125: Shakur Laney (Ohio)
Laney, a freshman, needed a top-four finish at the MAC Championships to earn an automatic qualification. He entered the tournament seeded No. 4 and seemed to be on his way to qualifying after beating Old Dominion's Brandon Jeske in the quarterfinals. It was Laney's second win over Jeske this season. However, the Bobcat freshman dropped his next two matches to land in the fifth-place match, which he won. Meanwhile, Jeske claimed fourth place and earned an automatic qualification.
Sam Brancale went 0-2 at the Big Tens and was eliminated by Purdue's Luke Welch (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Brancale picked up some very impressive wins this season, but struggled mightily down the stretch, losing his last 10 matches of the season. He was winless in the conference and went 0-2 at the Big Ten Championships. So why is he even in the conversation for best staying home? Because of his wins prior to the start of the Big Ten dual meet season. In November, Brancale beat two-time All-American Mason Beckman of Lehigh and NCAA qualifier Gary Wayne Harding of Oklahoma State. In December, he pinned All-American Rossi Bruno of Michigan at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Then at the Southern Scuffle he dominated eventual SoCon champion Nathan Kraisser of Campbell. Brancale learned that it's not how you start the season that matters, but how you finish it.
141: Trevor Jauch (Northern Iowa)
Jauch shared starting duties in the UNI lineup this season with Jake Koethe. Both battled knee injuries. Koethe was lost for the season in January, and Jauch battled through injuries. He had some notable wins this season, none more notable than his victory over Old Dominion All-American Chris Mecate on Jan. 17. He also notched wins over NCAA qualifiers Jamel Hudson of Hofstra and Danny Sabatello of Purdue. Jauch wrestled to his seed at the MAC Championships, placing fifth, finishing one spot below automatic qualification.
149: Luke Blanton (Indiana)
Blanton never won a state title in Indiana, but has had a productive start to his college wrestling career while competing in the nation's toughest college wrestling conference. His most notable wins during the regular season came over a couple four-time state champions, Minnesota's Jake Short and Ohio State's Hunter Stieber. Blanton entered the Big Ten Championships unseeded, but took out sixth-seeded Alex Griffin of Purdue in the opening round. He then ran into Nebraska's Jake Sueflohn and lost 11-2, and then was knocked out of the tournament when he was crushed 19-4 by Tyson Dippery of Rutgers. Two wrestlers he beat this season, Short and Griffin, earned at-large selections on Tuesday. Blanton ended his season with a record of 18-13.
Lehigh's Ian Brown won 26 matches this season as a freshman (Photo/Lehigh Athletics)Brown, a freshman, split time in the Lehigh lineup this season with two-time All-American Mitch Minotti, who battled an injury. He had a strong showing at the Southern Scuffle, placing third behind Penn State's Jason Nolf and Oklahoma State's Joe Smith. This season Brown had two wins over NCAA qualifier Russell Parsons of Army West Point, and also beat NCAA qualifiers Luke Smith of Central Michigan and May Bethea of Penn. Brown was given the call to compete for Lehigh at the EIWA Championships and entered the event as the No. 6 seed. He dropped a 3-2 match in tiebreaker in the quarterfinals to third-seeded Justin Staudenmayer of Brown. He was then hammered by the aforementioned Parsons 17-4. He concluded his tournament by beating Adam Krop of Princeton 9-4. Brown finished his season with a record of 26-10, but surprisingly his name was not announced on Tuesday afternoon as an at-large selection.
165: Paul Duggan (Campbell)
Duggan had a solid season, compiling a 23-12 record and placing third at the SoCon Championships. His lone loss at the SoCon Championships came to Appalachian State's Forrest Przybysz in sudden victory, 3-1. It was the rubber match between the two wrestlers this season, and Przybysz was one of the names announced as an at-large selection on Tuesday. Duggan also had a win this season over American's Mitchell Wightman, who earned an at-large selection over Duggan.
174: Trace Engelkes (Northern Illinois)
Engelkes missed earning an automatic qualification by two spots, placing fifth at the MAC Championships and needing to finish in the top three. It marked the second straight year Engelkes finished fifth in the conference tournament. He lost a tight 5-4 match to Central Michigan's Mike Ottinger in the MAC semifinals. In the consolation semifinals (and a chance to wrestle for third place) he met Kent State's Jairod James and lost 11-4. Engelkes finished his tournament with a bang, hammering Eastern Michigan's Jacob Davis 9-1, but it wouldn't be enough to get him an at-large selection.
184: Andrew Romanchik (Ohio)
Romanchik was an NCAA qualifier last season as a junior, but won't be competing in the big show in his senior campaign. He entered the MAC Championships seeded No. 3 and needing a top-four finish to earn an automatic qualification, but finished a disappointing sixth. It may have been his final defeat in the fifth-place match to Northern Iowa's Drew Foster -- a wrestler with a losing record -- that cost him an at-large selection. Two months ago Romanchik defeated eventual MAC champion Jordan Ellingwood of Central Michigan. He also had a 4-1 win over Chattanooga's John Lampe, who earned an at-large selection over Romanchik.
197: Derek Thomas (Utah Valley)
For the second straight season Thomas has come up short of an NCAA tournament berth. Last season he lost his true second match at the conference tournament, and this year he finished one win shy of an automatic berth before being passed over for an at-large selection. Thomas went 2-2 at the Big 12 Championships, and actually beat one of the at-large selections, Jake Smith of West Virginia, in the fifth-place match. He finished his senior season with a 12-5 record. Interestingly, for the second straight season it was the same wrestler, Trent Noon of Northern Colorado, who defeated Thomas at the conference tournament and finished one spot ahead of him.
Brock Horwath won two matches at the Big Tens to place seventh at heavyweight (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Horwath was given the opportunity to start for the Badgers in his final season after Connor Medbery elected to take an Olympic redshirt season. He entered the Big Ten Championships unseeded, but outperformed his seed, winning two matches and finishing seventh. One of his two wins came over Penn State's Nick Nevills, who entered the tournament ranked No. 17. Earlier in the season Horwath had a 5-0 win over Princeton's Ray O'Donnell, who qualified for the NCAAs by placing fourth in the EIWA Championships.
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