals, with Amani Jones of North Central trying to reverse her loss to Moore at National Duals to end up on top. However, Moore has looked so solid this season and should be able to hold her own against the tough wrestlers in her path including teammate Nichole Moore and either Ava Rose of Iowa or Virginia Ford of King whom Moore has already teched both of this season. 130 lbs: Top seed - Victoria Baez-Dilone, King McKendree’s Cam Guerin is seeded #2 at this weight, but her close criteria loss to Baez-Dilone shows just how close some of these wrestlers are, and it is still anyone’s title to claim. Another rockstar here will be Lexi Janiak of Aurora as the 3-seed, putting her in Guerin’s path to the finals. We could also see a meeting between McKendree’s other talented 130 lber Jennifer Soto and Iowa’s Emily Frost to determine the quarters and semis. Also, don’t forget to keep an eye out for Salome Walker of North Central, who would have a tough path against both Janiak and then Guerin if she can make it to that point, but with Walker winning over Janiak because of an injury default, I am really looking to see what that match could be. 136 lbs: Top seed - Yele Aycock, North Central While Claire DiGungo of King is the second seed here, I think this is the weight that could have the most surprising final matchup. While Aycock has shined this season, she has had to show a lot of grit in her matches to end up on top, and this tournament will be no exception. She will likely see McKendree’s Estella Gutches in her first match after a bye, and a win there means a tough and determined Lilly Luft of Iowa, and then Colorado Mesa’s Holly Beaudoin. On the other side, DiGungo could see Grace Stem of Lock Haven and Viktorya Torres of McKendree. With team scores so close in this runoff, 136 could be make or break for top teams. 143 lbs: Top seed - Alara Boyd, North Central With the recent announcement that the #3 seed Emma Bruntil is withdrawing from the tournament, brackets got a little shaken up with Reese Larramendy of Iowa still holding onto the 2nd spot, Athena Willden of William Jewel moving up to third and shifting the remaining seeds. The addition to the bracket will be fifth-place finisher at Region V, Aniyah Kelly of Wartburg. I think it will be hard for anyone to hold off Boyd, who had a dominant win over Larramendy at National Duals. That being said, other wrestlers could make things interesting on the back end to score pivotal team points like Iowa’s other competitor at the weight Ella Schmit, or Maddie Kubicki whom I highlighted in my preseason work as a wrestler who could come into the spotlight by the end of the season. 155 lbs: Top seed - Marlynne Deede, Iowa Cheyenne Bowman of King as the two-seed is looking to make it to the finals again, but this time she’s down a weight from her impressive run at 170 lbs last season. She’ll need to make a serious run to keep points away from Iowa and North Central who both have two tough wrestlers in this bracket as well. Along with Deede, breakout star Bella Mir will compete for the Hawkeyes, and each should have meetings with their North Central counterparts Loudon Houston for Deede in the semis, and Tiera Jimerson in the first round against Mir. Bowman will likely see the winner of that match or Nina Makem of Augsburg in the semis and will need to compete at a high level regardless of opponent in this pivotal weight for team scoring. 170 lbs: Top seed - Kylie Welker, Iowa If you do not plan to watch this tournament in its entirety, which you should, please put on calendar alerts for the finals match at 170 lbs here. We should see Kylie Welker of Iowa, who has dominated her way through this season, capped off by a next-level performance at regionals where she only wrestled for 2 total minutes. Her likely opponent would be 3x National champ Yelena Makoyed of North Central, who is taking up the 2-seed with a loss to Welker earlier in the season at National Duals. I really think in the run-off to team champ, North Central and Iowa will be the top two, so having a champ here would be big for either team. While I don’t think any wrestlers will be able to stop these two on their run through the bracket, keep an eye out for some tough matchups on the top half of the bracket with Haley Ward of Iowa facing off against Henlee Haynes of Presbyterian and Love Daley of Sacred Heart going up against Jade Herzer of UW-Stevens Point. The winners of those two matches will then likely face off for the match against Welker in the semis. 191 lbs: Top seed - Traeh Haynes, North Central I don’t think it would be a stretch to see an all-North Central final between Traeh Haynes and 2-seed Brittyn Corbishley. The two have dominated all season and created an almost impenetrable wall for the Cardinals in the 191 lb spot of the lineup. That being said, you have some talented competitors in advantageous bracket positions that could make things more interesting. Madeline Hodges of Sacred Heart gets Sydney Manos of Aurora in the second round to make it to the quarters against Haynes. However, you’ll probably also see Jaycee Foeller of Iowa take on Sara Lake of Lindenwood in the quarters as well, both of whom could pose a real semis threat. I think Corbishley gets a bit of an easier bracket and should avoid too much pressure until meeting up with Sandra Guerrero of New Jersey City in the semis, if Guerrero competes at the level she’s been showing this season. Overall, this is going to be an excellent tournament full of close matches and exciting action. The race between reigning champs North Central, newcomers Iowa, battle-tested King, and former champs McKendree will be tight through each round. It is truly anyone’s trophy at this point. Please see my graphic for how team scoring will work at this tournament:

Minnesota All-American Pat McKee sits down with Ryan Holmes before his final postseason. McKee reflects on his time with the Minnesota program, his recruitment through his time as a leader for the Golden Gophers. He also discusses the state of the 125 lb weight class, battles with Eric Barnett and much more.

Big Ten pre-seeds were released last night at 7pm/Eastern live on the Big Ten Network, which was a good new feature. You’re always told to judge people by their actions, not their works, so the Big Ten Network decided to use their television time to wedge in another wrestling-related production. That’s telling me that they understand wrestling is an important part of their broadcast options. It’s also a vehicle to promote the tournament that they’ll broadcast later this week. The pre-seeds provide the first bit of framework for the tournament itself. Anyone who has been around a tournament or two knows how the seeds may interact within a traditional bracket. Since we have pre-seeds, there are plenty of potential matchups we can hope for or perhaps some that we don’t anticipate seeing. In the aftermath of the pre-seed release, we had eight reactions related to them. Remember these pre-seeds aren’t set in stone, so there could be some movement between now and the ringing of the first whistle on Saturday. 1. Brody Teske is the 14th seed I wasn’t quite sure how the seeding committee would handle Brody Teske, provided he was Iowa’s entrant. Teske had a win over Jacob Van Dee (the #4 seed), but limited other head-to-head’s against many of the key players at the weight. That ended up not mattering as Teske’s name was submitted as an entrant after the deadline set by the Big Ten. That means he would assume the 14th seed regardless of his resume. Teske as the 14th seed sets up a first-round matchup with Nic Bouzakis. It isn’t an ideal match for Teske right off the bat, but at the same time, it isn’t great for Bouzakis either. We’ll see how the bracket plays out, but Teske did not earn an automatic bid for the Big Ten, so he’ll have to place in the top seven to feel confident about getting to Kansas City. 2. What to do about Brayton Lee? One of the questions I had before the seeds were released was how to handle Brayton Lee in the seeding process? Lee is unbeaten, but with a very limited schedule that included eight matches. He did have two really solid wins over true freshman Joey Blaze and two-time NCAA All-American Will Lewan. Lee’s lack of losses definitely helped him as he received the third seed above Jared Franek and Peyton Robb, among others. Lee as the third seed sets up a potential quarterfinal matchup with #6 Chase Saldate. The two met last year and Saldate prevailed, though Lee was nowhere near 100%. Looking ahead in the brackets, there’s a potential for a semifinal clash between Lee and his former teammate, #2 Michael Blockhus. The Blaze and Lewan wins show that this isn’t the Lee from 2022-23; however, we’re still not sure of just how close he is to the wrestler who was twice a top-seven seed at nationals. Obviously, with a loaded weight class like 157 lbs, we should have a good idea come Sunday. 3. Cam Amine gets the #6 seed! In our “Projecting the Big Ten Seeds” article (which were generally very accurate…no big deal), we had Cam Amine as the seventh seed at 165 lbs. I made the case that were you to look blindly at resumes, with no context given, Amine probably could have gotten the eighth seed. After all, he doesn’t have any conference wins this year. Were he to receive the eighth seed, that would have created a potential quarterfinal match with top-seeded Dean Hamiti. Hamiti has never beaten Amine in college despite the current disparity between the two in rankings. I may be in the minority, but I’m okay with the seeding. I like having the numbers and raw data to create a framework for the seeds, but some sort of wiggle room for seeds that “just make sense.” Last year, the EIWA’s formula spit out second seeds for Patrick Glory and Yianni Diakomihalis. It had no impact on either of their performances, but created some issues for others in the bracket. 4. Ruth/Welsh de facto semifinal match One of the biggest storylines heading into the Big Ten Championships is the status of three-time national champion Carter Starocci. He appeared to have a serious leg injury during the Nittany Lions season finale against Edinboro. The question is, how much will Starocci wrestle? Does he do a pair of injury defaults? Does he wrestle until the semifinals when he clinches a place in the top-six and earns an NCAA bid (top 8 go to nationals)? Or does he wrestle the entire tournament? Should he choose either of the first two options, that could make the quarterfinal bout between the fourth (Edmond Ruth) and fifth (Rocco Welsh) seeds a de facto semifinal match? When I did seed projections, I had both wrestlers in those same slots; however, I didn’t imagine how much impact that potential result could yield. Ruth is currently ranked eighth and Welsh is 11th. A Big Ten finals appearance is huge for NCAA seeding, regardless of how it happened. Now, it seems like we’re already crowning Ruth/Welsh Big Ten finalists, first we’ll have to know if Starocci is out of the picture, plus the eighth (DJ Washington) and ninth (Andrew Sparks) seeds may have something to say about this, as well. 5. Three and Four at 184 lbs I wasn’t sure exactly how three through seven would fall at 184 lbs because you had a big group of wrestlers who had beaten each other. Five through seven fell as I thought they would; however, three and four were flip-flopped. Bernie Truax has the three and Ryder Rogotzke the four despite the Buckeye’s head-to-head win. All-in-all, Truax has a “cleaner” resume than Rogotzke and the past accomplishments on his side. I suppose that was enough for seeding purposes. What it does is put Truax on the same side of the bracket as Lenny Pinto, a guy that Truax seemingly had on the ropes during their late-season meeting. I’d guess that Nebraska would prefer that Pinto faces the freshman he’s never seen before rather than the three-time All-American from Penn State. Rogotzke is on the same side of the bracket as top-seeded Isaiah Salazar whom he hasn’t faced either. Salazar doesn’t have history with Truax either, but I’m sure he’s fine with the veteran on the other half of the bracket. 6. Preseeds couldn’t figure out the back half of 141 In guessing the pre-seeds, I spent a good deal of time trying to make sense of #8-#11 at 141 lbs. They’ve all beaten each other and there are points for and against each of them assuming the eighth seed. Ultimately, Jordan Hamdan received the eighth seed and Dan Fongaro and Vance Vombaur tied for the ninth seed. Later in the week, they’ll decide between Fongaro and Vombaur. Aside from using rankings (where Fongaro is higher), I’m not sure of a magic solution that will differentiate between the two resumes. 7. Good spot for Sergio Lemley One of the top freshmen in the conference this year was Michigan’s Sergio Lemley at 141 lbs. Lemley showed he was ready for prime time with a major decision win over returning national finalist Real Woods in Michigan’s upset win over Iowa. Every year, it seems like we get a freshman who takes his lumps during the season, then puts it all together and reverses a loss or two in the postseason. Is Lemley that guy in 2024? Looking at his fifth seed at 141 lbs, I think he could be. A fifth seed in the Big Ten generally isn’t ideal, but I like the individual matchups that are in front of Lemley. The quarterfinals could feature a rematch between him and 2023 Big Ten runner-up and All-American Brock Hardy. In their regular season matchup, Hardy prevailed 13-9. It was one of the more entertaining matches of the year with a bunch of takedowns and reversals. My takeaways were that if Lemley were to clean up some of his technique, he could flip that result in the future. Well, now’s the future. Should he take out Hardy, you have Beau Bartlett looming in the semifinals. Generally, you don’t want to see an undefeated top-ranked wrestler on your half of the bracket. In this instance, Bartlett is someone who wrestles a lot of close matches. His win over Lemley, earlier in the season, came with a two-point margin. That might be another match that Lemley and the Michigan staff feel like they could reverse should that matchup occur again. 8. Potential for chaos at 125 lbs We’ve waited until the last point to discuss anything 125 lb-related. That has to be a record for this season. The opening weight class has surely given fans and media something to talk about. Having a top seed or top-ranking at 125 has almost been a curse. There was a four-week span where the #2 wrestler changed four different times. This is literally the weight class where “you can throw the seeds out the window.” They don’t matter. Anything can happen. Insert all of the cliches a coach says to his lower-ranked wrestler! In most tournaments, getting a higher seed is a reward for your past accomplishments. In the Big Ten, in 2024, having a top seed doesn’t really differentiate you from the rest of the field (minus a first-round bye for Matt Ramos and Drake Ayala). The potential reward for a win in the quarterfinals by Ramos - a semifinal matchup with either Patrick McKee or Caleb Smith. McKee is always a difficult matchup; though Ramos holds a 3-0 career edge on his former teammate. Smith is responsible for one of Ramos’ three losses this year (at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational). Looking at the other half of the bracket, Ayala could have a quarterfinals matchup with Michigan’s Michael DeAugustino. The Wolverines stunning dual win over Iowa started with DeAugustino’s 2-1 win in tiebreakers over Ayala. Iowa and Ayala have probably hoped to get this matchup again, as it wasn’t a dominating victory - one that couldn’t be reversed. All things considered, I think the seeds worked out as well as could have been expected at 125. Ramos at #1, Ayala at #2, Smith at #5, and DeAugustino at #7 were the same as I predicted. They do make sense based on each wrestler's total conference resume. At the same time, it’s really weird that the only wrestler in the field to beat Ramos could have him in the semis. Aside from Ramos, the only wrestler in the field to beat Ayala has him in the quarters. But it’s par for the course. Everything associated with 125 lbs this year has been kind of weird.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference announced the preliminary seeds for the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships presented by Air National Guard, which are set for March 9-10 at Maryland. Six schools boast at least one top-seeded wrestler, with Penn State leading the way with five No. 1 seeds. The pre-seeds, as voted on by the conference’s coaches, rank 14 starters in all 10 weight classes. The Nittany Lions have five top-seeded wrestlers, with 141-pounder Beau Bartlett, 157-pounder Levi Haines, 174-pounder Carter Starocci, 197-pounder Aaron Brooks and 285-pounder Greg Kerkvliet. Purdue’s Matt Ramos (125), Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin (133), Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett (149), Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti (165) and Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar round out the group of top-ranked wrestlers. This year’s field contains a combined 10 Big Ten individual championships (seven wrestlers) and six NCAA individual championships (two wrestlers). For more information on the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, visit the Big Ten Championships Central page here. The complete list of Big Ten Championships pre-seeds can be found below. 125 lbs 1. Matt Ramos (PUR) 2. Drake Ayala (IOWA) 3. Eric Barnett (WIS) 4. Patrick McKee (MINN) 5. Caleb Smith (NEB) 6. Braeden Davis (PSU) 7. Michael DeAugustino (MICH) 8. Brendan McCrone (OSU) 9. Dean Peterson (RUT) 10. Tristan Lujan (MSU) 11. Justin Cardani (ILL) 12. Massey Odiotti (NU) 13. Tommy Capul (MD) 14. Blaine Frazier (IND) 133 lbs 1. Dylan Ragusin (MICH) 2. Dylan Shawver (RUT) 3. Nic Bouzakis (OSU) 4. Jacob Van Dee (NEB) 5. Aaron Nagao (PSU) 6. Tony Madrigal (ILL) 7. Braxton Brown (MD) 8. Tyler Wells (MINN) 9. Nicolar Rivera (WIS) 10. Cayden Rooks (IND) 11. Dustin Norris (PUR) 12. Andrew Hampton (MSU) 13. Patrick Adams (NU) 14. Brody Teske (IOWA) 141 lbs 1. Beau Bartlett (PSU) 2. Jesse Mendez (OSU) 3. Real Woods (IOWA) 4. Brock Hardy (NEB) 5. Sergio Lemley (MICH) 6. Danny Pucino (ILL) 7. Mitch Moore (RUT) 8. Jordan Hamdan (MSU) T9. Dan Fongaro (IND) T9. Vance VomBaur (MINN) 11. Kal Miller (MD) 12. Greyson Clark (PUR) 13. Kolby McClain (NU) 14. Felix Lettini (WIS) 149 lbs 1. Ridge Lovett (NEB) 2. Austin Gomez (MICH) 3. Caleb Rathjen (IOWA) 4. Tyler Kasak (PSU) 5. Dylan D’Emilio (OSU) 6. Ethen Miller (MD) 7. Joseph Zargo (WIS) 8. Graham Rooks (IND) 9. Drew Roberts (MINN) 10. Michael Cetta (RUT) 11. Marcos Polanco (PUR) 12. Braden Stauffenberg (MSU) 13. Aiden Vandenbush (NU) 14. Jake Harrier (ILL) 157 lbs 1. Levi Haines (PSU) 2. Michael Blockhus (MINN) 3. Brayton Lee (IND) 4. Jared Franek (IOWA) 5. Peyton Robb (NEB) 6. Chase Saldate (MSU) 7. Will Lewan (MICH) 8. Joey Blaze (PUR) 9. Trevor Chumbley (NU) 10. Isaac Wilcox (OSU) 11. Al DeSantis (RUT) 12. Michael North (MD) 13. Luke Mechler (WIS) 14. Logan Swaw (ILL) 165 lbs 1. Dean Hamiti (WIS) 2. Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) 3. Michael Caliendo (IOWA) 4. Caleb Fish (MSU) 5. Antrell Taylor (NEB) 6. Cameron Amine (MICH) 7. Stoney Buell (PUR) 8. Bryce Hepner (OSU) 9. Tyler Lillard (IND) 10. Blaine Brenner (MINN) 11. Chris Moore (ILL) 12. Maxx Mayfield (NU) 13. Anthony White (RUT) 14. AJ Rodrigues (MD) 174 lbs 1. Carter Starocci (PSU) 2. Shane Griffith (MICH) 3. Patrick Kennedy (IOWA) 4. Edmond Ruth (ILL) 5. Rocco Welsh (OSU) 6. Jackson Turley (RUT) 7. Max Maylor (WIS) 8. DJ Washington (IND) 9. Andrew Sparks (MINN) 10. Brody Baumann (PUR) 11. Dominic Solis (MD) 12. Bubba Wilson (NEB) 13. DJ Shannon (MSU) 14. David Ferrante (NU)? 184 lbs 1. Isaiah Salazar (MINN) 2. Lenny Pinto (NEB) 3. Bernie Truax (PSU) 4. Ryder Rogotzke (OSU) 5. Jaden Bullock (MICH) 6. Layne Malczewski (MSU) 7. Shane Liegel (WIS) 8. Brian Soldano (RUT) 9. Troy Fisher (NU) 10. Roman Rogotzke (IND) 11. Dylan Connell (ILL) 12. James Rowley (PUR) 13. Aiden Riggins (IOWA) 14. Chase Mielnik (MD) 197 lbs 1. Aaron Brooks (PSU) 2. Jaxon Smith (MD) 3. Zach Glazier (IOWA) 4. Silas Allred (NEB) 5. Garrett Joles (MINN) 6. Luke Geog (OSU) 7. John Poznanski (RUT) 8. Evan Bates (NU) 9. Ben Vanadia (PUR) 10. Gabe Sollars (IND) 11. Kael Wisler (MSU) 12. Isiah Pettigrew (ILL) 13. Bobby Striggow (MICH) 14. Josh Otto (WIS) 285 lbs 1. Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) 2. Nick Feldman (OSU) 3. Lucas Davison (MICH) 4. Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT) 5. Seth Nevills (MD) 6. Nick Willham (IND) 7. Bradley Hill (IOWA) 8. Bennett Tabor (MINN) 9. Josh Terrill (MSU) 10. Nash Hutmacher (NEB) 11. Jack Jessen (NU) 12. Gannon Rosenfeld (WIS) 13. Peter Marinopoulos (ILL) 14. Hayden Filipovich (PUR)

Brackets for the 2024 Big 12 Championships have been released! The tournament will take place at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday and Sunday.

The postseason is finally here and Big 12’s are right around the corner. While there are the expected top teams and wrestlers, there are always some sleepers waiting to pull off a late upset or two. This year has seen extreme volatility at 125, but few weights feel firmly established nationally and the Big 12 is no different. While I enjoy focusing on the big names and expected matches, my favorite is a chance to highlight sleepers and guys that I think could really surprise people. While some are deeper cuts than others, I think every wrestler on this list could make things interesting in Tulsa. Air Force: 125lbs - Tucker Owens (11-10) A 2023 NCAA qualifier as a redshirt freshman, I thought Owens could be a breakout wrestler for a solid Air Force team and build off his 33 seed. Unfortunately, after going 22-14 last year he is sitting at 11-10 and outside of the rankings this year. His record isn’t great, but outside of a loss to NC State’s Troy Hohman, all of his other losses are to ranked wrestlers. His losses to some of the top Big 12 wrestlers have been by bonus points, but he’s had close matches with Eli Griffin, Jett Strickenberger, and Tanner Jordan. With only six allocations, he’ll need some upsets to repeat as a qualifier but again, 125 is crazy and if he goes on a run he could find himself in Kansas City. California Baptist: 133lbs - Hunter Leake (16-6) Last year Leake was the only CBU wrestler to get a win in their first Big 12 tournament. This year he is outside the rankings but looking much improved from last season. He’s struggled with consistent results but has had close matches with wrestlers like Dylan Ragusin and Julian Farber. Add in recent pins against Fernando Barreto and Kase Mauger, and Leake could be an upset or two away from potentially being the Lancer’s first NCAA qualifier. Eli Griffin is also a strong option for CBU, but I didn’t want to have too many 125’s on the list. Iowa State: 174lbs - #19 MJ Gaitan (16-5) It’s tough to call Gaitan a “sleeper”, but it’s a testament to Iowa State’s depth as a team. A redshirt freshman, Gaitan has won his last ten consecutive matches including four falls. He was majored by likely top seed Cade DeVos at CKLV, but has a lot of upside with his wide-open style. Gaitan is must-watch TV in every match and isn’t afraid to give up some points to score some of his own. With Iowa State looking for a Big 12 title, Gaitan going on a run and/or scoring some bonus points will be a storyline to look out for. Missouri: 133lbs - #22 Kade Moore (10-3) After not beginning the year as the starter Kade Moore burst onto the national scene with a pin over Sam Latona earlier this year. The last match we saw him in was a barnburner with NCAA and World champ Vito Arujau, where Moore lost a 10-9 decision. Moore had an off-the-mat injury that has kept him out of the lineup since late January, so the lack of mat time could be a factor. His only conference matches are over Gavin Caprella and Davin Rhoads, so where he fits into the seeds makes him an intriguing threat. North Dakota State: 285lbs - Devon Dawson (9-12) The Bison are a young team that has a lot of upside at multiple weights with redshirt freshmen Fernando Barreto, Gavin Drexler, and Max Petersen who all have ranked wins this year. However, I went with a name fans may not be as familiar with, in Devon Dawson, a three-time NJCAA All-American at Pratt CC before transferring this season. His resume doesn’t show it, but recently he’s had some impressive takedowns and moments against Zach Elam and Wyatt Hendrickson. He’ll need to put together a full seven minutes for any upsets, but is someone to keep an eye on in the right matchup. Northern Colorado: 197 - Xavier Vasquez (10-7) 197lbs is deep in the Big 12 with multiple All-Americans, returning qualifiers, and young talent breaking through. Northern Colorado has big names with Stevo Poulin, Vinny Zerban, and Dom Serrano representing them, but Vasquez could be a factor as well. He doesn’t have any huge wins this season but has a recent 3-2 loss against two-time qualifier Evan Bockman. If Vasquez can flip the rematch and potentially build, he could score some points for the Bears in Tulsa. Northern Iowa: 125lbs - #26 Trever Anderson (11-10) Another gritty Big 12 team that could have numerous names on here, Anderson was too tempting as someone who could be a big-time bracket buster. He’s been close in one-point losses to conference opponents Troy Spratley and Conrad Hendricksen while also getting impressive wins over Eli Griffin and Kysen Terukina. A redshirt freshman that excels from the top position, he has also shown some impressive strength in positions that can break a match wide open. He would need to string multiple matches together to make the top-six, but I wouldn’t count him out against anyone at this weight in the Big 12. Oklahoma State: 149lbs - #18 Jordan Williams (14-6) Another team that’s tough to find a true sleeper, Williams is in a tough weight class where he hasn’t wrestled the top two of Casey Swiderski and Ty Watters. A top-ten recruit in the class of 2022, Williams had to beat out Rutgers transfer Sammy Alvarez for the starting spot. While it’s taken some time, Williams has looked like he may be rounding into the flashy winning wrestler he was in high school. He’s lightning quick, has the definition of slickness to his style, and has shown development through the season. He did drop two matches to OU’s Willie McDougald this season, but Williams is a wrestler built for the big stage. If he can get hot at the right time he could surprise some people and go on a run. Oklahoma: 174lbs - #31 Tate Picklo (13-11) At the start of this season, I felt great about Picklo being a big-impact wrestler for the Sooners after a strong finish to his redshirt freshman season. Unfortunately, he has had struggles throughout this year, losing to wrestlers he has beaten before, giving up bonus points, and even dropping five consecutive matches at one point. Despite all that, however, I still think he has what it takes to be dangerous in Tulsa. He avenged a previous 9-0 loss to Brayden Thompson and had a close loss to Cade DeVos. While I don’t expect him to win the Big 12, I do think that he could be someone who performs well later in the season and flip more of his losses at the tournament. South Dakota State: 141lbs - #22 Clay Carlson (11-5) It’s hard to call a two-time All-American a sleeper, but Carlson has had a tough season dropping him in the rankings. He didn’t make his season debut until the Soldier Salute and dropped matches there to Vance Vombaur and Zeke Seltzer. His best win this season is likely over NDSU’s Gavin Drexler, but he hasn’t had the results you’d expect from someone of his caliber and is likely outside the top five, as far as seeds go. However, he is still someone who could outperform that and even contend at this weight. He hasn’t hit many top-ranked guys lately, but had an 8-5 overtime loss to Tagen Jamison in a match where he had the lead late. With SDSU looking to have one of their strongest seasons yet, look for Carlson to peak late in his last season. Utah Valley: 141lbs - #29 Haiden Drury (16-8) 141 is so tough in the Big 12 and Haiden Drury will have an uphill battle to qualify outright after moving up from 133 in the middle of the season. He qualified in 2022 for the Wolverines but missed most of last season due to injury. After mixed results at 133, he made the move to 141 and has now won his last eight matches. Again, there are only five allocations at this weight and you have wrestlers like Clay Carlson, Cole Brooks, and Gavin Drexler all battling to get an upset or two to make that spot on the podium. If Drury can keep adjusting to the weight and keep his winning streak going, he could qualify for his second tournament here. West Virginia: 125lbs - Jett Strickenberger (13-3) I did my best to just not put every team’s 125 on here, but some are just too tempting and Strickenberger is one of my favorite dark horses. A 2023 NJCAA champ, he made an immediate impact for the Mountaineers with wins over Brandon Kaylor and Stevo Poulin showing his potential. He made a brief move to 133 but almost immediately came back down to 125. He’s got a lot of length with good scrambling that can be tough for opponents to deal with. He hasn’t been able to find the consistency at the weight to stay in the rankings yet, but I won’t be shocked by any upset he may cause. Wyoming: 197lbs - #19 Joey Novak (18-10) Anytime a true freshman can come in and end up in the rankings, I think they’re one to watch late in the year as they continue to develop. Novak had a good CKLV run and continued to build off of it with multiple ranked wins this season. As expected with young wrestlers, there have been ups and downs, but he has more than flashed his potential already. He had a 5-3 loss against returning Big 12 champ Rocky Elam, showing that he is right there with top wrestlers. Winning this top-heavy weight class is a big challenge, but Novak is one that I wouldn’t be shocked to score an upset or two and rise in the rankings.

With the Big Ten Championships less than a week away, Kevin Claunch spoke with Maryland head coach Alex Clemsen about the team's season to this point. Maryland is hosting the Big Ten Championships this year, as well. Coach Clemsen also goes through some items related to hosting the Big Ten Championships and things to do around College Park/DC/Baltimore.

This weekend, we started down the home stretch for the high school state tournament season. States like Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and New Jersey held their much-anticipated season-ending tournaments - along with plenty of others. Though it isn't "technically" a state tournament, the New England Championships also were conducted. As these tournaments conclude, it begs the question, "how did my favorite team's recruits fare?" In some smaller states, it's almost a given that your college-bound studs are collecting another state title, while in the power states, with the deepest talent pools, such achievements are not guaranteed. Either way, we've combed through results from all of the state tournaments that have taken place thus far to find out how everyone's recruits have finished. We will update this article each week as more results become official. If you do not see a recruit that should be added, please fill out our commitment form or email me at earl@matscouts.com . Adams State Jayden Ignacio: Aztec, New Mexico (215 lbs) - 4A State Champion Royce Uhrig: Gunnison, Colorado (150 lbs) - 3A State Champion Air Force Jack Estevez: Poway, California (157 lbs) - State Qualifier Logan Fowler: Cleveland, Tennessee (165 lbs) - AA State Champion Lincoln Gregerson: Ralston Valley, Colorado (132 lbs) - 5A State Champion Anders Kittelson: Osage, Iowa (144 lbs) - 2A State Champion Rylan Kuhn: St. Pius X, Missouri (215 lbs) - Class 1 State Champion; Class of 2025 Charlie LaRocca: Center Grove, Indiana (120 lbs) - State Champion Roman Lermer: Tampa Jesuit, Florida (120 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up Gianni Maldonado: Lake Gibson, Florida (157 lbs) - 2A State Champion Chance Mathews: Cherokee Trail, Colorado (138 lbs) - 5A 4th Place; Class of 2025 Talon McCollom: Edmond North, Oklahoma (190 lbs) - 6A State Champion Carter Nogle: Mt. St. Joseph, Maryland (138 lbs) - National Prep 4th Place Layton Schneider: Edmond North, Oklahoma (144 lbs) - 6A State Champion Tanner Spalding: Woodward Academy, Georgia (132 lbs) - 6A State Champion Karson Tompkins: Midlothian, Texas (190 lbs) - 5A State Champion Jesse Vanorden: Wantagh, New York (152 lbs) - DI 3rd Place American Austin Craft: Camden Catholic, New Jersey (150 lbs) - State Qualifier Leo Maestas: Clovis West, California (132 lbs) - State Qualifier; Class of 2025 Colin Martin: Staunton River, Virginia (132 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 JJ Peace: Cane Bay, South Carolina (126 lbs) - 5A State Champion Appalachian State Christian Baglio: Central Cabarrus, North Carolina (138 lbs) - 3A State Champion Brayden Fahrbach: Mount Sinai, New York (138 lbs) - DII State Champion Jarvis Little: Spring Hill, Tennessee (132 lbs) - AA State Champion Grant Reece: Avery County, North Carolina (138 lbs) - 1A State Qualifier Ayson Rice: Canton, South Dakota (150 lbs) - Class B State Champion Kage Williams: Robbinsville, North Carolina (190 lbs) - 1A State Champion Arizona Christian Tony Macaluso: Pueblo County, Colorado (150 lbs) - 4A 4th Place Arizona State Harvey Ludington: Brick Memorial, New Jersey (190 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Nicholas Sahakian: St. John Bosco, California (285 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Army West Point Joseph Antonio: St. John Bosco, California (165 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Nash Banko: Oostburg, Wisconsin (175 lbs) - D3 3rd Place Michael Calcagno: IC Catholic, Illinois (215 lbs) - 2A State Champion Primo Catalano: Chaminade, California (175 lbs) - 8th Place Conner Doherty: Mount Pisgah, Georgia (126 lbs) - 1A State Champion; Class of 2025 Ben Garcia: Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey (165 lbs) - 7th Place Jordan Joslyn: Chautauqua Lake, New York (138 lbs) - DII 6th Place Gage LaPlante: St. Francis, New York (170 lbs) - DI 3rd Place Bryce Luna: St. Francis, California (132 lbs) - State Qualifier Nik O’Neill: Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania (132 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up Damian Resendez: Mt. Carmel, Illinois (138 lbs) - 3A 6th Place Kellen Smith: West Hancock, Iowa (157 lbs) - 1A State Runner-Up Casper Stewart: Attica-Batavia, New York (145 lbs) - DII State Champion Jackson Van Kley: Pella, Iowa (190 lbs) - 3A 4th Place Josh Vasquez: Montini Catholic, Illinois (126 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Rylan Whitworth: Fountain Valley, California (215 lbs) - 4th Place Augsburg Ethan Aird: Darlington/Black Hawk, Wisconsin (126 lbs) - D2 4th Place Maximus Hanson: Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, Minnesota (172 lbs) - A State Champion Jayden Haueter: Apple Valley, Minnesota (139 lbs) - AAA 5th Place Luke Koenen: Wayzata, Minnesota (121 lbs) - AAA State Champion Matt Randolph: Scott West, Minnesota (145 lbs) - AA State Champion Jacob Schimek: Saint Clair-Makato, Minnesota (215 lbs) - A State Runner-Up Augustana Nolan Ambrose: Jackson County Central, Minnesota (145 lbs) - A State Champion Colten Gundersen: West Side, Idaho (160 lbs) - 2A State Champion Jaret Peterson: Chase County, Nebraska (215 lbs) - Class C State Champion Charlie Petit: Wayzata, Minnesota (160 lbs) - AAA State Runner-Up Cash Raymond: Simley, Minnesota (152 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Owen Wasley: Saint Croix Central, Wisconsin (165 lbs) - D2 State Champion Averett Jason Bennett: New Kent, Virginia (157 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Tyler Ritz: Cosby, Virginia (190 lbs) - 6A State Qualifier Bellarmine Connor Cumbee: Joliet Catholic, Illinois (150 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Dillon Graham: Cathedral, Indiana (144 lbs) - 8th Place Noah Hall: Liberty, Virginia (165 lbs) - 4A State Champion Belmont Abbey Jack Garrett: Blessed Trinity Catholic, Georgia (144 lbs) - 6A State Champion Binghamton Dillon Arrick: Arlington, New York (124 lbs) - DI 5th Place Deakon Bailey: Tioga, New York (145 lbs) - DII 6th Place Brown Davis Dendy: Jefferson, Georgia (165 lbs) - 5A State Champion Preston Marchesseault: Ponaganset, Rhode Island (175 lbs) - New England Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Moses Mirabel: Gilroy, California (144 lbs) - State Champion Connor O’Donnell: South Milwaukee, Wisconsin (165 lbs) D1 5th Place Andrew Reall: Ponaganset, Rhode Island (165 lbs) - New England Runner-Up Thomas Sandoval: Vacaville, California (190 lbs) - 3rd Place Bucknell Tyler Bienus: Mt. Olive, New Jersey (190 lbs) - 3rd Place Chris Nucifora: Bergen Catholic, New Jersey (120 lbs) - State Qualifier Kaden Schaefer: Fleming Island, Florida (150 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up Buffalo Mike Guigliano: Miller Place, New York (131 lbs) - DI 4th Place Tyeler Hagensen: Mt. Olive, New Jersey (113 lbs) - State Champion Luke Herendeen: Palmyra Macedon, New York (285 lbs) - DII 8th Place Anthony Matas: Essex, Vermont (175 lbs) - New England 6th Place Jack MacDonald: Orchard Park, New York (215 lbs) - DI 4th Place Stephan Monchery: Middletown, New York (285 lbs) - DI State Champion Cael Raines: Churchville, New York (138 lbs) - DI State Qualifier Coy Raines: Churchville, New York (215 lbs) - DI State Champion Lucas Schell: Queensbury, New York (160 lbs) - DI State Qualifier Connor Scuilla: Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey (175 lbs) - 3rd Place Braidon Woodward: Palmyra Macedon, New York (170 lbs) - DII State Champion California Baptist David Alonso: Palm Desert, California (165 lbs) - 3rd Place Paul Kelly: Poway, California (138 lbs) - State Runner-Up Sonny Kling: Canyon Springs, California (190 lbs) - State Champion Remy Murillo: Canyon Springs, California (132 lbs) - 8th Place Caeden Olin: Millard South, Nebraska (215 lbs) - Class A State Champion Cal Poly Anthony Berg: Whitney, California (150 lbs) - 5th Place Joseph Buck: Clovis, California (175 lbs) - 4th Place Jagger French: Del Oro, California (144 lbs) - 5th Place Carlos Garcia: Oakdale, California (165 lbs) - State Qualifier Jake Honey: Bakersfield, California (175 lbs) - 5th Place Anthony Lucio: Fountain Valley, California (126 lbs) - 8th Place Alek VanBebber: Kingsburg, California (138 lbs) - 5th Place Eziequel Vela: Oakdale, California (126 lbs) - State Qualifier Hercules Windrath: Fountain Valley, California (138 lbs) - 6th Place Campbell Matt Beem: Glenwood, Iowa (132 lbs) - 2A 3rd Place Reese Courtney: Center Grove, Indiana (144 lbs) - 3rd Place Colby Crouch: Triad, Illinois (126 lbs) - 2A State Champion Brock Hacker: Johns Creek, Georgia (215 lbs) - 6A State Champion Kendrick Hodge: Somerset, Florida (165 lbs) - 1A State Champion Seth Larson: Flowery Branch, Georgia (157 lbs) - 5A State Champion Parker Lyden: Forest Lake, Minnesota (139 lbs) - AAA 3rd Place Gavin Pope: Buford, Georgia (144 lbs) - 7A State 5th/6th Aaron Riner: Buford, Georgia (215 lbs) - 7A State Champion Landon Sargent: Cape Fear, North Carolina (215 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Brent Slade: Southeast Polk, Iowa (190 lbs) - 3A State Champion Mike Trujillo: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (138 lbs) - National Prep 5th Place Sawyer Van Rider: New Smyrna Beach, Florida (190 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up Kaleb Wright: Gloucester City, New Jersey (190 lbs) - State Qualifier Central College Ethan Skoglund: Sergeant Bluff, Iowa (126 lbs) - 2A 5th Place Carter West: Notre Dame/Burlington, Iowa (113 lbs) - 2A 3rd Place Central Michigan Cameron Chinavare: Dundee, Michigan (132 lbs) - D3 State Champion Trey Myers: Fremont, Michigan (175 lbs) - D2 State Qualifier Chadron State Hunter Jacobsen: Waverly, Nebraska (120 lbs) - Class B State Champion Mason Villwok: Elkhorn, Nebraska (215 lbs) - Class B State Runner-Up Chattanooga Tavian Camper: Copenhagen, New York (152 lbs) - DII State Champion Easton Cooper: DC Everest, Wisconsin (126 lbs) - D1 State Champion Alex Hutchcraft: Smithville, Missouri (157 lbs) - Class 3 State Champion Landon Jones: Harrison, Georgia (190 lbs) - 7A State Runner-Up Ethan Uhorchuk: Signal Mountain, Tennessee (132 lbs) - A State Champion; Class of 2025 Chicago Matteo Littman: Pingry School, New Jersey (120 lbs) - State Qualifier Zack Parisi: York, Illinois (132 lbs) - 3A 5th Place Clarion Gianni Silvestri: Tioga, New York (138 lbs) - DII State Runner-Up Coast Guard Academy Kyle Csikari: Spotsylvania, Virginia (157 lbs) - 4A 3rd Place Coker Mason Moody: Locust Grove, Georgia (120 lbs) - 5A 3rd Place Colorado Mesa AJ Hague: Riverdale Ridge, Colorado (126 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up Colorado School of Mines Brandon Cody: Tampa Jesuit, Florida (165 lbs) - 2A State Champion Columbia Nick Campagna: Christian Brothers, New Jersey (157 lbs) - 8th Place Spencer Fine: Bishop Hendricken, Rhode Island (190 lbs) - New England 3rd Place Oliver Howard: Decatur, Alabama (190 lbs) - 6A State Champion Robert Platt: Poway, California (215 lbs) - State Champion Jake Wacha: Pascack Hills, New Jersey (150 lbs) - 8th Place Cornell Gabriel Bouyssou: Scituate, Rhode Island (150 lbs) - New England Champion Lou Cerchio: Delbarton, New Jersey (175 lbs) - State Runner-Up Elijah Cortez: Gilroy, California (132 lbs) - 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Isaiah Cortez: Gilroy, California (126 lbs) - 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Rocco Dellagatta: St. Joseph’s, New Jersey (285 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Elijah Diakomihalis: Hilton, New York (190 lbs) - DI State Champion; Class of 2025 Cash Henderson: Woods Cross, Utah (215 lbs) - 5A State Champion Anthony Knox: St. John Vianney, New Jersey (120 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Cy Kruse: Totino-Grace, Minnesota (215 lbs) - AA State Champion Alessio Perentin: Delbarton, New Jersey (165 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Sergio Vega: Sunnyside, Arizona (144 lbs) - D1 State Champion; Class of 2025 Davidson Daniel Elyash: Paramus, New Jersey (285 lbs) - 6th Place Bryce Griffin: Civic Memorial, Illinois (157 lbs) - 2A State Champion Anderson Heap: Osceola, Florida (150 lbs) - 3A State Champion Josh Lange: Mount Pisgah, Georgia (175 lbs) - 1A State Champion Tyson Sherlock: Gilman School, Maryland (144 lbs) - National Prep 6th Place Logan Sichelstiel: Paulsboro, New Jersey (138 lbs) - State Qualifier Marley Washington: Mount Pisgah, Georgia (144 lbs) - 1A State Champion Drexel Jonathan Fuller: St. Peter’s Prep, New Jersey (150 lbs) - State Qualifier Roman Onorato: Paulsboro, New Jersey (157 lbs) - State Qualifier Chandler Sewell: Greer, South Carolina (132 lbs) - 4A State Champion Duke Dashiell Hort: Poly Prep, New York (157 lbs) - National Prep 6th Place John King: Waukee Northwest, Iowa (132 lbs) - 3A 6th Place Noah Kochman: Bergen Catholic, New Jersey (138 lbs) - 8th Place Vincent Lee: Delbarton, New Jersey (215 lbs) - State Champion Owen McGrory: Libertyville, Illinois (215 lbs) - 3A 4th Place Eli Murray: Lake Norman, North Carolina (157 lbs) - 4A State Champion Dylan Ross: Paramus Catholic, New Jersey (138 lbs) - 3rd Place Edinboro Joe Clark: Oakland Mills, Maryland (165 lbs) - 4A/3A State Runner-Up Jayden D’Ambrosio: St. John’s Prep, Massachusetts (157 lbs) - New England Champion Austin Zimmerman: St. Joseph Collegiate, New York (116 lbs) - DI 3rd Place Ferrum Robert Owens: Hanover, Virginia (144 lbs) - 4A 3rd Place Xaiden Wynn: James River, Virginia (106 lbs) - 2A State Champion; Class of 2025 Franklin & Marshall Seth Weaver: Bethesda-CC, Maryland (157 lbs) - 4A/3A State Runner-Up Gardner-Webb Mason Blue: Laney, North Carolina (215 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up Tristan Cotto: Laney, North Carolina (150 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up Ty Edwards: Yorkville Christian, Illinois (132 lbs) - 2A State Champion Thomas Potter: Union, Virginia (165 lbs) - 2A State Champion Reed Walker: West Forsyth, Georgia (126 lbs) - 7A 3rd Place George Mason Mason Rowley: Little Falls, New York (160 lbs) - DII 5th Place Grand View Brody Brisker: Wilton, Iowa (132 lbs) - 1A 3rd Place Zeb Fitzgerald: Dowling Catholic, Iowa (138 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Kaden Weber: Nevada, Iowa (120 lbs) - 2A State Qualifier Harvard Haden Bottiglieri: Belmont Hill, Massachusetts (175 lbs) - National Prep 3rd Place Logan Brzozowski: Seton Hall Prep, New Jersey (120 lbs) - 5th Place Hudson Skove: Rumson-Fair Haven, New Jersey (215 lbs) - State Runner-Up Illinois Jayden Colon: St. Charles East, Illinois (144 lbs) - 3A State Champion Marko Ivanisevic: Hinsdale Central, Illinois (285 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Joey Ruzic: Auburn, Illinois (126 lbs) - 1A State Champion Indiana Tyler Guerra: St. Charles East, Illinois (138 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Lucas Peters: Kaukauna, Wisconsin (132 lbs) - D1 State Runner-Up Hunter Sturgill: Baylor School, Tennessee (157 lbs) - DII State Champion; Class of 2025 Indianapolis Noah Clouser: Center Grove, Indiana (175 lbs) - 5th Place Indiana Tech Vinnie Abbey: Hartland, Michigan (150 lbs) - D1 State Runner-Up Iowa Dru Ayala: Fort Dodge, Iowa (120 lbs) - 3A 3rd Place Leister Bowling IV: Mead, Colorado (175 lbs) - 4A State Champion; Class of 2025 Leo DeLuca: Blair Academy, New Jersey (120 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Miguel Estrada: Frontier, California (150 lbs) - 4th Place Angelo Ferrari: Melissa, Texas (175 lbs) - 5A State Champion Jake Howell: Cherry Creek, Colorado (215 lbs) - 5A State Runner-Up Joey Kennedy: Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota (152 lbs) - AA 3rd Place Kael Voinovich: City High, Iowa (157 lbs) - 3A State Champion Iowa State Canon Acklin: Collinsville, Oklahoma (126 lbs) - 5A State Champion Sawyer Bartelt: South Dade, Florida (215 lbs) - 3A State Champion Gabe Carver: Urbandale, Iowa (165 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Daniel Herrera: Ames, Iowa (285 lbs) - 3A State Champion Kane Naaktgeboren: Linn-Mar, Iowa (144 lbs) - 3A State Champion Carlos Stanton: Sunnyside, Arizona (150 lbs) - D1 State Champion; Class of 2025 Iowa Western Orion Parker: Plattsmouth, Nebraska (285 lbs) - Class B State Champion Cal Price: Papillon-La Vista, Nebraska (138 lbs) - Class A 4th Place Kent State Mason Tieffel: Benton, Illinois (138 lbs) - 1A State Champion Lander Rayshun James: Reidsville, North Carolina (132 lbs) - 2A State Champion Isaac Sheeran: Klein, Texas (190 lbs) - 6A State Champion Lehigh Anthony Evanitsky: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (150 lbs) - National Prep Champion; Class of 2025 Dom Federici: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (175 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up Logan Rozynski: Blair Academy, New Jersey (144 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up Jadon Skellenger: Bishop Kelly, Idaho (160 lbs) - 4A State Champion Chase Van Hoven: Brooke Point, Virginia (150 lbs) - 6A State Champion; Class of 2025 Little Rock Miles Anderson: Millard South, Nebraska (138 lbs) - Class A State Runner-Up Brandon Bauer: Central Arkansas Christian, Arkansas (150 lbs) - 4A State Champion Bronson Baxter: Dumas, Texas (157 lbs) - 5A State Champion Marco Dalakishvili: St. Pius X, Missouri (150 lbs) - Class 1 State Champion Cade Gilbert: Marlow, Oklahoma (157 lbs) - 3A State Champion Tyler Harper: Norwalk, Iowa (113 lbs) - 3A State Champion Gunner Holland: Osceola, Florida (175 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Kyle Lew: Houston Westside, Texas (144 lbs) - 6A 3rd Place Jake Stacey: Green Hill, Tennessee (175 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Lock Haven Ousmane Duncanson: Tioga, New York (160 lbs) - DII State Champion Long Island Lorenzo Caamano: Caldwell, New Jersey (165 lbs) - State Qualifier Sawyer Ostroff: Donovan Catholic, New Jersey (126 lbs) - 8th Place Zach Reilley: Raritan, New Jersey (144 lbs) - 7th Place Loras Kyler Scranton: Iowa City West, Iowa (175 lbs) - 3A 4th Place Mary Maverick Mueller: Waconia, Minnesota (145 lbs) - AAA 5th Place Michael Murrillo: Bakersfield, California (215 lbs) - 3rd Place Maryland Abram Cline: Granite Hills, California (113 lbs) - 3rd Place Tyler Garvin: Rising Sun, Maryland (120 lbs) - 2A/1A State Champion Branson John: Buchanan, California (175 lbs) - 3rd Place Presden Sanchez: Creighton Prep, Nebraska (120 lbs) - Class A State Runner-Up Oscar Williams: Edmond North, Oklahoma (215 lbs) - 6A State Champion McKendree Dru Thomas: Liberty North, Missouri (144 lbs) - Class 4 State Qualifier Michigan Cam Catrabone: Williamsville North/East, New York (152 lbs) - DI State Champion Jude Correa: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (215 lbs) - National Prep Champion; Class of 2025 Teddy Flores: Maine South, Illinois (120 lbs) - 3A State Champion Justin Gates: Davison, Michigan (144 lbs) - D1 State Champion Brock Mantanona: Palm Desert, California (150 lbs) - State Champion Zar Walker: Mishawaka, Indiana (144 lbs) - State Runner-Up Michigan State Duke Myers: Bellmont, Indiana (165 lbs) - State Runner-Up Millersville Chase Bish: Paulsboro, New Jersey (150 lbs) - State Qualifier Mitch Bivona: Southern Regional, New Jersey (175 lbs) - State Qualifier Minnesota Blake Beissel: Hastings, Minnesota (121 lbs) - AAA 3rd Place Leo Contino: Buchanan, California (157 lbs) - 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Silas Dailey: Plymouth, Wisconsin (190 lbs) - DI State Runner-Up Wyatt Duchateau: Arrowhead, Wisconsin (150 lbs) - D1 State Champion Koy Hopke: Amery, Wisconsin (285 lbs) - D2 State Champion Dawson Johnson: Cumberland, Wisconsin (138 lbs) - D3 State Champion Charlie Millard: Homestead, Wisconsin (157 lbs) - D1 State Champion Jack Nelson: Mound-Westonka, Minnesota (139 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Landon Robideau: St. Michael-Albertville, Minnesota (152 lbs) - AAA State Champion; Class of 2025 Jed Wester: St. Michael-Albertville, Minnesota (172 lbs) - AAA State Champion Minnesota State-Mankato Jesus Gonzalez: Reedsburg, Wisconsin (215 lbs) - DI 3rd Place Cael Morrow: Akron-Westfield, Iowa (120 lbs) - 1A State Runner-Up Callen Smithpeter: Blue Springs South, Missouri (285 lbs) - Class 4 4th Place Missouri Dominic Bambinelli: Mill Creek, Georgia (175 lbs) - 7A State Champion; Class of 2025 Hank Benter: Hickman, Missouri (113 lbs) - Class 4 State Champion; Class of 2025 Danny Heiser: Evansville, Wisconsin (150 lbs) - D2 State Champion; Class of 2025 Draven Johns: Caldwell, Idaho (126 lbs) - 4A 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Mack Mauger: Blackfoot, Idaho (126 lbs) - 4A State Champion Seth Mendoza: Mt. Carmel, Illinois (126 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 Jace Roller: Bixby, Oklahoma (138 lbs) - 6A State Champion Aeoden Sinclair: Milton, Wisconsin (215 lbs) - D1 State Champion Sampson Stillwell: St. Michael the Archangel, Missouri (285 lbs) - Class 2 State Champion; Class of 2025 Jake Stoffel: Appleton North, Wisconsin (175 lbs) - D1 State Champion Gage Walker: Bixby, Oklahoma (126 lbs) - 6A State Champion Peyton Westpfahl: Liberty, Missouri (175 lbs) - Class 4 State Champion; Class of 2025 Montevallo Willie Cox: Wetumpka, Alabama (285 lbs) - 6A State Champion Ethan Sharkey: Gulf Shores, Alabama (126 lbs) - 5A 4th Place Noah Smith: Wetumpka, Alabama (132 lbs) - 6A State Champion Morningside John McGill: Colfax-Mingo, Iowa (165 lbs) - 1A State Runner-Up MSU-Moorhead Burak Bowers: Sumner, Washington (285 lbs) - 4A State Qualifier Edon Davis: Farmington, Minnesota (160 lbs) - AAA State Qualifier Brady Peterson: Central Cass, North Dakota (127 lbs) - Class A 4th Place Navy Jack Bergmann: Lakeland Regional, New Jersey (113 lbs) - State Qualifier Isaac Hampton: Newberg, Oregon (126 lbs) - 6A State Champion Kade Kluce: Dundee, Michigan (126 lbs) - D3 State Champion Spencer Lanosga: Jesuit, Louisiana (285 lbs) - D1 State Champion Devon Miller: Edmond North, Oklahoma (120 lbs) - 6A State Champion; Class of 2025 Elijah Penton: Winter Springs, Florida (175 lbs) - 2A State Champion Caedyn Ricciardi: St. Peters Prep, New Jersey (138 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 NC State Will Denny: Marist, Illinois (150 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 Ian Fritz: Topsail, North Carolina (150 lbs) - 4A State Champion; Class of 2025 Gavin Linsman: Liberty, Missouri (150 lbs) - Class 4 State Champion Draegen Orine: Seckman, Missouri (132 lbs) - Class 4 State Champion Latrell Schafer: Veterans, Georgia (175 lbs) - 6A State Champion Daniel Zepeda: Gilroy, California (138 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Nebraska Marco Christiansen: Minnetonka, Minnesota (189 lbs) - AAA State Qualifier Tyler Eise: Ponderosa, Colorado (175 lbs) - 5A State Champion; Class of 2025 Colin McAlister: Mill Valley, Kansas (165 lbs) - 6A State Champion Kody Routledge: Edmond North, Oklahoma (157 lbs) - 6A State Champion; Class of 2025 Cade Ziola: Skutt Catholic, Nebraska (190 lbs) - Class B State Champion; Class of 2025 Nebraska-Kearney Tristan Burbach: Central City, Nebraska (144 lbs) - Class C State Champion Cadyn Coyle: Bennington, Nebraska (113 lbs) - Class B State Champion Newberry Ashton Anderson: South Effingham, Georgia (285 lbs) - 6A State Champion Nathan Gates: Fort Dorchester, South Carolina (132 lbs) - 5A 4th place Haven Jenkins: Oakland, Tennessee (190 lbs) - AA 5th Place North Carolina Collin Carrigan: Glenbard West, Illinois (165 lbs) - 3A State Champion Jake Dailey: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (190 lbs) - National Prep Champion Israel Ibarra: Santa Cruz Valley Union, Arizona (175 lbs) - D4 State Champion; Class of 2025 Jacob Levy: Carrollton, Georgia (285 lbs) - 7A State Champion; Class of 2025 Elias Navida: Poway, California (132 lbs) - State Champion Beau Priest: Bakersfield, California (157 lbs) - 4th Place; Class of 2025 Braden Priest: Bakersfield, California (144 lbs) - 8th Place; Class of 2025 Laird Root: Poway, California (150 lbs) - State Runner-Up Cameron Stinson: Mallard Creek, North Carolina (126 lbs) - 4A State Champion North Dakota State Jake Castagneto: Bishop Kelly, Idaho (132 lbs) - 4A State Champion Tayshaun Glover: Dudley, North Carolina (190 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Luke Hoag: Hutchinson, Minnesota (160 lbs) - AA State Qualifier; Class of 2025 Schey Huff: First Colonial, Virginia (215 lbs) - 6A State Champion Shilo Jones: Mountain View, Idaho (285 lbs) - 5A State Champion Max Magayna: Waterloo East, Iowa (175 lbs) - 3A 3rd Place Michael Olson: Albert Lea, Minnesota (133 lbs) - AAA State Runner-Up Tyler Secoy: Columbus, Georgia (190 lbs) - 3A State Champion Kody Tanimoto: All Saints, Texas (120 lbs) - National Prep 8th Place Northern Colorado Bryson Valdez: Aztec, New Mexico (121 lbs) - 4A State Champion Northern Illinois Dominic Heim: Shakopee, Minnesota (215 lbs) - AAA 3rd Place Ian Smith: Northwestern, Wisconsin (215 lbs) - D2 State Champion Tee Ward: Fremont, Michigan (138 lbs) - D2 State Champion Northern Iowa Carter Freeman: Waukee Northwest (138 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Jace Hedeman: Union, Iowa (126 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Kyler Knaack: Don Bosco, Iowa (157 lbs) - 1A State Champion; Class of 2025 Northern State Grady Fey: Redfield, South Dakota (285 lbs) - Class B State Champion Sloan Johannsen: Watertown, South Dakota (126 lbs) - Class A State Runner-Up Gavin Johnson: Kenyon-Wanamingo, Minnesota (145 lbs) - A State Runner-Up Karstyn Lhotak: Wagner, South Dakota (132 lbs) - Class B State Runner-Up Griffin Lundeen: Thief River Falls, Minnesota (160 lbs) - AA State Champion Brady Westall: New Prague, Minnesota (172 lbs) - AAA 3rd Place Rayden Zens: Aberdeen Central, South Dakota (126 lbs) - Class A State Champion Northwestern Eddie Enright: Mt. Carmel, Illinois (157 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up August Hibler: Leonia/Palisades Park, New Jersey (144 lbs) - 3rd Place Giosue Hickman: Canyon View, Arizona (138 lbs) - D2 State Champion NYU Matt D’Arcy: St. Benedicts, New Jersey (113 lbs) - State Qualifier Ouachita Baptist Luke Brooks: Poteau, Oklahoma (190 lbs) - 4A State Champion Ohio Wyatt Schmitt: Joliet West, Illinois (285 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Ohio State Ben Davino: St. Charles East, Illinois (132 lbs) - 3A State Champion Landon Desselle: Summit, Tennessee (144 lbs) - AA State Champion Carter Neves: Blair Academy, New Jersey (285 lbs) - National Prep Champion Cayaen Smith: Pleasant Grove, Utah (215 lbs) - 6A State Champion Oklahoma Alex Braun: Woodbury, Minnesota (145 lbs) - AAA State Champion Bryce Burkett: Watertown Mayer, Minnesota (172 lbs) - AA State Champion; Class of 2025 Koufax Christensen: Waukee Northwest, Iowa (126 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Sebastian Degennaro: Jensen Beach, Florida (126 lbs) - 1A State Champion; Class of 2025 Cash Donnell: Piedmont, Oklahoma (120 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Owen Eck: Andale, Kansas (157 lbs) - 4A State Champion Clay Giddens-Buttram: Bixby, Oklahoma (175 lbs) - 6A State Champion Jacob Henry: Austin Vandegrift, Texas (285 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Jake Hockaday: Brownsburg, Indiana (132 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Hunter Hollingsworth: Edmond North, Oklahoma (138 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Beric Jordan: Noble, Oklahoma (120 lbs) - 5A State Champion Jude Randall: Edmond North, Oklahoma (175 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Landyn Sommer: Stillwater, Oklahoma (157 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Ricky Thomas: Edmond North, Oklahoma (285 lbs) - 6A State Champion Oklahoma State Kolter Burton: Century, Idaho (138 lbs) - 4A State Champion Ishmael Guerrero: Bixby, Oklahoma (150 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Beau Hickman: Tuttle, Oklahoma (144 lbs) - 4A State Champion; Class of 2025 Ladarion Lockett: Stillwater, Oklahoma (165 lbs) - 6A State Champion; Class of 2025 JJ McComas: Stillwater, Oklahoma (132 lbs) - 6A State Champion Cody Merrill: Gilroy, California (285 lbs) - State Champion Kaden Purler: North Point, Missouri (132 lbs) - Class 3 State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Ethan Teague: Tuttle, Oklahoma (174 lbs) - 4A State Champion; Class of 2025 Oregon State Hudson Rogers: Meridian, Idaho (182 lbs) - 5A State Champion Hunter Taylor: Liberty, Missouri (120 lbs) - Class 4 State Champion Penn Donny Almeyda: St. Joseph’s, New Jersey (138 lbs) - 4th Place; Class of 2025 Omer Barak: Lake Highland Prep, Florida (165 lbs) - National Prep 7th Place Caden Bellis: Tioga, New York (152 lbs) - DII State Runner-Up Davis Motyka: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (113 lbs) - National Prep Champion Paul Ognissanti: Blair Academy, New Jersey (157 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up Wyatt Stout: Southern Regional, New Jersey (144 lbs) - 4th Place; Class of 2025 Nathan Taylor: Greens Farms Academy, Connecticut (190 lbs) - National Prep 3rd Place Penn State Nathan Desmond: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (120 lbs) - National Prep Champion; Class of 2025 PJ Duke: Minisink Valley, New York (160 lbs) - DI State Champion; Class of 2025 William Henckel: Blair Academy, New Jersey (175 lbs) - National Prep Champion; Class of 2025 Luke Lilledahl: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (126 lbs) - National Prep Champion Cole Mirasola: West Bend West, Wisconsin (285 lbs) - D1 State Champion Connor Mirasola: West Bend West, Wisconsin (190 lbs) - D1 State Champion Joseph Sealey: Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania (165 lbs) - National Prep Champion Pittsburgh Matt Marlow: Northport, New York (124 lbs) - DI State Runner-Up Carson Walsh: Pope John XXIII, New Jersey (132 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Princeton Noah Blair: Millard West, Nebraska (175 lbs) - Class A 6th Place Diego Costa: Palm Desert, California (190 lbs) - 4th Place Xavier Giles: Greens Farms Academy, Connecticut (165 lbs) - National Prep 4th Place Vincenzo Lavalle: Hanover Park, New Jersey (190 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Conor McCloskey: Buford, Georgia (190 lbs) - 7A 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Dale O’Blia: Mullen, Colorado (120 lbs) - 3A State Champion Ethan Rivera: Lake Highland Prep, Florida (120 lbs) - National Prep 3rd Place Will Sather: Eden Prairie, Minnesota (285 lbs) - AAA State Champion Purdue Wyatt Krejsa: Center Grove, Indiana (150 lbs) - State Champion Isaiah Quintero: El Dorado, California (120 lbs) - 4th Place Reinhardt Bregan Berry: Gilmer County, Georgia (132 lbs) - 3A State Champion Lee Camp: Cass, Georgia (120 lbs) - 5A State Runner-Up Rider Brady Klinsky: Middletown North, New Jersey (113 lbs) - 6th Place Jacob Zearfoss: Gloucester City, New Jersey (165 lbs) - 4th Place Roanoke Jake Yowell: Riverheads, Virginia (132 lbs) - 2A State Champion Joe Zereini: West Forsyth, Georgia (215 lbs) - 7A 6th Place Rutgers Andrew Barbosa: Palm Desert, California (157 lbs) - State Runner-Up Nate Blanchette: Central Catholic, Massachusetts (175 lbs) - New England Champion Jordan Chapman: Cranford, New Jersey (165 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Ryan Ford: Bergen Catholic, New Jersey (157 lbs) - 4th Place Alex Nini: Christian Brothers, New Jersey (144 lbs) - State Runner-Up Kurt Wehner: Donovan Catholic, New Jersey (120 lbs) - State Runner-Up Sacred Heart Liam Packer: Phillipsburg, New Jersey (175 lbs) - State Qualifier San Francisco State Antonio Aramburu: Corona del Mar, California (157 lbs) - State Qualifier Shippensburg Aiden Inzana: King George, Virginia (138 lbs) - 4A 3rd Place Sioux Falls Vinny Mayberry: Glenwood, Iowa (120 lbs) - 2A State Qualifier Jarrett Roos: Sheldon/South O’Brien, Iowa (190 lbs) - 2A State Champion Cyler Ruhoff: Foley, Minnesota (121 lbs) - AA 3rd Place SIU Edwardsville Drew Davis: Glenwood, Illinois (120 lbs) - 2A State Runner-Up Porter Matecki: Whitfield, Missouri (126 lbs) - Class 3 State Champion South Dakota State Bas Diaz: Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa (150 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 Carson Dupill: Greeneville, Tennessee (126 lbs) - A State Champion; Class of 2025 Grant Kress: Linn-Mar, Iowa (157 lbs) - 3A 6th Place Quin Morgan: Mounds View, Minnesota (215 lbs) - AAA State Champion Tyson Peach: Milton, Wisconsin (138 lbs) - D1 State Champion Cale Seaton: City High, Iowa (132 lbs) - 3A State Champion Keenan Sheridan: O’Gorman, South Dakota (175 lbs) - Class A State Runner-Up Logan Swensen: Wayzata, Minnesota (133 lbs) - AAA State Champion Southeastern Brodie Christmas: Mortimer Jordan, Alabama (126 lbs) - 6A State Champion Bray Emerine: Floyd Central, Indiana (175 lbs) - State Runner-Up Stanford Grigor Cholakyan: St. John Bosco, California (157 lbs) - State Champion Jack Consiglio: Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania (144 lbs) - National Prep Champion Collin Guffey: Granite Hills, California (165 lbs) - State Champion Cole Han-Lindemyer: Farmington, Minnesota (189 lbs) - AAA 4th Place Jason Mara: Meridian, Idaho (152 lbs) - 5A State Champion Lars Michaelson: Bremerton, Washington (190 lbs) - 2A State Champion EJ Parco: Los Gatos, California (150 lbs) - 3rd Place Angelo Posada: Poway, California (175 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Edwin Sierra: Poway, California (113 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 St. Cloud State Vance Barz: Sauk Rapids-Rice, Minnesota (133 lbs) - AA 4th Place Mason Carpenter: Lourdes Academy, Wisconsin (132 lbs) - D3 State Champion Leo Edblad: Cambridge-Isanti, Minnesota (114 lbs) - AAA 3rd Place Austin Grzywinski: Simley, Minnesota (114 lbs) - AA State Champion Brody Hart: Winneconne, Wisconsin (157 lbs) - D2 5th Place Jayce Luna: Bettendorf, Iowa (132 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Dominic Mann: Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota (172 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Hunter Robbins: Illini Bluffs, Illinois (113 lbs) - 1A State Qualifier SW Minnesota State Brand Beaver: Woodbury Central, Iowa (132 lbs) - 1A State Qualifier Gavin Lambert: Hastings, Minnesota (114 lbs) - AAA State Qualifier Dylan Louwagie: Marshall, Minnesota (133 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Zach Pittman: Grand Island, Nebraska (285 lbs) - Class A 3rd Place Noah Torgerson: St. Michael-Albertville, Minnesota (215 lbs) - AAA 5th Place Tarleton State Eli Biermann: Midlothian, Texas (138 lbs) - 5A State Champion Tucker Kazienko: Jefferson, Georgia (132 lbs) - 5A State Runner-Up Kohen Wright: Independence, Kansas (138 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up The Citadel Kyrel Leavell: Warren Central, Indiana (138 lbs) - State Champion UNC Pembroke Cooper Davis: Cox Mill, North Carolina (132 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up Upper Iowa Owen Denstad: Caledonia-Houston, Minnesota (145 lbs) - AA State Runner-Up Ari Ehlts: Ankeny Centennial, Iowa (165 lbs) - 3A 6th Place Kaden Kremer: Independence, Iowa (138 lbs) - 2A 7th Place James Lovelady: Liberty North, Missouri (138 lbs) - Class 4 4th Place Caleb Olson: Union, Iowa (150 lbs) - 2A State Champion Utah Valley Jacob Myers: Ponderosa, Colorado (144 lbs) - 5A State Runner-Up Jackzen Rairdon: Thompson Valley, Colorado (144 lbs) - 4A State Runner-Up Virginia Macon Ayers: Staunton River, Virginia (165 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 Braden Blackorby: Johnston, Iowa (175 lbs) - 3A State Qualifier Rocco Hayes: Carl Sandburg, Illinois (106 lbs) - 3A 3rd Place; Class of 2025 Jack Myers: Morristown, New Jersey (144 lbs) - 5th Place Chase Nevills: Copenhagen, New York (124 lbs) - DII State Champion Nathan Rickards: Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania; (150 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up Anthony Rossi: Hunterdon Central, New Jersey (120 lbs) - 3rd Place Emmitt Sherlock: Gilman School, Maryland (165 lbs) - National Prep Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Virginia Tech Ryan Burton: St. Joseph’s, New Jersey (175 lbs) - State Champion; Class of 2025 Durben Carpenter: Chattahoochee, Georgia (126 lbs) - 5A State Champion Frank DiBella: St. Joseph’s, New Jersey (157 lbs) - 3rd Place Gunnar Garelli: Lyons, Illinois (165 lbs) - 3A State Runner-Up Drew Gorman: Buford, Georgia (138 lbs) - 7A State Champion; Class of 2025 Matt Henrich: Southern Regional, New Jersey (157 lbs) - State Champion Noah Nininger: Staunton River, Virginia (150 lbs) - 3A State Champion; Class of 2025 Caden Smith: Robinson, Virginia (113 lbs) - 6A State Champion Claudio Torres: Lake Highland Prep, Florida (157 lbs) - National Prep 3rd Place; Class of 2025 VMI Logan Chambers: Ocean Lakes, Virginia (165 lbs) - 6A State Runner-Up Eli Cramer: Cosby, Virginia (132 lbs) - 6A 4th Place Washington & Lee Noah Danforth: West Forsyth, Georgia (144 lbs) - 7A State Champion Wayland Baptist Nathaniel Ruz: Canyon Randall, Texas (138 lbs) - 5A State Runner-Up Western New England Beniamino DiCocco: St. Thomas Aquinas, New Jersey (113 lbs) - State Qualifier West Liberty Tony Wood: Jay County, Indiana (138 lbs) - 4th Place West Virginia Anthony Clem: Wantagh, New York (125 lbs) - DI 4th Place Joey Clem: Wantagh, New York (132 lbs) - DI State Champion Hoke Hogan: Commerce, Georgia (190 lbs) - 1A State Champion TJ Langley: Western Reserve, Ohio (157 lbs) - National Prep 5th Place Western Colorado Jacob Blandford: Middleton, Idaho (160 lbs) - 5A State Champion Rylan Ibold: Buford, Georgia (120 lbs) - 7A State Runner-Up Western Wyoming Jake Glade: Mead, Colorado (150 lbs) - 4A State Champion Ryker Gibson: Marsh Valley, Idaho (160 lbs) - 3A State Champion Williams Chris Colon: Shoreham-Wading River, New York (124 lbs) - DII 7th Place Fisher Stites: Newtown, Connecticut (165 lbs) - New England 3rd Place Wisconsin Carson Exferd: Nampa, Idaho (138 lbs) - 5A State Champion Wyatt Ingham: Amery, Wisconsin (190 lbs) - D2 State Champion Dillan Johnson: Joliet Catholic, Illinois (285 lbs) - 3A State Champion Colin Kelly: Mt. Carmel, Illinois (175 lbs) - 3A State Champion David Malin: Aquinas, Wisconsin (175 lbs) - D3 State Champion Reid Spurley: Dodgeville, Wisconsin (126 lbs) - D2 State Champion UW-LaCrosse Grant Madl: Elk Grove, Illinois (126 lbs) - 3A 5th Place Marcus McIntyre: Brodhead/Juda, Wisconsin (138 lbs) - D2 5th Place Wyoming John Alden: O’Neill, Nebraska (138 lbs) - Class C State Champion Tucker Bowen: Soda Springs, Idaho (126 lbs) - 2A State Champion Tyson Charmoli: St. Francis, Minnesota (145 lbs) - AAA State Runner-Up Isaiah Harrison: Mountain View, Colorado (113 lbs) - 4A State Champion; Class of 2025 Gunner Henry: Brownsburg, Indiana (190 lbs) - State Runner-Up; Class of 2025 Westen Hoffschneider: Ponderosa, Colorado (190 lbs) - 5A State Champion

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