InterMat Staff

The top three seeds at 285 lbs, Gable Steveson (center), Cohlton Schultz (right), and Tony Cassioppi (Photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview 157 lb preview 165 lb preview 174 lb preview 184 lb preview 197 lb preview We'll move on to the 285 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) The biggest favorite of the weekend has to be Gable Steveson at 285 lbs. The 2021 co-Hodge Trophy Winner, Steveson, is well on his way to winning the award again in 2022 and shouldn't have to share it this time. Steveson is 13-for-13 this year, claiming bonus points every time he's taken the mat, along with a pin and four tech falls. What's even more remarkable about Steveson's domination is that he's done it against a field as talented as we've ever seen at 285 lbs. Aside from him, four others in this bracket have captured age-group world titles, at one time or another in their careers. There are seven other wrestlers in the group of brought home a medal from an age-group world championship. Even with all that talent, you have to go to back to last year's national tournament to find a time where Gable was "held" without bonus. That occurred twice in St. Louis and accounted for the only occurrence last season. Steveson was one of the mainstream breakout stars from the Olympics last summer as his remarkable comeback in the gold medal match made the rounds of sports highlight shows. With that extra fame, combined with new NIL rules, many fans and media members thought we'd already witnessed Steveson's last collegiate match. However, the NIL rules allowed him to sign with the WWE, while still competing for the University of Minnesota. Because of outside obligations, Gable did not appear in every single event for the Gophers, but he did make sure to hit the important duals and ones with top-ranked opponents. Only one of his ten duals came against a non-qualifier and eight came against wrestlers seeded in the top-20. That doesn't account for the three All-Americans he dispatched at the Big Ten Championships. In Lincoln, Steveson became the first Minnesota wrestler to win the Big Ten three times, since Tony Nelson did so in 2012-14. The top seed that resulted at nationals made him the first heavyweight to earn the top-seed three times in his career. It seems like a safe bet to assume that Gable will tack five more wins on his career record, to finish 86-2 and a winner of his final 47 bouts. Ever the showman, I'd also expect some sort of flare surrounding the win, rather than settling for a two-point win. The Contenders: Gable…and? The Conference Champs: ACC: #10 Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech) Big 12: #5 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) Big Ten: #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) EIWA: #6 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) MAC: #8 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) Pac-12: #2 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) SoCon: #15 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) Top First-Round Matches #16 Zach Elam (Missouri) vs. #17 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) #12 Christian Lance (Nebraska) vs. #21 Tyrie Houghton (NC State) #14 Luke Luffman (Illinois) vs. #19 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) #10 Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech) vs. #23 Quinn Miller (Virginia) #15 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) vs. #18 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) This weight class was the one I was most eagerly anticipating, as far as seeing how the seeds were doled out. It's no secret that the place to be is on the bottom half (away from Gable). Since this bracket features two other undefeated wrestlers, #2 Cohlton Schultz and #5 Wyatt Hendrickson, there were plenty of possible solutions to the seeding mess. What made things worse was that Schultz didn't hit any of the big dogs from the Big Ten and Hendrickson saw even fewer. Guys like Tony Cassioppi, Greg Kerkvliet, and Mason Parris beat up on each other, which made their records look less spectacular. Sitting on the bottom of the bracket is Schultz, the Junior world champion in Greco. Schultz's best win of the regular season came in his final dual when he outlasted #6 Jordan Wood in tiebreakers. He comes in with an 18-0 record and six falls. Last year, Schultz was an NCAA fourth-place finisher whose two defeats in St. Louis have accounted for his only collegiate losses. Those, of course, came to Cassioppi, who takes the third seed. A pair of wins over Kerkvliet at their dual and in the Big Ten semifinals helped boost Cassioppi over his Penn State counterpart. Those are Kerkvliet's only losses of the year, but he gets the fourth seed. Another meeting with Steveson could be fun, as Kerkvliet was one of two to limit Gable to a regular decision last year and also competed against him in high school, back in Minnesota. A fourth-place finish at the Big Ten's by 2021 NCAA runner-up, Mason Parris, gave him the seventh seed and sets up an intriguing quarterfinal bout with Schultz. Those two or Cassioppi would be the frontrunners to meet Steveson in the finals. Seeded ahead of Parris is #6 Jordan Wood, who made history by becoming the first (and likely last) five-time EIWA champion. #8 Matt Stencel also accomplished the same feat in the MAC. Both are past All-Americans that will have a say in who finishes on the podium this year. The mysterious Henrickson will be must-watch in the early rounds for those not familiar with the Air Force big man. A Junior world fifth-place finisher, Hendrickson, is 24-0 with an eye-popping 16 falls. Early in his Big 12 final bout, Hendrickson was in some trouble; however, he quickly rebounded and majored Luke Surber, 16-6. Quadrant to Watch: We already highlighted a potential quarterfinal bout on the bottom of the bracket between Mason Parris and Cohlton Schultz. But those two will both have to get their hands raised twice, which is no small feat considering the competition. Parris could see Nathan Traxler in the Round of 16; Traxler has only lost twice this season and was a match away from placing last year. Schultz likely has the winner of Taye Ghadiali and Lewis Fernandes in the Round of 16. Ghadiali has only lost twice this year and both have been extremely close, to Traxler and Stencel. Fernandes has been solid, but not spectacular, during his first run as the starter for the Big Red. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #14 Luke Luffman (Illinois) This is a deep weight, so there are a handful of guys who could be mentioned here. Based on the way the brackets could break, we've got Luffman advancing to the bloodround. Luffman is coming off a strong showing, taking sixth in the loaded Big Ten. That may not seem too unusual, but Luffman did log wins over #12 Christian Lance and #17 Trent Hillger while in Lincoln. If Luffman puts together a strong run on the backside, it's likely he'll face either Stencel/Davison to place. Davison has two very close wins over him earlier in the season. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #21 Tyrie Houghton (NC State) All year we speculated on who would end up getting the call for NC State and it ended up being Tyrie Houghton, who went on to make the finals at the ACC Championships. Houghton first jumped into the spotlight when he was sent out to face Zach Elam and Cassioppi at the Collegiate Duals. While he fell in both contests, Houghton had his moments and proved he could hang with some of the best in the country. A week later, he was fifth at the Southern Scuffle and outlasted teammate Owen Trephan in his final bout. Even with a loss in the opening round to Lance, Houghton has a path to win a few matches and could meet Luffman in the consolation Round of 16. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #9 Lucas Davison (Northwestern) #5 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs. #4 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) #3 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) vs. #6 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) #7 Mason Parris (Michigan) vs. #2 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) Projected Semifinals #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. #4 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) #3 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) vs. #6 Mason Parris (Michigan) Projected All-Americans 1st) Gable Steveson (Minnesota) 2nd) Mason Parris (Michigan) 3rd) Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) 4th) Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 5th) Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) 6th) Lucas Davison (Northwestern) 7th) Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) 8th) Jordan Wood (Lehigh) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech); #14 Luke Luffman (Illinois); #12 Christian Lance (Nebraska); #8 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) Consolation Round of 16: #16 Zach Elam (Missouri); #21 Tyrie Houghton (NC State); #13 Tate Orndorff (Ohio State); #17 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)

The top three seeds at 197 lbs Max Dean (center), Eric Schultz (left), and Stephen Buchanan (Photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview 157 lb preview 165 lb preview 174 lb preview 184 lb preview We'll move on to the 197 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Max Dean (Penn State) The fourth number one seed for Penn State is their 197 lber Max Dean. Dean is in his first year competing for the Nittany Lions after spending his first two years at Cornell. During that time, Dean earned All-American honors on two occasions and crashed the NCAA finals in 2019. As the fifth seed, Dean knocked off the previously unbeaten Myles Martin (Ohio State) in one of the more significant upsets of the tournament. Since moving to PSU, Dean has bumped up a weight to 197 lbs and hasn't missed a beat. He is 18-1 this year and has been one of the stabilizing forces in an otherwise chaotic 197 lb bracket. Dean claimed his Big Ten crown by cruising against three-time Big Ten runner-up Eric Schultz. Despite being the top seed at the tournament, Dean's road was anything but easy. He also had to face Cam Caffey and Greg Bulsak, two of the top 15 seeds at this weight. The Caffey win reversed a decision from earlier in the season. Caffey was responsible for the only blemish Dean's record in 2021-22. While Dean has consistently banked wins, he has done so in a lot of close matches. In a tournament like this, with a weight class that features capable threats up and down the bracket, it could make for another hiccup. Even his second-round opponents have spent significant time in the top ten during their careers. The Contenders: Who isn't? Any of the top 16 wrestlers? The Conference Champs: ACC: #5 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #2 Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) Big Ten: #1 Max Dean (Penn State) EIWA: #8 Louie DePrez (Binghamton) MAC: #29 Ben Smith (Cleveland State) Pac-12: #16 Kordell Norfleet (Arizona State) SoCon: #33 Matthew Waddell (Chattanooga) If you've watched enough NCAA Tournament's, you'll know there's usually one weight that goes off the rails and craziness ensues. I'm not going out on a huge ledge by declaring this as “that weight.” With that being said, second-seeded Stephen Buchanan is a returning All-American that has spent the bulk of the year ranked in the top three. Buchanan won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and handed Schultz his only loss of the regular season. Also in Vegas, Buchanan picked up a win over fourth-seeded Patrick Brucki. Schultz slides into the third seed. He was seeded second last year, but was upset in the opening round. The Husker senior is likely trying to erase that memory and get onto the NCAA podium for the first time. In each of his previous three NCAA tournaments, he went 2-2. Just carving a path to Buchanan is no easy task, as Schultz could see Greg Bulsak/Jacob Cardenas in the second round and Jacob Warner in the quarters. Schultz owns a 3-2 advantage over Warner; however, their matches are always close. Brucki, Nino Bonaccorsi, Warner, Rocky Elam, Louie DePrez, Caffey, and Yonger Bastida round out the top ten. While unlikely, any could get hot, string together five wins and come away with the title. Bonaccorsi is the returning NCAA runner-up and made his run last year as the sixth seed. To get back in the semis, he'd have to get by Brucki. The two met earlier in the season and it was Brucki who prevailed, 6-3. Warner and Elam are returning All-Americans from this bracket that have yet to meet. Warner was fourth in 2021, while Elam was fifth. DePrez has AA'ed down at 184 lbs. A few years ago, he managed a win over Dean, during their EIWA days. He's reeled off 13 straight wins after falling to Elam at the Collegiate Duals. Caffey had a rough start to his season, rolls in with a top-ten seed after taking sixth in the loaded Big Ten. Bastida gave us a glimpse of what he's capable of when he downed Warner early in the season; he's also beaten Elam twice, as well. Top First-Round Matches #16 Kordell Norfleet (Arizona State) vs. #17 Jay Aiello (Virginia) #12 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) vs. #21 Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) #13 Jake Woodley (Oklahoma) vs. #20 Jake Koser (Navy) #14 Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) vs. #19 Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) #11 Thomas Penola (Purdue) vs. #22 Owen Pentz (North Dakota State) #10 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. #23 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) #15 Isaac Trumble (NC State) vs. #18 Luke Stout (Princeton) Quadrant to Watch: There's arguments to be made about others, but I'll focus on the bottom quarterfinal. Of course, Buchanan anchors the bracket, but he'll have a pair of upstarts in the second round. Both Luke Stout and Isaac Trumble are freshmen that have gotten better as the year progresses. Trumble owns wins in each of the last two years over 2021 national runner-up, Bonaccorsi. Above them is Bastida and another excellent freshman, Braxton Amos. Amos and Bastida are both Junior World medalists, meeting in the opening round. On top of them in the bracket is the seventh seed Elam. Despite their seeds, Bastida holds the upperhand this year. While we're projecting Buchanan to win the whole thing, he could face trouble in the Round of 16 and quarters. Darkhorse All-American Contender: Anyone seeded 12th-19th Would it be that big of a surprise if #18 Stout or #19 Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) gets on the podium? A little bit, but I don't think anyone would be shocked. Same for #16 Kordell Norfleet and #17 Jay Aiello. Both were seeded in the top ten at the 2020 NCAA Tournament. Aiello seventh and Norfleet ninth. In this group, you also have #13 Jake Woodley (Oklahoma), who was a surprise semifinalist last year. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #23 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) Admit it; all year, you've been waiting for that one breakout match from Amos! He's been good and generally beat the guys ranked below him, while hanging tough with those above him. What we know is that the stage won't be too big for Amos. A wrestler with his pedigree and track record has competed at various continental and world championships, so he's not going to be intimidated by the bright lights. Maybe he takes advantage of an opponent that is. Again, with such an even field at 197 lbs, all Amos needs is some momentum from one breakout win. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Max Dean (Penn State) vs. #8 Louie DePrez (Binghamton) #5 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) vs. #4 Patrick Brucki (Michigan) #3 Eric Schultz (Nebraska) vs. #6 Jacob Warner (Iowa) #10 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. #2 Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) Projected Semifinals #8 Louie DePrez (Binghamton) vs. #5 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) #3 Eric Schultz (Nebraska) vs. #2 Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) Projected All-Americans 1st) Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) 2nd) Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) 3rd) Max Dean (Penn State) 4th) Louie DePrez (Binghamton) 5th) Eric Schultz (Nebraska) 6th) Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) 7th) Rocky Elam (Missouri) 8th) Jacob Warner (Iowa) Round of 12 Finishers: #12 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State); #14 Greg Bulsak (Rutgers); #4 Patrick Brucki (Michigan); #9 Cam Caffey (Michigan) Consolation Round of 16: #17 Jay Aiello (Virginia); #11 Thomas Penola (Purdue); #13 Jake Woodley (Oklahoma); #16 Kordell Norfleet (Arizona State)

On the night before the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament, apparel company Rudis will host Super Match. The pay-per-view event, which is only available via RUDIS+, will feature the long-awaited match between Kyle Snyder and J'den Cox. The card also features a variety of World medalists, NCAA championships and next-level high school prospects. The following is a match-by-match preview of the event. 97 kg: Kyle Snyder vs. J'Den Cox The match that many expected to be the highlight of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials will finally happen. Cox planned to move up to 97 kg for the Olympics, but "missed weight" per USA Wrestling and was removed from the bracket. Snyder, who was already sitting in the finals, scored a pair of victories over former college teammate Kollin Moore to qualify for his second Olympic Games. Snyder made the finals in Tokyo, but dropped a 6-3 match against rival Abdulrashid Sadulaev. The former Ohio State wrestler got another shot at Sadulaev in the finals of the 2021 World Championships. The Russian once again took the victory, this time by a 6-0 score. Since that loss, Snyder has won gold medals at the 2021 Russian International tournament and the 2022 Ivan Yariguin. For his career, he is now a seven-time World/Olympic medalist and a three-time gold medalist. On the college level, Snyder was a four-time NCAA finalist and a three-time champion. For the 2016 Olympics, Cox fought his way down to 86 kg and won a bronze medal. When the weights expanded, he eventually found a new home at 92 kg. After the Trials incident, Cox moved back up for the 2021 World Championships. He had little trouble at the Trials as he outscored his opposition 28-0. He then added a bronze medal at the World tournament, with his only loss coming against Kamran Ghasempour. Cox is now a five-time World/Olympic medalist, and he won gold medals at both the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. In college at Missouri, Cox was a three-time NCAA champion and a four-time All-American. This match features two of the most accomplished and gifted wrestlers currently competing for the country. It could easily become one of the biggest rivalries as well. Cox will need to rely on his trademark defense in this match. Snyder has had trouble in the past when he is not able to get out to an early lead. This contest is also the only one on the card that will be decided by a best-of-three series. That likely favors Cox. His defensive style opens the door for a match to get away from him, which happened in the 2016 Olympic Trials finals against Kyle Dake. The extra match gives him a bit of room for error. On the other hand, Cox has a limited resume at this weight, and Snyder winning this match should surprise no one. Prediction: Cox over Snyder (2-1 in the best-of-three series) 53 kg: Sarah Hildebrandt vs. Ronna Gross Hildebrandt has really started filling her trophy case. She is already a six-time gold medalist at the Pan American Championships/Games. Her first Senior-level World medal came in 2018, where she won a silver medal at 53 kg. For the Olympic year, she dropped down to 50 kg and won bronze in Tokyo. Hildebrandt returned last year for the World Championships, where she added another silver medal. At this rate, it is not hard to imagine multiple World titles in her future. Gross stayed at 53 kg for the Olympic year and made the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She came up short and dropped two-straight matches against Jacarra Winchester in the best-of-three series. Gross bounced back later in the year and earned a spot on the U23 World team. The size factor is interesting here. Hildebrandt certainly seems to be her best work down at 50 kg. With that being said, she only really needs to land one takedown in this match. Hildebrandt has one of the best leg laces in the country. She can quickly turn one opportunity on top into a match-ending sequence, and she is routinely the country's most prolific scorer in international tournaments. Prediction: Hildebrandt VSU over Gross 70 kg: Zain Retherford vs. James Green Retherford was a three-time NCAA champion and a four-time All-American during his college days at Penn State. While still in school, he defeated Jaydin Eierman, Nick Dardanes, BJ Futrell and Frank Molinaro to make the 2017 World team that brought home the team title. Retherford would return to the World Championships in 2019 after an extended series against Yianni Diakomihals, but he is still looking for his first World medal on the senior level. Earlier this year, Retherford had a dominant run through the Dan Kolov International and brought home a gold medal. Green has been the best U.S. wrestler at 70 kg for some time. He won a bronze medal at the weight in 2015 and added a silver two years later in 2017. During his college days at Nebraska, Green was a four-time All-American who finished third as a junior and senior. Last month, he took a silver medal at the Yasar Dogu after dropping the finals match against Amir Mohammad Yazdani. On the domestic scene, Green rarely loses matches at 70 kg. When he cuts down to 65 kg, things get a bit dicey. These two faced off at the 2016 Olympic Trials, and Retherford dominated the match via a 9-2 score. However, this match will likely be a different story. Green is a different wrestler when he is not depleted physically by the cut. Retherford could make things interesting with his savvy tactics and underrated scrambling, but it is hard to pick against Green at this weight. Prediction: Green VPO1 over Retherford 70 kg: Jordan Oliver vs. Alec Pantaleo Oliver won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, but Team USA had not yet qualified the weight for the Tokyo Games. The former Oklahoma State wrestler traveled to Bulgaria for the final Olympic qualifier and, despite winning three matches, came up short of qualification. Oliver moved up to 70 kg for last year's World Team Trials, but fell in the semifinals against James Green. During his collegiate days, Oliver was a two-time NCAA champion and a four-time All-American. On the senior level, he is a four-time Senior Nationals finalist and one-time champion. Pantaleo was a three-time All-American at Michigan, with his best finish coming in 2019 when he finished third at 157 pounds. He had a strong 2021 on the senior level that saw him win a gold medal at the 2021 Pan American Championships and finish second at Senior Nationals. In January, Pantaleo traveled to Russia for the Ivan Yariguin tournament, but he dropped his only match against Alan Kudzoev by 4-4 on criteria. This match has a pretty interesting dynamic in terms of weight. Oliver is moving up from his Olympic weight of 65 kg, while Pantaleo is moving down from 74 kg after campaigning there during the Olympic year. Oliver is the much more credentialed wrestler, but time is certainly not on his side. He has a tendency to slow down the pace of matches when his offense is not readily available. That will likely spell trouble against Pantaleo, who is extremely hard to move out of position. Look for the former Michigan wrestler to keep this one close and pull out the low-scoring upset. Prediction: Pantaleo VPO1 over Oliver 86 kg: Myles Martin vs. Mark Hall Martin won an NCAA title as a true freshman in 2016. He then finished his career at Ohio State as a four-time All-American. Since exhausting his collegiate eligibility, Martin has been a regular on the domestic freestyle circuit. In 2019 he finished second at Senior Nationals with signature victories over Nick Heflin and Alex Dieringer. The following year, he won Flo's 8-Man Challenge tournament thanks to wins over Drew Foster, Nate Jackson and Taylor Lujan. Hall also won an NCAA title as a true freshman for Penn State. He also finished as a four-time All-American but missed out on his final NCAA tournament due to the pandemic. Before ever finishing his collegiate career, Hall was a three-time age-group World champion, but he has failed to make a team on the senior level. Last year, he was unable to qualify for the Olympic Trials, but bounced back with a first-place finish at the 2021 Senior Nationals. The former Nittany Lion seems intent on wrestling at 86 kg on the senior level. He wrestled in college at 174 pounds, and his best results in freestyle always seemed to come around 74 kg. Hall is skilled and athletic enough to be highly competitive with some of the best in the country, but he does seem to get overpowered at times. Martin certainly has the game to impose his will, but look for Hall to escape a close match here. They wrestled at the 2021 Matteo Pellicone. In that match, Hall was able to consistently get to legs and eventually pinned Martin in a scramble. Prediction: Hall VPO1 over Martin 62 kg: Kayla Miracle vs. Emma Bruntil After making only one previous World team, Miracle defeated Macey Kilty in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She won only one match at the Olympic Games, but returned later in the year at the 2021 World Championships. Miracle started the tournament on a run and made the finals for a silver medal. She recently returned to action at the Bout at the Ballpark and held on for a 6-5 victory over Ana Paula Godinez. Bruntil made the finals of the 2021 World Team Trials, but dropped the three-match series against Forrest Molinari. This year, she got off to a strong start with a gold medal performance at the Ivan Yariguin tournament that included a victory over Molinari in a rematch. Bruntil then placed third at the Yasar Dogu tournament. In that event, she ran into Molinari once again and was unable to best her recent rival. Over this past year, Bruntil has gained some invaluable international experience. She could easily find herself on multiple World teams over the next few years. However, this match might be a little bit too much at this point. Miracle's performance at the last World Championships showed that she took a step forward, and fans can expect to see that domestically this year. Prediction: Miracle VPO1 over Bruntil 79 kg: Isaiah Martinez vs. Alex Dieringer Martinez was a four-time NCAA finalist and two-time champion during his time at Illinois. He lost only three matches in his collegiate career that ended in 2018. Martinez has twice made Final X. In 2018, he dropped a two-match series against Jordan Burroughs. The two rematched in another best-of-three series in 2019. This time Martinez was able to get a match off Burroughs but still came up short in his bid for a World team. Dieringer was a four-time All-American and three-time champion for Oklahoma State. As a senior in 2016, he went undefeated and took home the Dan Hodge trophy. He has continued to pile up the accolades on the international scene as he has won gold medals at the 2020 Matteo Pellicone, 2019 Bill Farrell, 2019 Yasar Dogu and 2019 Yasar Dogu, to name a few. These two have wrestled three times on the domestic freestyle circuit, with Dieringer winning all three matches. Their most recent bout came in the semifinals of the 2021 World Team Trials. Dieringer was in control throughout the contest and finished with a 6-1 victory. Martinez is probably best down at 74 kg, and Dieringer will likely have the physical edge again in this bout. Prediction: Dieringer VPO1 over Martinez 97 kg: Kollin Moore vs. Nate Jackson Moore had three top-five finishes at the NCAA tournament leading up to his senior year. In his final year, he went 27-0, won the Big Ten tournament and was the clear number-one seed going into the 2020 NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, that tournament never happened, and he never got another shot at an NCAA title. In 2021, Moore made the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and the 2021 World Team Trials. Along the way, he scored victories over the likes of Trent Hidlay, Michael Macchiavello and Braxton Amos. Jackson was a two-time All-American at Indiana who finished his eligibility in 2017. Last year he qualified for the Olympic Team Trials with a second-place finish at the Last Chance Qualifier. To earn that spot, he picked up victories over Drew Foster, Mark Hall and Max Dean. This bout will be a rematch from the semifinals of the 2021 World Team Trials. The two traded early takedowns before Moore took an extensive injury timeout with the score tied at 4-4. The action restarted, and Jackson scored a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the first period to move ahead 6-4. That score held until there were 38 seconds left in the match. Moore evened the score at 6-6 with a takedown. He then added another takedown and a pair of gut wrenches to run away with the 12-6. While the match was much closer than the final score would indicate, Moore was still the one coming forward and pressing the action. Jackson is at his best when he can rely on his defense. While that strategy got him close in their last meeting, Moore's pace and forward pressure will likely lead him to another victory here. Prediction: Moore VPO1 over Jackson 72 kg: Kennedy Blades vs. Victoria Francis Blades announced her presence to the wrestling world by making the finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials, and she is still only 17 years old. At that event, she defeated Forrest Molinari, Alexandria Glaude and Rachel Watters before eventually falling against Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock in the finals. Blades then followed that performance with her own gold medal at the 2021 Junior World Championships. After a high-profile recruiting saga, she and her sister Korina recently announced they would attend Arizona State and train at the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club. Francis made the finals of the Olympic Trials challenge tournament at 76 kg, before coming up short against Kylie Welker. She had a very active February that saw her compete at the Bout at the Ballpark and the Yasar Dogu tournament. Francis has been a member of two World teams, with her best finish coming in 2019. That year she made the bronze medal match but came up short against two-time Asian Championships gold medalist Paliha of China. Francis has the experience edge in this match, but that has been the case for many of Blades' victories. She appears to be a prodigious talent, and that is likely to be on display here. Look for this one to turn into a showcase bout. Prediction: Blades VSU over Francis 125 kg: Derek White vs. Amar Dhesi White started his collegiate career at Nebraska before transferring to Oklahoma State. He spent one year with the Cowboys at 197 pounds before moving up to heavyweight. In 2019, White made it all the way to the NCAA finals before falling against Penn State's Anthony Cassar. White has dabbled with 97 kg on the freestyle circuit, but once again, it appears as if he has found his home at heavyweight. Dhesi represents Canada on the international scene, but he spent his collegiate days at Oregon State. With the Beavers, he was a four-time NCAA qualifier and a three-time NCAA All-American. His highest finish came during his junior season, where he went 25-3 and his only loss at the NCAA tournament came against Adam Coon. In freestyle, Dhesi won the 2014 Junior World Championships. He qualified for the last Olympics by finishing second at the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament. White might have the higher finish at the NCAA tournament, but many believe Dhesi's best style has always been freestyle. If Dhesi is able to score an early takedown, he should be able to turn to his defense and hold on for a score. His experience against some of the best in the World will likely help him defend in par terre and hold onto the lead. Prediction: Dhesi VPO1 over White 65 kg: Evan Henderson vs. Seth Gross Henderson was an active competitor on the local circuit during the pandemic period, where most action was shut down. That actively likely provided momentum in 2021 as he won the Last Chance Qualifier with impressive victories over Shayne Van Ness, Kizhan Clarke and Pat Lugo. After failing to make the Olympic team, Henderson returned at the 2021 World Team Trials, where he finished third and defeated the likes of Dean Heil and Luke Pletcher. Gross was a two-time NCAA finalist and champion for South Dakota State before transferring to Wisconsin for this final season of collegiate wrestling in 2020. Since college Gross has been a regular on the domestic freestyle circuit and finished fourth at last year's World Team Trials at 61 kg. At the event, he scored victories over Ethan Lizak, Daniel DeShazer and Joe Colon. While Gross does compete with some regularity at higher weights, his best results in freestyle have almost always come down at 57 kg. When he has moved up as high as 65 kg, he has struggled. On the undercard of Burroughs vs. Taylor last year, he was dominated by Joey McKenna and dropped a 10-0 match. Henderson may not be the most dynamic scorer, but he will likely be able to control this match physically and take the victory. Prediction: Henderson VPO over Gross 50 kg: Emily Shilson vs. Erin Golston Shilson recently won the NCWWC title at 109 pounds for Augsburg. She outscored her opposition 38-0 on her way to the title. Despite still competing collegiately, Shilson is already a three-time World champion with victories at the 2018 Cadet World Championships and the 2021 editions of both the Junior World Championships and U23 World Championships. Coming into last year, Golston was a three-time runner-up at the U.S. Open. In 2021, she picked up victories over Chloe Kresbach, Hannah Michael and Natalie Reyna-Rodriguez to claim the 50kg title. Golston is also a three-time medalist at the Junior World Championships with bronze medals in 2011 and 2012, as well as a silver medal in 2013. Shilson and Golston have met multiple times previously, with their most recent match coming at the 2021 World Team Trials. In that bout, Golston got out to a 3-1 lead thanks to a stepout point and a takedown; however, Shilson did the rest of the scoring and came away with a 10-3 victory. Both wrestlers seem capable of scoring takedowns, but Shilson's ability to score from the top position might end up being the difference. Prediction: Shilson VPO1 over Golston 79 kg: David McFadden vs. Mitch Finesilver McFadden was a four-time All-American for Virginia Tech, with his last season coming during the pandemic shortened 2020 season. That season he picked up wins over current number-one ranked wrestler Evan Wick (Cal Poly) and national finalist Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh). On the international circuit, his best result is a silver medal performance at the 2021 Matteo Pellicone. McFadden recently went 1-2 at the Yasar Dogu tournament with a victory over 2014 World champion Khetik Tsabolov (Serbia). Finesilver finished fourth at the 2019 NCAA tournament, as a senior, to become an All-American. He left Duke as a four-time NCAA qualifier. On the international circuit, Finesilver represents Israel. Last year, he won a somewhat unlikely bronze medal at the European Championships with victories over Davud Alizalau (Belarus), Malik Amine (San Marino), and Valentin Borzin (Moldova). Last month, the former Duke wrestler was part of the international all-star team at the Bout at the Ballpark and dropped an 11-0 match against Jason Nolf. Even though both of these competitors were contemporaries in the ACC, they never met on the collegiate mats. McFadden spent his college days at 165 and 174 pounds, while Finesilver never went higher than 157. That size difference will likely be on display here. Not only is McFadden a long wrestler for 79kg, but he does a good job utilizing a reach advantage when he has it. Finesilver is certainly game, but this will be a tough contest for him. Prediction: McFadden VPO over Finesilver 152 lbs: Caleb Henson vs. Hunter Garvin Henson was the 16th recruit on the MatScouts 2022 Senior Big Board and has a very strong 2021. In that year, he won the Super 32 tournament and a Fargo title. He will attend Virginia Tech next season. He got a taste of college action earlier this season as he won the Southeast Open back in November. Garvin recently won his third Iowa state high school championship for Iowa City West. He was ranked 24th on the Big Board and will attend Stanford in the fall. Per Cody Goodwin of the Des Moines Register, Garvin is the highest-rated Iowa high school wrestler to leave the state for college since Alex Thomsen in 2018. Like many of the future college wrestlers coming out of Georgia, Henson is a physical presence who is fundamentally sound in a variety of positions. Garvin will be in a tough spot, as he will likely struggle to score and deal with the forward pressure of Henson. Prediction: Henson VPO1 over Garvin 145 lbs: Jesse Mendez vs. Casey Swiderski Mendez recently won his fourth-straight Indiana state high school championship. He has also been extremely successful on the national freestyle scene with gold medal performances at the 2019 Cadet World Team Trials and 2021 Junior World Team Trials. He was the number-one recruit on the MatScouts 2022 Senior Big Board and will attend Ohio State. Swiderski accomplished the rare accomplishment of winning four Michigan state high school championships and adding four state team titles. Fittingly enough, one of the other wrestlers to accomplish this in Michigan was former Hodge Trophy winner Brent Metcalf, who will help lead Swiderski through his collegiate career at Iowa State. Swiderski was a Fargo champion and ranked eighth on the Big Board. These two met at the 2021 Who's Number One event, where Swiderski famously pulled off the upset. This match will be the only one on the card contested under collegiate folkstyle rules. Swiderski was the much more dynamic wrestler in the WNO match, and he won the takedown battle against the more seasoned freestyle competitor. With that being said, Mendez should benefit from time away from that match and the opportunity to come in with a better gameplan. It is also entirely possible Mendez was still dealing with an injury suffered in the finals of the U23 World Team Trials only six months prior to that match. Prediction: Mendez decision over Swiderski

The top three seeds at 184 lbs Myles Amine (center), Aaron Brooks (left), and Trent Hidlay (Photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview 157 lb preview 165 lb preview 174 lb preview We'll move on to the 184 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Myles Amine (Michigan) For the second consecutive season, Myles Amine will stroll into the national tournament as the top seed. Last year, it was up at 197 lbs as he was looking to keep on size for his impending Olympic run. Amine, slightly outsized and banged up, still managed to get third place which marked the fourth time he made the NCAA podium, never lower than fourth place. Amine gets the top seed after pulling a slight upset over the then-undefeated, returning NCAA champion Aaron Brooks (Penn State). A late takedown from Amine tied the bout and then another in sudden victory gave him his second career Big Ten title. It was a reversal of their dual match won by Brooks in very close fashion. A summer that saw Amine come home from Tokyo with an Olympic gold medal led to a late start for his 2021-22 campaign. Amine debuted at the MatMen Open and was a part of a super match in the championship round that pitted him against former rival and current Penn volunteer assistant Mark Hall. Though the match didn't count for NCAA purposes, Amine's 4-2 win set the tone for this season. Amine's win over Brooks ended up being the points needed for Michigan to lock up their first Big Ten team title since 1973. With Amine back for one last hurrah, could this be the picture-perfect ending? The national tournament is in Detroit and the Wolverines bring back a veteran team looking to make history. Starting with their leader, Amine, can he breakthrough and make the finals..then win the whole thing? The Contenders: #2 Aaron Brooks (Penn State); #3 Trent Hidlay (NC State), #4 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) The Conference Champs: ACC: #3 Trent Hidlay (NC State) Big 12: #4 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) Big Ten: #1 Myles Amine (Michigan) EIWA: #11 Jonathan Loew (Cornell) MAC: #12 Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) Pac-12: #6 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) SoCon: #24 Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) Top First-Round Matches #16 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) vs. #17 Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) vs. #24 Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) #12 Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) vs. #21 Tate Samuelson (Wyoming) #13 Kyle Cochran (Maryland) vs. #20 John Poznanski (Rutgers) #14 Gavin Kane (North Carolina) vs. #19 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) #15 Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech) vs. #18 Abe Assad (Iowa) This weight class has a clear-cut top tier of contenders that has separated itself from the rest of the bracket. Until his loss to Amine, Brooks was riding a 38-match winning streak that saw him claim a national title last year, without a loss. Prior to the Big Ten finals, the Nittany Lion star had only tasted defeat during his true freshman year. Brooks responded well to that loss by pinning Taylor Venz in the 2020 Big Ten semifinals. While pinning Amine is probably a stretch, it wouldn't be a shocker if Brooks was able to get the best of the Wolverine if they meet again. If they meet is the question because of undefeated third-seeded Trent Hidlay. While Hidlay didn't have the quality wins over Amine/Brooks, he probably could have received the top seed here without much argument. Hidlay dropped a nailbiter in the 2021 national finals to Brooks and has been on a mission since. He has racked up bonus points in over 88% of his matches this season, which is an absurd rate. We've said it already about other weights, but if Hidlay can run the table here (with wins over Amine/Brooks), he could get serious Hodge Trophy consideration. The sometimes-forgotten man at this weight, as far as the title contenders go, is the fourth seed, Parker Keckeisen. During two years of competition, Keckeisen's record sits at 42-2. Both losses have come at the hands of Brooks, a two-pointer in the NCAA semi's last year, and a one-pointer at the Collegiate Duals this season. Keckeisen claimed his second Big 12 title, in as many tries, in grand fashion. He majored his way through the tournament, which includes victories over a pair of top-17 seeds at nationals. The following two seeds at this weight are rivals from the Pac-12, #5 Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) and #6 Trey Munoz (Oregon State). This year the pair have met three times this year. Munoz won via fall in the Pac-12 finals, but Truax gets the higher seed based on his two previous wins. The loss to Munoz was the only official setback on Truax's 2021-22 record. Truax was an All-American last year at 174 and hasn't shown any ill effects with the move up in weight. Munoz was also at 174 last season and went 0-2 against Truax, while he was competing for Arizona State. Two veterans that finally seemed to put things together this year and emerged as podium threats are #7 Kaleb Romero and #8 Marcus Coleman. Both have shifted weights at various times in their careers, before finding a full-time home at 184 lbs. Romero had a breakout by winning the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, while Coleman carefully notched wins over Big 12 foes. After the big four, there's plenty of parody at this weight. It could be rewrestled ten times and the wrestlers that comprise the five-through-eight spots on the podium may be different every time. Different styles and how they mesh or don't will have a significant impact on the results here. Quadrant to Watch: You can't really go wrong with any of the four quadrants, but I'll take the second one. The one that includes fourth-seeded Keckeisen. Each first-round match in this quad contains an All-American. Truax, Brit Wilson, John Poznanski, and Keckeisen. Despite being a returning NCAA fourth-place finisher, Poznanski is the underdog in his first bout. He'll face #13 Kyle Cochran, an opponent that defeated him in the regular season and the Big Ten Championships. The winner of that bout faces Keckeisen. MAC champion, Wilson, only lost four of 29 matches all year; however, one of those came to Truax, his possible opponent in the Round of 16. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #11 Jonathan Loew (Cornell)/#14 Gavin Kane (North Carolina) Spoiler alert! We're projecting two double-digited seeded wrestlers to get onto the podium here. EIWA champion Jonathan Loew comes in on a 12-match winning streak and has been consistent all year for the Big Red. Kane quietly established himself as a national player after chalking up a pair of wins against returning All-American Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech). He has four losses on the year, two to Trent Hidlay and the others came down at 174 lbs. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #27 Keegan Moore (Oklahoma) With such a deep weight class, there are a handful of wrestlers seeded in the 20's that could have an impact. One with an upside is Keegan Moore. Moore joined Oklahoma in the second semester and won the starting job from a ranked opponent (Darrien Roberts). He would go on to place fourth at the Big 12 Championships and earn an automatic qualifying spot in Detroit. To lock up a spot at nationals, Moore needed to defeat his ex-Oklahoma State teammate, two-time All-American, Dakota Geer. In limited action, Moore also has wins over #21 Tate Samuelson (Wyoming) and #32 Colin McCracken (Kent State). Projected Quarterfinals #1 Myles Amine (Michigan) vs. #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois) #12 Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) vs. #4 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) #3 Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs. #11 Jonathan Loew (Cornell) #7 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) vs. #2 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) Projected Semifinals #1 Myles Amine (Michigan) vs. #4 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) #3 Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs. #2 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) Projected All-Americans 1st) Aaron Brooks (Penn State) 2nd) Myles Amine (Michigan) 3rd) Trent Hidlay (NC State) 4th) Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) 5th) Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) 6th) Gavin Kane (North Carolina) 7th) Jonathan Loew (Cornell) 8th) Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois) Round of 12 Finishers: #15 Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech); #9 Zac Braunagel (Illinois); #13 Kyle Cochran (Maryland); #8 Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) Consolation Round of 16: #10 Taylor Venz (Nebraska); #27 Keegan Moore (Oklahoma); #6 Trey Munoz (Oregon State); #16 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)

The top three seeds at 174 lbs Carter Starocci (center), Mekhi Lewis (left), and Logan Massa (Photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview 157 lb preview 165 lb preview We'll move on to the 174 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Carter Starocci (Penn State) Last year, Carter Starocci surprisingly reversed the result of his Big Ten final loss to Michael Kemerer and edged the Hawkeye to become a national champion as a freshman. Just two weeks earlier, Kemerer defeated Starocci, 7-2. Starocci's title made him the third Penn State freshman to capture one during the Sanderson era. Both previous winners were in 2017, with Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall. Joseph ended up repeating the following year, while Hall was taken down. Which path will Starocci follow? With another year of experience under his belt and a full season of competition with a target on his back, Starocci has been tested often. His perfect record indicates he's passed those tests. Starocci has often had to dig deep and rely on grit and intelligence to get by opponents like Michael Kemerer, Chris Foca, and Logan Massa (x2). So for a wrestler that has plenty of close calls, will the next one fail to go his way? For most other opponents, outside of the top-eight, Starocci has opened up plenty this year. His bonus point percentage has risen from 25% last year to 66% in 2021-22. If he were to run the table and finish the year unbeaten, Starocci certainly should receive some Hodge Trophy consideration. Through almost two seasons of collegiate competition, Starocci sports a 32-2 record. The Contenders: #2 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech); #3 Logan Massa (Michigan), #4 Hayden Hidlay (NC State), #5 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) The Conference Champs: ACC: #2 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) Big 12: #6 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) Big Ten: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) EIWA: #8 Mickey O'Malley (Drexel) MAC: #22 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) Pac-12: #26 Tyler Eischens (Stanford) SoCon: #19 Thomas Flitz (Appalachian State) Top First-Round Matches #16 Adam Kemp (Cal Poly) vs. #17 Nick Incontrera (Penn) #12 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) vs. #21 Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) #13 Matt Finesilver (Duke) vs. #20 Hayden Hastings (Wyoming) #11 Peyton Mocco (Missouri) vs. #22 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) #15 Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma) vs. #18 Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) This weight class has been one of the most top-heavy of the ten brackets. Of the top-five seeds, four have appeared in an NCAA final and two are past champions (Starocci and Mekhi Lewis). After the top group of contenders, there is a significant drop-off. The second seed here is the 2019 national champion at 165 lbs, Lewis. The first national champion for Virginia Tech, Mekhi, was injured late in the 2021 season and tried to compete at nationals, winning a pair of matches, before ultimately defaulting out. This year, up a weight, Lewis won his first seven matches, before suffering a loss to Hayden Hidlay in the regular-season finale. Despite being given the third seed at ACC's, Lewis avenged the loss to Hidlay in the conference semis and went on to grab his second title. Hidlay, is a past NCAA runner-up at 157 lbs, who jumped up two weights for his final season. During his time in Raleigh, Hidlay has amassed a 105-10 record with four ACC titles and three NCAA All-American honors. He'll assume the fourth seed. Checking in as the third seed is Logan Massa. A two-time NCAA All-American himself, Massa returned to Michigan in December to help his teammates potentially win a national title. Massa's only two losses of the year have come to Starocci, while he's posted wins over All-Americans Mikey Labriola and Ethan Smith. Lurking at the fifth seed is veteran Michael Kemerer. The three-time NCAA All-American has never finished lower than fourth at nationals. Kemerer suffered a pair of close losses in the regular season, which relegated him to the fourth seed at Big Ten's. There he advanced to the semifinals and locked up a bid to Detroit, before medically forfeiting out after an apparent shoulder injury. Kemerer's probably never been 100% at all this year, but if he's closer to the former he showed from early-January, he's capable of winning it all. The sixth seed here is semi-surprising, with Dustin Plott getting the nod. Plott had overall a solid season, but suffered a loss to a non-starter from Missouri and was pinned by Northern Iowa's Lance Runyon. Even so, Plott is the Big 12 champion and got a revenge win over Runyon along with Missouri's Peyton Mocco in the championship bout. Aside from Kemerer, Plott hasn't seen the upper echelon from the Big Ten and ACC at this weight. One win he does have is a 6-3 decision over the eighth-seed Mickey O'Malley, the EIWA champion. O'Malley could have some tough sledding in the second round as he takes on multiple-time AA Mikey Labriola. Labriola and seventh-seeded Ethan Smith are the Big Ten All-Americans that round out the initial group of contenders. Quadrant to Watch: Overall, this bracket has been fairly evenly distributed. There isn't one quarter that sticks out as more loaded than the others. But having to pick one, I'd go for the third. A first-round matchup between #14 Chris Foca and #19 Thomas Flitz (Appalachian State) is interesting. Foca was in the top ten at one point and has that type of talent. Late in the year, he's taken a couple of injury defaults. He medically forfeited out of the EIWA's and needed an at-large berth just to get to Detroit. If he's still ailing, Flitz could be a good upset candidate in round one. The potential 6/11 match could be a Big 12 finals rematch with Plott and Mocco. Plott got the one-point win last time, but Mocco is capable of flipping that result. However that plays out, the winner is likely to see Logan Massa. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #18 Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) Lance Runyon almost missed the first three months of the year due to injury, but made his presence felt immediately and pinned Plott in his second dual of the season. Runyon then notched wins over two eventual national qualifiers, prior to the conference tournament. At Big 12, Runyon settled for sixth place and an automatic berth to nationals. He's got the look of a wrestler that missed a lot of mat time and is still rounding into shape. Even with a first-round match against Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma), an opponent responsible for two of his three losses, Runyon still has a decent path to the bloodround, even with an early setback. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #21 Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) Like a lot of things related to college wrestling in March, this one is contingent on health. Before the Big Ten Championships, Bailee O'Reilly had the look of a wrestler that suffered a few conference losses, but would shock some people once he hit non-Big Ten competition. Even amongst B1G competition, O'Reilly was turning in sizable wins over everyone outside of the top-tier. In his first match in Lincoln, O'Reilly majored Andrew McNally (Wisconsin), 11-3. Then he was injured and had to default out of a match with Labriola. If semi-healthy, the first-round bout between him and #12 Cade Devos could be a good one. Before O'Reilly established himself as Minnesota's starter, he dropped a one-point bout to DeVos in open competition. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #9 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) #5 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) vs. #4 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) #3 Logan Massa (Michigan) vs. #6 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) #7 Ethan Smith (Ohio State) vs. #2 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) Projected Semifinals #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. #4 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) #3 Logan Massa (Michigan) vs. #2 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) Projected All-Americans 1st) Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) 2nd) Carter Starocci (Penn State) 3rd) Logan Massa (Michigan) 4th) Hayden Hidlay (NC State) 5th) Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) 6th) Ethan Smith (Ohio State) 7th) Michael Kemerer (Iowa) 8th) Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Clay Lautt (North Carolina); #11 Peyton Mocco (Missouri); #12 Cade Devos (South Dakota State); #18 Lance Runyon (Northern Iowa) Consolation Round of 16:#16 Adam Kemp (Cal Poly); #20 Hayden Hastings (Wyoming); #13 Matt Finesilver (Duke); #8 Mickey O'Malley (Drexel)

The top three seeds at 165 lbs Evan Wick (center), Keegan O'Toole (left), and Alex Marinelli (Photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview 157 lb preview We'll move on to the 165 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Evan Wick (Cal Poly) In his first year back in his home state Evan Wick has thrived, turning in his finest regular season to date. Wick was a two-time NCAA All-American for Wisconsin, placing third and fourth, in 2018 and 2019, respectively, before earning NWCA first-team AA honors in 2020. He took an Olympic redshirt year in 2020-21 and then decided to transfer out of Madison. Back on the west coast, Wick has taken his game to another level and heads to Detroit unbeaten and is the first Mustang wrestler to earn the top seed since Chad Mendes in 2008. So far in 2020-21, Wick has three wins over the defending champion at this weight, Shane Griffith. They met at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, in dual competition, and in the Pac-12 finals. In addition to Griffith, Wick has wins over Big Ten runner-up, Cam Amine, MAC champion Izzak Olejnik, and All-American Anthony Valencia. Even so, Wick doesn't have much recent history against the rest of the primary contenders at 165 lbs. That could lead to some interesting matchups. A potential meeting with #3 Alex Marinelli is interesting because the two clashed a handful of times while he was at Wisconsin. Wick took the first meeting, but Marinelli got the next four, each being close matches. But a lot has changed since they met early in the 2019-20 season. Should Wick come out of this weight class unscathed, he should receive significant consideration for the Hodge Trophy. Obviously, Gable Steveson is a considerable favorite to repeat as the winner, but Wick has a good case. He's racked up bonus points in over 60% of his bouts and would add some high-quality victories to his ledger, no matter how the bracket unfolds. The Contenders: #2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri); #3 Alex Marinelli (Iowa); #4 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin); #5 Shane Griffith (Stanford); #6 Cameron Amine (Michigan); #7 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) The Conference Champs: ACC: #10 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) Big Ten: #3 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) EIWA: #8 Phil Conigliaro (Harvard) MAC: #11 Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois) Pac-12: #1 Evan Wick (Cal Poly) SoCon: #22 Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb) Top First-Round Matches #12 Zach Hartman (Bucknell) vs. #21 Thomas Bullard (NC State) #13 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) vs. #20 Will Formato (Appalachian State) #14 Josh Ogunsanya (Columbia) vs. #19 Justin McCoy (Virginia) #6 Cameron Amine (Michigan) vs. #27 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) #15 Austin Yant (Northern Iowa) vs. #18 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State) Despite the starpower at this weight, the preseason and regular season favorite in many fans' minds has been second-seeded Keegan O'Toole. As a true freshman last year, O'Toole went 19-1 and claimed third place at this weight. In 2021-22, O'Toole has yet to lose and asserted himself as one of the most enjoyable wrestlers to watch at the weight (or any weight). O'Toole has six falls on the year and bonus points in three-quarters of his appearances. One of the veterans of this weight, looking to go out on top, is Iowa's Alex Marinelli. Marinelli won his fourth Big Ten title and looks rejuvenated after a midseason loss to Carson Kharchla. A title for Marinelli would help dispel the reputation of not succeeding at nationals, despite coming in as the top-seed two different times (he was also seeded 1st in 2020). In each of his last two NCAA appearances, Marinelli has fallen to the eventual champion in the quarterfinals. The most recent wrestler to upset Marinelli in the quarters was Shane Griffith last season. Griffith's magical run to a national title helped “Save Stanford Wrestling.” This year, as the favorite, Griffith suffered an early loss to Julian Ramirez and relinquished the top spot at 165. Since then, his only other losses are to Wick. Fortunately or unfortunately, he may have the opportunity to right those wrong, but meeting Wick in the semis. Of course, standing in his way is the fourth seed, Dean Hamiti. This year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Hamiti has shown fearlessness with his ability to fire off shots at a high clip. I'm thinking that could give Griffith some openings. This weight class is as loaded as any of the ten. It has contenders all over the place. The top-half has All-American Zach Hartman (Bucknell) in a tough first-round match with Thomas Bullard. Also from the EIWA is the conference champ, Phil Conigliaro (Harvard) in the eighth slot and Ramirez as the 13th seed. It also has some Big 12 flavor with the conference runner-up, Peyton Hall (West Virginia), seeded ninth and the league's 2021 champion, Luke Weber (North Dakota State), as the 16. The bottom half of the bracket has more Big Ten flavor with Kharchla and Amine. The Buckeye was seeded first at the Big Ten Championships, but was knocked off by Amine in the semis. Also in the mix, are 2021 NCAA runner-up, Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh), and MAC champ Olejnik. Quadrant to Watch: The last quadrant on the bottom half of the bracket. Three of the eight wrestlers are returning All-Americans (Wentzel, Valencia, O'Toole). Bracketing certainly did the second-seeded O'Toole no favors here. He could face either a much-improved Austin Yant or Valencia in the Round of 16. There's a possibility that O'Toole seeds Wentzel in the quarters. The Panther senior is responsible for O'Toole's only collegiate loss, in the 2021 NCAA semis. But, before that rematch could take place, Wentzel would have to get by Kharchla. In mid-December, Kharchla and Wentzel met and it was the Buckeye who took a one-point decision. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #16 Luke Weber (North Dakota State) Last year, Weber was the Big 12 champion and earned the ninth seed at his first NCAA Tournament. He acquitted himself well and came within a match of placing. This time around, he's dropped a few more matches as the weight class has gotten tougher. Even so, Weber will still be a tough out for anyone in this bracket. For him to go deep into this bracket, he may have to reverse his fortunes against Austin Yant, someone who has beaten him twice in close contests. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #27 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) Typically, you'd expect a sixth-seeded Big Ten runner-up to roll over the #27 seed in the opening round. But, looking at their record, Bubba Wilson actually owns a win this year over Cam Amine. Wilson did not earn an automatic qualifying slot for the Big Ten, but stole a spot by finishing sixth at the conference meet. His recent win over Amine gives him a mental edge that most 27th seeds likely don't have at this time. Not only that, he has wrestled better towards the end of the year and his talent isn't indicative of his 13-12 record for the year. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Evan Wick (Cal Poly) vs. #9 Peyton Hall (West Virginia) #5 Shane Griffith (Stanford) vs. #4 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) #3 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #6 Cameron Amine (Michigan) #7 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) vs. #2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) Projected Semifinals #1 Evan Wick (Cal Poly) vs. #5 Shane Griffith (Stanford) #3 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. #2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) Projected All-Americans 1st) Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) 2nd) Evan Wick (Cal Poly) 3rd) Shane Griffith (Stanford) 4th) Alex Marinelli (Iowa) 5th) Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) 6th) Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) 7th) Cameron Amine (Michigan) 8th) Peyton Hall (West Virginia) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh); #19 Justin McCoy (Virginia); #14 Josh Ogunsanya (Columbia); #8 Phil Conigliaro (Harvard) Consolation Round of 16: #18 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State); #11 Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois); #12 Zach Hartman (Bucknell); #15 Austin Yant (Northern Iowa)

Zain Retherford (right) (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) 57 KG 2021 world bronze medalist #16 (61) Aryan Tyutrin (BLR) made his return to 57 KG after a short stint up at 61 KG that saw him take silver at the Belarusian national championships in January. Tyutrin's performance at the Dan Kolov saw him take home gold by beating the 2021 48 KG Cadet world champion Aman Aman (IND). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Aliabbas Rzazade (AZE) and Roberti Dingashvili (GEO). #17 Almaz Smanbekov (KGZ) continued his rise with a title at the Yasar Dogu over 2019 Dan Kolov champion Beka Bujiashvili (GEO). Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Muhammet Karavus (TUR) and Dan Kolov runner-up Aman Aman (IND). 2019 Russian Nationals bronze medalist Khasanhusein Badrudinov (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Ibadula Batyrbiev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Magomed Magomedov (RUS) and Omar Gasainiev (RUS). Removed from this month's rankings were #3 Ravi Kumar (IND) and #5 Gulomyon Abdullaev (UZB) as they both moved up to 61 KG, where Kumar beat Abdullaev in the finals of the Yasar Dogu. Yarygin champion #6 Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS) competed up at 61 KG for the Yasar Dogu, where he was tech falled 12-1 by Ahmet Tas (TUR). Gamzatov will continue to stay ranked at 57 KG as it is his primary weight and with the departure of #3 Kumar and #5 Abdullaev, he moves up two spots to #4. Notable ranked matches from February were Daulet Temirzhanov (KAZ) upsetting 2021 world bronze medalist #10 Horst Lehr (GER) in the round of 16 at the Yasar Dogu and Aman beating #19 Afghan Khashalov (AZE) in the semifinals of the Dan Kolov. 2021 world champion #2 Thomas Gilman (USA) tech falled Darian Cruz (PUR) 11-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. Aryan Tyutrin takes the #8 spot in the rankings after winning the Dan Kolov over Aman. #10 Horst Lehr (GER) and #11 Abubakar Mutaliev (RUS) were both dropped four spots in the rankings to #14 and #15 after Lehr's loss to Temirzhanov at the Yasar Dogu and because Lehr beat Mutaliev at the 2021 world championships. Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist #12 Nurislam Sanayev (KAZ) and 2017 world champion #13 Yuki Takahashi (JPN) complete the top ten at #9 and #10. Smanbekov moves up four spots in the rankings to #13 after winning the Yasar Dogu over Beka Bujiashvili (GEO), who returns to the rankings at #16 for beating Aman in the Yasar Dogu semifinals. While only making his debut in the rankings at #17, Aman is someone to keep an eye out for, as the 2021 48 KG Cadet world champion had great wins over Temirzhanov (KAZ) and 2021 European bronze medalist Khashalov. Completing the new additions to the rankings is Temirzhanov at #18 for beating 2021 world bronze medalist Lehr at the Yasar Dogu. 61 KG Yarygin bronze medalist #5 Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) won gold at the Dan Kolov over 2021 57 KG Olympic runner-up #3 Ravi Kumar (IND). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Georgi Vangelov (BUL) and Josh Rodriguez (USA). After an opening-round loss to Abakarov, Rodriguez tore through the consolation bracket of the Kolov and picked up a slew of impressive wins over the likes of #15 Andrey Bekrenev (BLR) and #8 Ravinder Ravinder (IND). Rodriguez also has career wins over #8 (57) Aryan Tyutrin (BLR) and two-time U-23 world champion Reineri Andreu Ortega (CUB). Rebounding from his finals loss to #5 Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) at the Dan Kolov, 2021 57 KG Olympic runner-up Kumar took gold at the Yasar Dogu over #5 (57) Gulomyon Abdullaev (UZB) to avenge his 2021 Ziolkowski finals loss. Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov (KGZ) and Nico Megaludis (USA). Rasul Gazuev (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Dalgat Abdulkadyrov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Shamil Islamov (RUS) and Eldar Akhmadudinov (RUS). Notable athletes removed from the rankings this month were #3 Andrey Dzhelep (UKR), who hasn't competed since April 2021, where he was the European championships runner-up to #1 Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS). #7 Adlan Askarov (KAZ) has been removed as he moved up to 65 KG, where he lost in the round of 16 at the Yasar Dogu to Rohit Rohit (IND). #16 Aryan Tyutrin (BLR) has been removed from the rankings as he moved back down to 57 KG, where he won the Dan Kolov over #17 (57) Aman Aman (IND). Kumar (IND) and Abdullaev make their debuts in the 61 KG rankings at #3 and #4 after finishing champion and runner-up at the Yasar Dogu, respectively. #5 Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) moves up three spots to #2 for beating Kumar in the finals of the Dan Kolov. The final new development in the top ten is the addition of Josh Rodriguez (USA) at #8, who made his presence known by beating #15 Andrey Bekrenev (BLR) and #8 Ravinder Ravinder (IND) at the Dan Kolov. 2021 world runner-up #5 Daton Fix (USA) tech falled Guesseppe Rea (ECU) 10-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. 2019 U-23 world champion Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov (KGZ) returns to the rankings at #17 after taking bronze at the Yasar Dogu over two-time European bronze medalist #19 Recep Topal (TUR) and Ahmet Tas (TUR). Yarygin bronze medalist Abdurakhman Rasulov (RUS) slots in at #16 for beating #17 Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov (KGZ) for bronze at the Yarygin. Ahmet Tas (TUR) debuts in the rankings at #18 for beating #4 (57) Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS) at the Yasar Dogu, but can't debut higher because of loss to #17 Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov (KGZ). Nico Megaludis (USA) debuts in the rankings at #19 after a great bronze medal finish at the Yasar Dogu, where he beat #20 Mohammadbagheri Yakhkeshi (IRI), Georgi Okorokov (AUS) and 2019 Alans bronze medalist Shamil Makhmudovitch Omarov (ITA). Mohammadbagheri Yakhkeshi (IRI) takes the final spot in the rankings at #20 for beating 2019 57 KG world runner-up #17 Suleyman Atli (TUR) in the quarterfinals of the Yasar Dogu. 65 KG Yarygin bronze medalist #8 Islam Dudaev (ALB) won the Dan Kolov over Anuj Kumar (IND). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Pat Lugo (USA) and Nyurgun Skryabin (BLR). Yarygin champion #6 Shamil Mamedov (RUS) won the Yasar Dogu in stunning fashion with a pin over reigning world champion #5 Zagir Shakhiev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Umidjon Jalolov (UZB) and #12 Joey McKenna (USA). 2021 Russian Nationals bronze medalist #15 Abdulmazhid Kudiev (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Movla Duduev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Zakarya Abdusalamov (RUS) and Dinislam Takhtarov (RUS). #15 Murshid Mutalimov (RUS) competed up at 70 KG, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Gadzhimurad Omarov (RUS). #11 Joey McKenna (USA) tech falled Kamol Begakov (TJK) 10-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. Mamedov moves up one spot to #5 after pinning Shakhiev in the finals of the Yasar Dogu. 2021 world bronze medalist #9 Tulga Tumur Ochir (MGL) fell eight spots in the rankings to #17 after taking fifth at the Yasar Dogu with losses to Mamedov (RUS) and Umidjon Jalolov (UZB). All athletes from #10-16 moved up one spot in the rankings due to Tumur Ochir's fall. 2019 55 KG Cadet world champion Umidjon Jalolov (UZB) makes his debut in the rankings at #16 for beating Tumur Ochir and 2021 International Ukrainian Tournament champion Ali Rahimzade (AZE) to take bronze at the Yasar Dogu. 70 KG Zain Retherford (USA) captured gold at the Dan Kolov over 2019 Alans runner-up #16 Ramazan Ramazanov (BUL) to make his 70 KG rankings debut at #16. Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Ivan Stoyanov (BUL) and Gia Avaliani (GEO). Returning 65 KG world runner-up Amir Mohammad Yazdani Charati (IRI) won gold at the Yasar Dogu over 2017 world runner-up #10 James Green (USA). Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Yarygin champion #5 Viktor Rassadin (RUS) and 2021 world bronze medalist #8 Zurab Iakobishvili (GEO). Akhmed Nurakhmaev (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Gadzhimurad Omarov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Suleiman Osmanov (RUS) and Magomedsalih Abakarov (RUS). 2020 Individual World Cup runner-up #14 Heydar Yavuz (TUR) has been removed from the rankings due to inactivity. Yavuz has not competed since April 2021 when he finished 8th at the European championships. #3 James Green (USA) tech falled Dillon Williams (CAN) 10-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. Amir Mohammad Yazdani Charati (IRI) takes the #2 spot in the rankings after winning the Yasar Dogu with a victory over Iakobishvili. Green moves up seven spots in the rankings to #3 after beating Rassadin in the semis of the Yasar Dogu. Returning world runner-up #2 Ernazar Akmataliev (KGZ) falls three spots in the rankings to #5 for losing to Rassadin in the quarterfinals of the Yasar Dogu. 74 KG 70 KG Junior world runner-up Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (AZE) won the Dan Kolov over 2021 70 KG European runner-up Turan Bayramov (AZE). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Murad Kuramagomedov (HUN) and Dmitri Jioev (GEO). Two-time World/Olympic bronze medalist #17 Soner Demirtas (TUR) won the Yasar Dogu over 2021 world bronze medalist #20 Fazli Eryilmaz (TUR). Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Sumiyabazar Zandanbud (MGL) and Islambek Orozbekov (KGZ). Magomedrasul Asluev (RUS) upset 2021 Umakhanov tournament champion #13 Mohamad Nasirkhaev (RUS) to win the championship of Dagestan. Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Gadzhimurad Hasanov (RUS) and Saipulla Alibulatov (RUS). Yarygin runner-up #10 Jason Nolf (USA) tech falled 2021 European bronze medalist Mitch Finesilver (ISR) 11-0 at Bout at the Ballpark. 2021 Russian Nationals runner-up #5 Razambek Zhamalov (RUS) has been removed from the rankings. Zhamalov has not competed since the 2021 European championships, where he took 5th after losses to #3 Taimuraz Salkazanov (SVK) and #4 Frank Chamizo (ITA). 2021 Umakhanov tournament runner-up #14 Akhmad Shakhbanov (RUS) has been removed from the rankings as he moved up to 79 KG, where he was the championship of Dagestan runner-up to Begkhan Misrikhanov (RUS). Asluev debuts in the rankings at #14 for winning the championship of Dagestan over Nasirkhaev. 2021 European bronze medalist Finesilver upset Turkish national runner-up #19 Samet Ak (TUR) in the round of 16 at the Yasar Dogu. Demirtas moved up five spots to #12 and Eryilmaz moved up seven spots to #13 because they have better overall bodies of work than the likes of Asluev, Budaev, Nasirkhaev and Orozbekov. Gadzhiev completes the rankings at #20 for winning the Dan Kolov over Bayramov. 79 KG Four-time World bronze medalist Ali Shabanov (BLR) made his return to 79 KG with a title at the Dan Kolov over 2020 Asian championships runner-up Baliyan Gourav (IND). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Mostafa Ghiasi Cheka (IRI) and Valentyn Babii (UKR). Reigning world champion #1 Jordan Burroughs (USA), took out Chance Marsteller (USA) to win gold at the Yasar Dogu. Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were #11 Ali Savadkouhi (IRI) and #15 Arsalan Budazhapov (KGZ). Begkhan Misrikhanov (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over 2021 74 KG Umakhanov tournament runner-up Akhmad Shakhbanov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Atam Shikhmuradov (RUS) and Jamal Akhmadudinov (RUS). #1 Jordan Burroughs (USA) tech falled Nestor Taffur (COL) 11-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark The most important ranked matchups of this month primarily took place at the Yasar Dogu. Burroughs had two very good wins over #11 Ali Savadkouhi (IRI) and #18 Gadzhimurad Alikhmaev (RUS) to make the finals, while Marsteller had strong wins over #15 Arsalan Budazhapov (KGZ) and 2020 Russian Nationals runner-up Khetag Tsabolov (SRB). For Chance Marsteller's run through the Yasar Dogu, the American standout is able to make his debut in the rankings at #19. Four-time world bronze medalist Shabanov takes the #12 spot in the rankings. Shabanov does have a better track record at world's than the majority of the weight, but the fact that he hasn't been at 79 since 2018 (where he took world bronze) hurts his argument to outrank those with more extensive and current resumes. 86KG 2021 world bronze medalist #20 Abubakar Abakarov (AZE) beat 2021 European runner-up Sandro Aminashvili (GEO) in the finals to win gold at the Dan Kolov. Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were Sanjeet (IND) and Orkhan Abasov (AZE). #19 Osman Gocen (TUR) beat #18 Fatih Erdin (TUR) for gold at the Yasar Dogu. Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (UZB) and Gadzhimurad Magomedsaidov (AZE). #13 (79) Amanulla Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Magomednabi Magomedov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Shamil Aliev (RUS) and Magomedmurad Dudaev (RUS). #8 Zahid Valencia (USA) tech falled Noel Torres (MEX) 10-0 at the Bout at the Ballpark. The only change in the 86 KG rankings for this month is Gocen and Erdin trading spots after Gocen's win in the Yasar Dogu finals. 92 KG Adlan Tasuev (BLR) won the Dan Kolov over Akhmed Bataev (BUL). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were #7 Osman Nurmagomedov (AZE) and Deepak Punia (IND). Ahmad Bazrigaleh (IRI) won the Yasar Dogu over #14 Erhan Yaylaci (TUR). Bronze medalists were Ahmet Bilici (TUR) and Deepak Punia (IND). Khabib Gadzhiev (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over 2020 champion Gadzhimagomed Nazhmudinov (RUS). Bronze medalists were Ashkab Saadulaev (RUS) and Magomed Sharipov (RUS). Kollin Moore (USA) tech falled Evan Ramos (PUR) in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. #3 Batyrbek Tsakulov (SVK) has been removed from the rankings due to inactivity, having not competed since October 2020 when he took bronze at the Russian Nationals. #15 Gadzhi Radzhabov (BLR) has been removed from the rankings as he moved down to 86 KG, where he lost at the Dan Kolov to Zaur Beradze (GEO). Tasuev makes his debut in the rankings at #5 for winning the Yasar Dogu over Bataev. Bataev takes the #6 spot in the rankings for beating 2021 world bronze medalist Nurmagomedov. Bazrigaleh debuts in the 92 KG rankings at #10 for winning the Yasar Dogu over Yaylaci. Yaylaci moves up three spots to #11 and Bilici is in at #12 for them both teching #9 Guram Chertkoev (Yaylaci in the semis, Bilici for bronze). #9 Zbigniew Baranowski (POL) competed up at 97 KG for Bout at the Ballpark against #2 (97) Kyle Snyder (USA) and lost by 12-0 tech fall. 97 KG #19 Magomedkhan Magomedov (AZE) won the Dan Kolov title over Meysam Abdi (IRI). Aleksandr Hushtyn (BLR) and Radu Lefter (MDA) finished with bronze at the Dan Kolov. #9 Mohammad Mohammadian (IRI) beat #11 Alikhan Zhabrailov (RUS) in the finals of the Yasar Dogu. Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Mamed Ibragimov (KAZ) and Kollin Moore (USA). Akhmed Tazhudinov (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Suleiman Omarov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Gasan Shamkhalov (RUS) and Gadzhimagomed Tazhudinov (RUS). #2 Kyle Snyder (USA) tech falled #9 Zbigniew Baranowski (POL) 12-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. Mohammadian moves up two spots in the rankings to #7 after winning the Yasar Dogu over Zhabrailov. Zhabrailov moves up two spots to #9 for beating #7 Shamil Musaev (RUS) in the quarterfinals of the Yasar Dogu. 125 KG #13 Dzianis Khramiankov (BLR) won the Dan Kolov over Jere Heino (FIN). Bronze medalists at the Dan Kolov were #5 Yadollah Mohebbi (IRI) and Rahid Hamidli (AZE). #10 Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) beat Zach Merrill (PUR) 10-0 in his match at Bout at the Ballpark. Magomed Tagirov (RUS) won the championship of Dagestan over Amirkhan Aliyev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the championship of Dagestan were Gamzat Alizhudinov (RUS) and Omar Gasainiev (RUS). In a battle between 2021 world bronze medalists, #3 Taha Akgul (TUR) beat #10 Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (MGL) for gold at the Yasar Dogu. Bronze medalists at the Yasar Dogu were Yusup Batirmurzaev (KAZ) and Daniel Ligeti (HUN). Mohebbi falls nine spots to #14 after losing to Khramiankov at the Dan Kolov. Atsamaz Tebloev (RUS) returns to the rankings at #11 for beating #10 Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) and #11 Vitali Goloev (RUS) at the Yasar Dogu. 2020 Asian champion Batirmurzaev returns to the rankings at #10 for taking bronze at the Yasar Dogu with wins over #11 Atsamaz Tebloev (RUS) and Gennadij Cudinovic (GER). #11 Vitali Goloev (RUS) falls four spots in the rankings to #15 after his loss to #11 Atsamaz Tebloev (RUS). Pound for Pound There were some new additions and removals from the pound-for-pound for March. Removed from the pound-for-pound rankings were #12 Razambek Zhamalov (inactivity), #21 Magomed Kurbanaliev (weaker resume), and #25 Ernazar Akmataliev (loss to #4 (70) Viktor Rassadin at Yasar Dogu). New additions to the pound for pound are 65 KG Yasar Dogu champion Shamil Mamedov (RUS) at 23, 2021, 65 KG world champion Zagir Shakhiev (RUS) at #24 and 2021 Olympic and World runner-up Kyle Snyder (USA) at #25.

The top three seeds at 157 lbs David Carr (center), Ryan Deakin (left), and Jacori Teemer (Carr Photo/Mark Lundy; Deakin Photo/Sam Janicki; Teemer Photo/Tony Rotundo) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview 149 lb preview We'll move on to the 157 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: David Carr (Iowa State) For the second consecutive season, David Carr comes into the national tournament with a spotless record. Last year, with limited travel and competition, there were a handful of undefeated wrestlers, which led to him getting the third seed. This time he'll assume top billing at 157 lbs. Carr has won 52 straight bouts and might be a favorite for the Hodge Trophy, were Gable Steveson (Minnesota) not around. Carr has improved his bonus point percentage in 2021-22 to 66%, which is just a hair better than last season. Aside from a sudden victory win in his first appearance of the season, Carr has generally blown through the competition. He has one other match in 2021-22 that saw his opponent stay within two points. At the Big 12 Championships, Carr put together an 8-2 win over our sixth seed, Jared Franek (North Dakota State), for his third conference title. Franek is one of the few opponents who has been able to limit Carr to a decision; however, this win had a larger margin of victory than their dual (7-3). With the way various schedules were created, it led to most of the big dogs around the country missing Carr in duals and tournaments. Therefore, we could have some fun, new matchups or ones that we haven't seen in years. One of those is between him and second-seeded Ryan Deakin. Deakin is responsible for Carr's only career loss, at the 2019 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The Contenders: #2 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern); #3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State); #4 Ed Scott (NC State); #5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) The Conference Champs: ACC: #4 Ed Scott (NC State) Big 12: #1 David Carr (Iowa State) Big Ten: #2 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) EIWA: #5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) MAC: #26 Ben Barton (Lock Haven) Pac-12: #3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) SoCon: #22 Dazjon Castol (The Citadel) Top First-Round Matches #16 Brady Berge (Penn State) vs. #17 Hunter Willits (Oregon State) #9 Kaleb Young (Iowa) vs. #24 Doug Zapf (Penn) #8 Will Lewan (Michigan) vs. #25 Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) #14 Jake Keating (Virginia) vs. #19 Kendall Coleman (Purdue) #15 Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) vs. #18 Andrew Cerniglia (Navy) We alluded to it in the discussion about David Carr, but this weight class has its talent pretty evenly distributed around the conferences. It isn't lopsided in favor of the Big Ten, for example. Each of the top-five seeds comes from different conferences, and most of them haven't met this season. 157 lbs is one of two weight classes with three undefeated contenders. The biggest threat to a repeat from Carr is Deakin, the second seed. The Wildcat star recently won his third Big Ten title and is only the third NU wrestler to accomplish this feat. In each of the last two years, Deakin has earned the top-seed at the NCAA Championships. Last year, Deakin was stunned in the semifinals by Rider's Jesse Dellavecchia and in 2020, the tournament wasn't wrestled. Could he get that elusive title? On Deakin's half of the bracket is undefeated Jacori Teemer as the third seed. Teemer fell to Deakin in the NCAA third-place bout last year, 1-0. While he's unbeaten, Teemer has played with fire a few times and prevailed in four matches that have gone to sudden victory/tiebreakers. One of which came in the Pac-12 finals to Hunter Willits. There's new blood at this weight class in the 4/5/7th seeds. #4 Ed Scott competed at 149 lbs last year, as a true freshman, and didn't qualify for St. Louis. This year, Scott has been lights out and is coming in off an ACC Championships, where he knocked off returning champion Austin O'Connor in the finals. Scott is dangerous and can end a match in a flash with his headlock. The #5 seed, Quincy Monday, hasn't actually appeared in a national tournament since 2019, because of the cancelation in 2020 and the Ivy League shutdown in 2021. His three losses in 2021-22 have come to the top-four seeds. Like Monday, Josh Humphreys has missed the last two national tournaments, as he redshirted with an injury last year. He is brutal from the top position and can neutralize anyone. Sixth-seeded Jared Franek is in good position to become the first NDSU wrestler to make the podium since the 2015 season. Two of his three losses this season came to Carr and the other was to All-American Brayton Lee (Minnesota), who is injured and not competing. Franek could have a massive second-round match with O'Connor. Provided he's healthy, O'Connor is a super-dangerous 11th seed. That loss in the ACC finals to Scott seems costly, but I like his positioning in the bracket. Finally, the Big Ten contingent of #8 Will Lewan (Michigan), #9 Kaleb Young (Iowa), #10 Peyton Robb (Nebraska), and #16 Brady Berge (Penn State) will all make a push for the podium. All four are bruisers that are capable of winning ugly and advancing, which is the primary goal. Quadrant to Watch: We've already started to talk about it; it's the third one. The one that includes a possible second-round match between Franek/O'Connor. Above it, #14 Jake Keating and #19 Kendall Coleman hit in round one. Keating is responsible for Scott's only loss of the year in an 11-10 shootout. Coleman's never shy about putting points on the board, so expect plenty between these two Illinois natives. Above them is Jacori Teemer. Keating teammate, Justin McCoy, handed Teemer his first collegiate loss, so maybe he has some tips should Keating and Teemer clash. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #16 Brady Berge (Penn State) The 16th seed for Brady Berge falls into the category of “I get it, but I don't really like it.” I understand that Berge had a limited schedule with only 11 matches versus DI competition, four of which came against 165 lbers. There wasn't a lot of information to go off of. But, Berge did finish third with two wins over Kaleb Young and a fall against Kendall Coleman (Purdue) in the process. He's certainly better than the 16th best wrestler at this weight. Berge will have a very difficult first-round match in Willits, who traditionally wrestles Teemer close. Provided he gets by Willits, Berge should meet top-seeded Carr. It's a much more difficult match than you'd expect for Carr at that point in time, as the #1 seed. To get on the podium, Berge probably has to beat some combination of Lewan/Young and Franek/O'Connor. As he gets more mat time, those are winnable matches. We've gone through two paragraphs without mentioning how great of a story it was that Berge's even here. After last season, Berge stopped competing due to injuries and took a job on the South Dakota State coaching staff. With Penn State needing help at 157/165, Berge temporarily left his post and came back to help the Nittany Lions regain a national title. He's already got a third-place finish at the Big Ten's under his belt; what else is Berge capable of doing? Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #27 Garrett Model (Wisconsin) Sometimes the biggest hurdle for a wrestler looking to succeed at a tournament like this is the mental block of actually beating top opposition. That's something Garrett Model doesn't have to worry about. Earlier this season, Model handed, then-undefeated Brayton Lee, his first loss of the year. Lee has an excellent track record and was an AA in 2021, so a loss to the then-9-6 Model, was shocking. While the Lee win was a highlight, it wasn't the only of the year for the Badger. At the Big Ten Championships, Model's back was against the wall in the seventh-place match. Win or rely on an at-large berth was the stakes. Across the mat from him was #21 Chase Saldate (Michigan State), who sported a 26-7 record at the time. That didn't phase Model, as he dominated the contest from start to finish and punched his ticket to Detroit with a 7-0 win. Model has his work cut out for him with a first-round match against #6 Franek. Even with an opening-round loss, there's a path for Model to grab some wins on the backside and who knows what happens from there? What we do know is that he's beaten one of the best at this weight, already. Projected Quarterfinals #1 David Carr (Iowa State) vs. #8 Will Lewan (Michigan) #4 Ed Scott (NC State) vs. #5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) #3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) vs. #11 Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) #7 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) vs. #2 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) Projected Semifinals #1 David Carr (Iowa State) vs. #5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) #3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) vs. #7 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) Projected All-Americans 1st) David Carr (Iowa State) 2nd) Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) 3rd) Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) 4th) Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) 5th) Ed Scott (NC State) 6th) Quincy Monday (Princeton) 7th) Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) 8th) Will Lewan (Michigan) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Peyton Robb (Nebraska), #6 Jared Franek (North Dakota State), #14 Jake Keating (Virginia); #16 Brady Berge (Penn State) Consolation Round of 16: #17 Hunter Willits (Oregon State), #19 Kendall Coleman (Purdue); #27 Garrett Model (Wisconsin), #9 Kaleb Young (Iowa)

The 2022 NCAA DII National Champions (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Team Scores 1st) Nebraska-Kearney 127 2nd) Central Oklahoma 86 3rd) West Liberty 75.5 4th) St. Cloud State 67 5th) Adams State 65 6th) Indianapolis 48.5 7th) Minnesota State 39 8th) Colorado Mesa 31 9th) McKendree 30.5 10th) Gannon 30 Championship Finals 125 - Cole Laya (West Liberty) maj Josh Portillo (Nebraska-Kearney) 9-0 133 - Jonathan Andreatta (Adams State) fall Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) 2:25 141 - Zeth Brower (Lander) dec Brandon Proudlock (Findlay) 6-4 149 - Noah Hermosillo (Adams State) dec Sam Turner (Nebraska-Kearney) 6-4SV 157 - Josiah Rider (Adams State) fall JoJo Gonzalez (American International) 2:48 165 - Matt Malcom (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Shane Gantz (Wisconsin-Parkside) 1-0 174 - Trevor Turriff (Minnesota State) dec Andrew Sams (Indianapolis) 3-2 184 - Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) dec Connor Craig (West Liberty) 4-3 197 - Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) dec Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) 6-0 285 - Darrell Mason (Minnesota State) dec Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) 5-3 Third Place Bouts 125 - Tyshawn White (Shippensburg) dec Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) 10-5 133 - Wesley Dawkins (Nebraska-Kearney) maj Reece Barnhardt (Mary) 11-3 141 - Joey Bianchini (St. Cloud State) dec Tyler Warner (West Liberty) 6-5 149 - Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) dec Isiah Royal (Newberry) 6-2 157 - Ryan Wheeler (Colorado Mesa) fall John Ridle (Central Missouri) 1:16 165 - Cory Peterson (McKendree) dec John Dean (Belmont Abbey) 5-3 174 - Ty McGeary (West Liberty) dec Austin Eldredge (Nebraska-Kearney) 6-4 184 - Billy Higgins (Nebraska-Kearney) dec Dan Filipek (McKendree) 5-3SV 197 - Nick Mason (Tiffin) fall Cole Huss (Northern State) 6:34 285 - Kameron Teacher (St. Cloud State) dec Weston Hunt (Colorado School of Mines) 4-2 Fifth Place Bouts 125 - Dawson Collins (Colorado Mesa) maj Nicholas Daggett (UNC-Pembroke) 14-2 133 - Corey Gamet (Lake Erie) MedFFT Majid Corbett (Limestone) 141 - Nick James (Nebraska-Kearney) MedFFT Colby Smith (Lindenwood) 149 - Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) dec Logan Bailey (Indianapolis) 6-5 157 - Anthony Herrera (St. Cloud State) dec dec Noah Tarr (David & Elkins) 6-1 165 - Drew Weichers (Ashland) dec Evan Fisler (Gannon) 5-3 174 - Dillon Walker (Mercyhurst) dec Alex Kauffmann (Central Oklahoma) 13-9 184 - Martin Verhaeghe (Fort Hays State) dec Caden Steffen (SW Minnesota State) 6-5 197 - Gino Sita (Alderson Broaddus) dec Noah Ryan (St. Cloud State) 6-4SV 285 - Lee Herrington (Nebraska-Kearney) MedFFT Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) Seventh Place Bouts 125 - Kevin Radcliff (Limestone) dec Cody Fatzinger (Western Colorado) 5-2 133 - Devin Flannery (Millersville) dec Jack Huffman (Augustana) 6-5 141 - Peter Kuster (Drury) fall John Carayiannis (Belmont Abbey) 2:16 149 - Josh Laubach (Alderson Broaddus) dec Darick Lapaglia (Central Missouri) 7-1 157 - Dawson Combest (Indianapolis) dec Nathan Smith (Pitt-Johnstown) 7-2 165 - Hunter Mullen (Western Colorado) dec James Penfold (Lake Erie) 5-4 174 - Caleb Spears (Newberry) dec Allen Michel (New Mexico Highland) 6-3 184 - Anderson Salisbury (Colorado School of Mines) dec Reece Worachek (Wisconsin-Parkside) 5-2 197 - Joel Leise (Gannon) fall Logan Kemp (West Liberty) 2:36 285 - AJ Cooper (Fort Hays State) dec fall Freddie Nixon (Gannon) 3:50

The top three seeds at 149 lbs Yianni Diakomihalis (center), Austin Gomez (left), and Tariq Wilson (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released: 125 lb preview 133 lb preview 141 lb preview We'll move on to the 149 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) It's been awhile since we've seen Yianni Diakomihalis at the national tournament, but he's back. Yianni took off the 2019-20 trying to make the Olympic year and luckily did not compete in the season that resulted in a canceled NCAA Tournament. Last year, he and the rest of the Ivy League could not compete as the league did not allow athletics amid the pandemic. So now, Diakomihalis and the rest of his Cornell team is back. Yianni is seeking his third NCAA title, in as many tries, and his first at 149 lbs. Moving up to 149 lbs hasn't been an issue. Diakomihalis is 23-0 on the year and has tallied bonus points in almost 70% of his appearances. Yianni is in the midst of his second consecutive undefeated season and currently carries a 70-match winning streak into Detroit. Diakomihalis' second national title put him into a select group of multiple-time national champions for Cornell. He's one of five Big Red wrestlers to have multiple titles. A third would put him into a more exclusive class, as only Kyle Dake has won three or more in a Cornell singlet. Diakomihalis already has posted wins over two of his primary challengers during the regular season in #3 Austin Gomez and #4 Sammy Sasso. Yianni neutralized Sasso in the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and got by Gomez in the season finale, 12-6. In his most recent appearance, Diakomihalis captured his third EIWA crown with two major decisions, a tech, and an injury default. The Contenders: #2 Tariq Wilson (NC State); #3 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin); #4 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) The Conference Champs: ACC: #2 Tariq Wilson (NC State) Big 12: #9 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) Big Ten: #3 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) EIWA: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) MAC: Kody Komara (Kent State) Pac-12: #5 Kyle Parco (Arizona State) SoCon: #6 Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State) Top First-Round Matches #16 Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) vs. #17 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) #13 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. #20 Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) #14 Josh Finesilver (Duke) vs. #19 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) #7 Dean Heil (Campbell) vs. #26 Josh Edmond (Missouri) #10 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. #23 Jaden Abas (Stanford) #15 Legend Lamer (Cal Poly) vs. #18 Anthony Artalona (Penn) At first glance, once it was confirmed that Yianni Diakomihalis was going 149 lbs, late in the preseason, this weight class looked like it was "Yianni and everyone else." That hasn't necessarily changed; however, it has developed into an intriguing weight with lots of participants that can put points on the board. Look no further than the Big Ten Championships and its winner, Austin Gomez. Most had given up on Gomez's career, after he announced his retirement due to concussions and other injuries in December of 2020. I'd venture to say expectations were very low when Gomez announced he was returning and transferring from Iowa State to Wisconsin. In a new environment, Gomez has thrived and knocked off any rust. At the Big Ten's, Gomez earned a spot in the finals after imposing his will on Ridge Lovett and grabbing a :20 fall. He was victorious in the finals by locking up three takedowns on returning national runner-up, Sammy Sasso, one of the most difficult wrestlers to finish on in the country. Maybe someone with Gomez's big-move potential is best suited to knock off Yianni? The ACC has a pair of high-scoring wrestlers that should make an impact in the unbeaten two-seed Tariq Wilson and Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). Andonian has a "throw the kitchen sink" mentality, yet Wilson has been able to stay out of trouble and cruised to a pair of victories over the Junior World bronze medalist. Wilson is a two-time NCAA third-place finisher that seems to shine brightest at nationals. The loss to Gomez slid Sasso into the fourth seed and made a CKLV rematch with Diakomihalis only possible in the semifinals. Sasso has gone 22-2 this year with only losses to Yianni and Gomez. After making the national finals in 2021 and coming very close to coming away with a title, Sasso has spent most of the season ranked #2. After the top-four seeds, you'll find a handful of guys that have quietly put together strong seasons at this weight. The fifth seed is one-loss Kyle Parco, who made a surprising run to the national podium last year, while at Fresno State. Once the Bulldog athletic department dropped their program, Parco transferred to Arizona State and has fit in perfectly. Parco is currently riding an 11-match winning streak and hasn't seen the primary contenders at 149 lbs. The Sun Devil is also responsible for the only loss of the year on #6 Jonathan Millner's (Appalachian State) resume. Millner was also a 2021 All-American, the only one for the entire SoCon. His biggest competitor was #7 Josh Heil, who lost a pair of extremely close bouts to the Mountaineer Millner. Heil was a MatMen Open champion and handed Gomez his first of two losses this season. You can still go down to the 8-10 seeds and make an argument that any of the group, that includes Max Murin (Iowa), Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State), and Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) can come away with a high finish. Murin has managed to win the close ones against everyone but Sasso. Gfeller has always been talented; however, this year, he's been as consistent as ever. Lovett came the closest to knocking off Yianni (in the CKLV semis) and is capable of beating anyone in the bracket. Quadrant to Watch: It has to be the bottom quad. In our "Best First-Round Matches" article, the match from 149 lbs we detailed was #10 Ridge Lovett vs. #23 Jaden Abas. A top-ten wrestler against a returning All-American is awesome right off the bat. The winner of that contest would face either Heil or #26 Josh Edmond. Down below is the 15/18 match with Legend Lamer and Anthony Artalona, both sporting identical 14-5 records, both were conference runner's-up this year. The winner of their match would likely face #2 Wilson. But before you go penciling Tariq in, you have to respect his opponent Michael Blockhus (Minnesota). Blockhus did not earn an automatic qualifying spot for the Big Ten, but had a strong showing at the conference meet and came away with fifth place. There he picked up wins over past national qualifiers Graham Rooks (Indiana) and Kanen Storr (Michigan). Any of the wrestlers that emerge to face Wilson in the quarters could present a problem for the Wolfpack senior. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #19 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) We saw what happened last year when Yahya Thomas needed an at-large berth and was given the #25 seed at the national tournament. All he did was give Sasso a scare, before knocking off the third and fourth seeds on his way to third place. This year, Thomas has built off of that performance and has generally been consistent. He tripped up at the Big Ten's in a weight class that had fewer bids than one would expect. Just like last year, the road to the podium would be a tough one. In the opening round, Thomas has 2021 Round of 12 finisher Josh Finesilver (Duke). Our brackets have Thomas meeting and defeating Murin in the bloodround, which is a match he'd like to have back. Murin rallied to beat Thomas in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #26 Josh Edmond (Missouri) Though he didn't get the nod for Mizzou in the 2021 postseason, Josh Edmond's regular-season exploits (10-0) were enough to put him on the radar for this year, up a weight, at 149 lbs. Edmond has proven to be one of the more exciting wrestlers to watch at any weight. He often tries to finish high off of a leg attack leading him to launch his opponents (or get launched). Should he be able to pull a first-round upset, Edmond would likely get Ridge Lovett and that could result in fireworks with the skillsets of both wrestlers. There's a chance the brackets could break in a way that results in a third match between Edmond and Jarrett Degen. The point totals in the first two bouts between them were 16 and 28 points, both in Degen's favor. Anything can happen at the NCAA Tournament and it's good to get behind an underdog that can put points on the board. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. #8 Max Murin (Iowa) #4 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) vs. #5 Kyle Parco (Arizona State) #3 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) vs. #11 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) #2 Tariq Wilson (NC State) vs. #10 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) Projected Semifinals #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) vs. #4 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) #3 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) vs. #10 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) Projected All-Americans 1st) Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) 2nd) Austin Gomez (Wisconsin) 3rd) Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) 4th) Kyle Parco (Arizona State) 5th) Tariq Wilson (NC State) 6th) Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) 7th) Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) 8th) Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) Round of 12 Finishers: #17 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State); #8 Max Murin (Iowa); #14 Josh Finesilver (Duke); #9 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) Consolation Round of 16: #26 Josh Edmond (Missouri); #6 Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State); #12 Mike Van Brill (Rutgers); #15 Legend Lamer (Cal Poly)

The top three seeds at 141 lbs Nick Lee (center), Jaydin Eierman (left), and Sebastian Rivera (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here are the weight classes already released 125 lb preview 133 lb preview We'll move on to the 141 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Nick Lee (Penn State) Nick Lee has held the top spot at 141 lbs the whole year after reversing his 2021 Big Ten finals result against Jaydin Eierman in the NCAA finals, two weeks later. Eierman is the only wrestler to have seriously test Lee this year, as the Hawkeye had a late rally to push their dual meeting into sudden victory, yet Lee found a way to win. In his five years competing at Penn State, Lee has gone 114-13, with more than half of those losses coming as a true freshman in 2017-18. Despite having a national title and making the NCAA podium on three previous occasions, Lee had yet to win a Big Ten title, until last week. The manner in which he won was quite anticlimactic as Eierman did not compete in the championship bout and medically forfeited. Lee's final senior for Penn State has been slightly odd. He has a lower bonus point percentage than at any point of his career; however, he never seems to be in close matches (outside from Eierman). In 2019-20, Lee notched five victories via fall. Over the last two years, he's only combined for one. Regardless, Lee is getting it done and a favorite to grab back-to-back titles, especially considering the health of his two most formidable challengers. The Contenders: #2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa); #3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers); #4 Real Woods (Stanford); #5 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado); #6 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh); #7 Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) The Conference Champs: ACC: #6 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) Big 12: #5 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) Big Ten: #1 Nick Lee (Penn State) EIWA: #11 Matt Kazimir (Columbia) MAC: #16 Quinn Kinner (Rider) Pac-12: #4 Real Woods (Stanford) SoCon: #22 Shannon Hanna (Campbell) Top First-Round Matches #16 Quinn Kinner (Rider) vs. #17 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) #9 Allan Hart (Missouri) vs. #24 Stevan Micic (Michigan) #13 Ian Parker (Iowa State) vs. #20 Parker Filius (Purdue) #14 Dresden Simon (Central Michigan) vs. #19 Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) #15 Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) vs. #18 Ryan Jack (NC State) All year this weight class looked like it had the top-three….and everyone else. Lee, Jaydin Eierman, and Sebastian Rivera, have combined to AA ten times with four Big Ten titles and finished first, second, and fourth at nationals in 2021. Some returners that may have been poised to break into the big three, like Dylan Duncan (Illinois) and Stevan Micic, have dealt with injuries and off-the-mat rust, which has led to an even greater distance between the competition. As is typically the case in collegiate wrestling, injuries have been a neutralizing factor for some of the contenders at 141 lbs. Sebastian Rivera was injured in mid-February and missed the Scarlet Knights final dual of the year. He advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships, setting up a highly anticipated bout with Jaydin Eierman, but medically forfeited out of the tournament. Up until the injury, Rivera was looking as good as ever, and may have been a favorite here, in some people's. Even with his injury, Sebass still managed to post bonus points in his two Big Ten tournament contests. For the year, Rivera has only failed to rack up bonus once in 24 bouts. Also with injury concerns is Eierman, who received Rivera's forfeit then turned around forfeited to Lee in the conference final. Eierman hasn't looked quite as explosive as in the past this year, still has been excellent and brings a 17-1 record into Detroit. He, like Rivera, is looking for that elusive national title. Both have done about all that can be done in college, without having that final honor. If Eierman were to do so, he'd obviously become the first wrestler ever to improve their placement from 5, to 4, to 3, to 2, and to 1 sequentially. With some wounded veterans trying to patch themselves up for one last run, that could mean blood in the water for the younger sharks at this weight. The fourth seed is Real Woods, who is looking to get on the NCAA podium for the first time. He had a remarkable freshman campaign, losing only one bout, interrupted by Covid in 2020. Last year, presented plenty of off-the-mat distractions and Woods, still made the Round of 12. This time, he's 14-1 with a quick fall to Grant Willits, representing the only blemish on his record. Woods avenged that loss a bit in the Pac-12 finals as he majored Willits, 8-0. Also in the same quadrant as Woods is #5 seed Andrew Alirez. Alirez made history for his hometown program as he became Northern Colorado's first Big 12 champion last weekend. Alirez has finally been healthy for a full season and flourished with a finals appearance (losing to Woods) at the Southern Scuffle and in Vegas. More new faces from in a title-contending sense are the sixth seed Cole Matthews and seventh-seeded Clay Carlson. Matthews got red hot after the MatMen Open and hasn't lost since. That run has included wins over then top-ten opponents Kizhan Clarke and Stevan Micic, along with a : 36-second fall of eventual EIWA champion Matt Kazimir. The Panther's run extended into Charlottesville, where he built his winning streak up to 13 and captured his first ACC crown. Carlson was an All-American in 2021, but did so in relatively surprising fashion. This year, with higher expectations, Carlson has raised his game, too. Carlson started the year with 16 straight wins, a streak that encompassed the CKLV Invitational. In the finals, he secured a winning takedown over Alirez, before getting a fall at the buzzer. Quadrant to Watch: The bottom one! We've already mentioned Carlson and he's the seventh seed here. His opening round match is against Frankie Tal-Shahar (Northwestern), one of those freshman that seems to be figuring things out at the right time of year. Below them is the #10 seed Jake Bergeland (Minnesota). Bergeland has quietly put together a really strong season, punctuated by third in the Big Ten. In a normal situation, I'd like to pick him to knock off the number seven; however, he's already lost to Carlson three times this year. Below them is #15 Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina) and #16 Ryan Jack (NC State). Clarke was ranked in the top ten all year and owned a win over Chad Red Jr. He was on the road to an excellent seed before a subpar showing at the ACC's. As luck will have it, one of those wrestlers who upset Clarke at ACC's was Jack. Could Ryan go on a similar run like his brother Ryan? In 2015, the elder Jack downed the 4, 5, and 12 seeds to make the NCAA semi's as an unheralded freshman. Oh yeah, this quadrant includes the second-seeded Eierman. If he shows any signs of vulnerability, there are four or five guys here that could take him out. Wouldn't a rematch of Eierman and Jack's memorable Collegiate Duals bout be fun in the second round? Jack jumped out to an early lead, before and Eierman rally; yet Jack came ever-so-close to pinning Eierman defensively at the final buzzer. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #19 Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) Ok, so our two darkhorse All-American candidates get mentioned on technicalities, their seeds. Chad Red Jr. went 1-2 at Big Ten's and needed an at-large berth to get in. At that tournament, he repeatedly showed a tenacity to relinquish early leads. Is it a negative sign of things to come? Red Jr's track record works in his favor. Generally, he hasn't peaked at Big Ten's. In 2019 he made the finals, but his other placements at the event were 7th, 4th, and 3rd. However, every time Red Jr has competed at nationals, he's found the podium. Even in 2019, the year of his best Big Ten showing, Red Jr was saddled with the #16 seed. Now coming from the 19th seed shouldn't be intimidating for the vet. Red Jr. will have to be ready to go from round one, as he has Dresden Simon, who was ranked in the top-12 for most of the year, before an uneven performance at his conference tournament. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #24 Stevan Micic (Michigan) Once again, someone with an extremely long resume, so picking Micic to possibly make the podium isn't going out on a limb. But, as the 24th seed, his path to the top-eight is not easy. Right off the bat, Micic has Big 12 runner-up, Allan Hart (Missouri), who was a Round of 12 finisher last season. Then #8 Grant Willits/#25 Carter Young awaits, win or lose. If Micic could make it through those first two matches, Nick Lee would be looming. One of the underrated themes from Michigan's Big Ten title run was the job that Micic did coming through the backside. Micic dropped his first bout of the tournament, but battled in close match after close match, to take fourth behind Bergeland. That type of perseverance in a senior that's been on the scene as long as Micic and has such sky-high expectations is admirable. Micic is either dealing with some sort of an ailment or isn't completely adjusted to the weight class. Maybe even a combination of the two. Even so, nobody wants to run into a 24th seed with the talent and history of the Michigan All-American. The Team Race: With the way the brackets have been constructed, this may be the only opportunity for a Penn State/Iowa national final. If that's the case and the team race is close, four points for the winner could be crucial. Now both parties have to advance that far and that may be an issue for the Hawkeye after forfeiting out of Big Ten's. If you're looking at team points based on seeds, this is an opportunity where Michigan can make up some ground. Team score-wise, you don't get much for someone wrestling "up" to their 24th seed. But, if Micic, can make the Round of 12 to possibly the podium, it will provide them with points we're not otherwise expecting. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Nick Lee (Penn State) vs. #8 Grant Willits (Oregon State) #5 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) vs. #4 Real Woods (Stanford) #3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) vs. #6 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) #7 Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) vs. #2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) Projected Semifinals #1 Nick Lee (Penn State) vs. #4 Real Woods (Stanford) #3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) vs. #2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) Projected All-Americans 1st) Nick Lee (Penn State) 2nd) Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) 3rd) Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) 4th) Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) 5th) Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) 6th) Real Woods (Stanford) 7th) Chad Red Jr (Nebraska) 8th) Clay Carlson (South Dakota State) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Jake Bergeland (Minnesota); #8 Grant Willits (Oregon State); #14 Dresden Simon (Central Michigan); #17 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) Consolation Round of 16: #18 Ryan Jack (NC State); #11 Matt Kazimir (Columbia); #12 CJ Composto (Penn); #24 Stevan Micic (Michigan)

157 lb EIWA champion Quincy Monday of Princeton(Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The 118th EIWA Conference Championships Recap 125lb Placewinners 1st - Vitali Arujau (CORN) 2nd - Patrick Glory (PU) 3rd - Ryan Miller (PENN) 4th - Joe Manchio (COL)** 5th - Beau Bayless (HARV) 6th - Sheldon Seymour (LEH) 7th - Brandon Seidman (BUCK) 8th - Reese Fry (Brwn) Bold Text NCAA Qualifiers ** At large selections The top 4 seeds finished as seeded. The only exception was second seed Vito putting a beatdown on top-seed Glory in the finals. With a 19-6 major decision, the match was not close from the start. Vito looks primed and ready to be in the national title hunt. He looked fantastic all weekend. He had relentless attacks, some turns on top, and sky-high confidence. Glory will be back next week. Depending on his seed, we may see a rematch with Vito at NCAA's. For third place, Miller won over Manchio by major decision. His only hiccup was a loss to Vito. Manchio earned a wild card after a nice season. The bracket buster here was Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh. Being a late addition, he was given the 17th (last) seed. His two losses were to Glory (8-2) and Manchio (3-2). Being the back-up at Lehigh, the depth at the lower weights is deep. Returning NCAA Qualifiers Mininno of Drexel and Allen of Navy combined for one win total. This turned out to be a deep weight, plus Seymour's unfortunate seed; the bracket saw a few surprises. 133lb Placewinners 1st - Michael Colaiocco (PENN) 2nd - Josh Koderhandt (NAVY) 3rd - Dom LaJoie (CORN)** 4th - Jack Maida (AU) 5th - Richard Treanor (ARMY) 6th - Nick Kayal (PU) 7th - Jaxon Maroney (DRXL) 8th - Nicky Cabanillas (Brwn) DNP - Malyke Hines (LEH)** This bracket was busted from the beginning when Hines came in as the third-seeded Hines was forced to injury default his opening match, then medical forfeit his next due to injury. He did earn a wild card selection due to his impressive body of work during the season. Without Hines, Colaiocco pretty much ran through this bracket for his first EIWA title. Navy's freshman, Koderhandt, had an awesome battle with LaJoie in the semifinal. He earned a pin in overtime. This was one of the better matches I remember, with tons of scrambling by both guys. It's a toss-up every time they go at it. LaJoie earned a wild card after placing 3rd. Jack Maida was the biggest surprise of this weight, in my eyes. Coming in as the 7th seed, he took out Phipps (5th), Maroney (8th), and Treanor (11th) in the wrestle backs to claim 4th place. The true freshman has a bright future under American assistant coach, Joey Dance. Other wrestlers outperforming their seeds were Treanor of Army (11th), Kayal of Princeton (10th), and Cabinillas of Brown (14th). One thing I'd like to note is the Brown lightweights at 125 and 133 both outwrestled their seeds by a significant amount. Much of this is due to newly appointed assistant coach, Jesse Delgado. There are a few bright spots at the bottom of that line-up, and it started to shine here. 141lb Placewinners 1st - Matt Kazimir (COL) 2nd - CJ Composto (PENN) 3rd - Wil Gil (F&M) 4th - Connor McGonagle (LEH) 5th - Darren Miller (BUCK) 6th - Ryan Anderson (BING) 7th - Danny Coles (PU) 8th - Justin Hoyle (HOF) The top two seeds held true at this weight class. Kazimir held onto a 6-4 decision over Composto of Penn. Kazimir took some losses this year and battled some injuries. He did enough to earn the first seed en route to EIWA gold. He was not super flashy, nor did he score a ton of points. The dark horse of the bracket went on a tear to earn third place. Wil Gil of F&M came in as the 7th seed and performed better than I have ever seen him wrestle. He took out the 4th and 5th seeds to claim a third-place finish. It's a shame we did not get to see Miller nor Anderson receive an at-large bid, as they have been ranked inside the top 20 coming into the conference tournament. Hofstra's Hoyle came in as the 14th seed and snuck onto the podium. He took out the 11th and 9th seed in the wrestle backs. 149 Placewinners 1st - Yianni Diakomihalis (CORN) 2nd - Anthony Artalona (PENN) 3rd - Max Brignola (LEH) 4th - Marshall Keller (PU) 5th - Danny Fongaro (COL) 6th - PJ Ogunsanya (ARMY)** 7th - Lukus Stricker (HARV) 8th - Nick Lombard (BING) Yianni did his thing, as expected. He had all bonus-point victories. Artalona was solid with runner-up finish. Brignola of Lehigh wrestled to his seed, placing third. The biggest overperformance was Marshall Keller of Princeton. He was the 16th seed, losing first round to Yianni. He stormed back beating the 9th, 6th, 7th, and 4th seeds to find himself in the 3rd place match. Talk about turning it on at the right time! The real bummer here was Ogunsanya's injury. He was wearing a heavily taped ankle on the mat and a walking boot off the mat. Thankfully, he earned a wild card due to his body of work during the regular season. Nichter of Drexel (6th seed) was entertaining to watch until he had to default out due to injury. He battled injuries all year and just came back a few weeks ago. Only being a freshman, expect him to make some noise next year. Besides Keller's run, this weight held its seeds well. 157lb Placewinners 1st - Quincy Monday (PU) 2nd - Andrew Cerniglia (NAVY) 3rd - Josh Humphreys (LEH) 4th - Markus Hartman (ARMY) 5th - Doug Zapf (PENN) 6th - Hunter Richard (CORN)** 7th - Nick Delp (BUCK) 8th - Trevor Tarsi (HARV) I think we all expected a Humpreys/Monday finals match-up. Cerniglia played the role of spoiler when he earned a defensive fall over Humphreys in the semifinals. Monday beat Zapf for the second time this year, again winning by a takedown. With 157 having six qualifiers, it shows the depth at this weight class. More impressively, two returning qualifiers from last year in Kropman of Drexel and Palumbo of Sacred Heart missed the podium and tournament this season. I'm glad Richard of Cornell earned an at-large bid. He belongs there, proving he can compete with the best. Hartman had close wins in the wrestle backs over Tarsi then Zapf. For 5th, Zapf had to defeat Richard for a second time over the weekend. He seems to have Richard's number, winning both matches by a takedown. Minus Humphrey's setback in the semifinals, he looks very capable of placing at NCAAs - along with Monday. 165lb Placewinners 1st - Philip Conigliaro (HARV) 2nd - Joshua Ogunsanya (COL) 3rd - Zach Hartman (BUCK) 4th - Julian Ramirez (CORN) 5th - Brevin Cassella (BING) 6th - Lucas Revano (PENN) 7th - Evan Barczak (DRXL) 8th - Val Park (NAVY) DNP - Brian Meyer (LEH)** Sounding like a broken record, this weight class was the deepest weight in the conference. As an example, returning two-time NCAA qualifier Ricky Stamm of Hofstra earned the 11th seed, and did not place. He had losses to Cassella and Revano. Cassella had a nice outing for his freshman campaign. He came in as the 8th seed, ultimately earning a 5th place finish. This dude can scrap. Val Park is in a tough situation, as he placed 8th and beat Meyer of Lehigh in the blood round. Meyer earned an at-large bid, leaving Park out of the NCAA tournament. Dalton Harkins of Army came into the weekend ranked inside the top 33, but lost to Revano in the round of 12. In the consolation semi's, we saw Barczak take on Revano for the third time. Revano has won all meetings between them in overtime. These guys put on a show every time. Back to the championship bracket, from the start, we saw incredible matches. Every single quarterfinal was competitive, and the semis were very close matches. Conigliaro knocked off returning All-American Hartman. Conigliaro is tough, tough, tough! Ogunsanya beat top-seed Ramirez of Cornell as well. He is super quick on his feet and caused issues for Ramirez. Most of these guys will be back next year as well. The weight will be deep for years to come. 174lb Placewinners 1st - Mickey O'Malley (DRXL) 2nd - Nick Incontrera (PENN) 3rd - Ben Pasiuk (ARMY) 4th - Jacob Nolan (BING) 5th - Jake Logan (LEH) 6th - Chris Foca (CORN)** 7th - Nick Fine (COL) 8th - Nate Dugan (PU) Overall, this group did not have any major bracket busters. The biggest overperformance was by Nolan of Binghamton. The 8th seed knocked off 4th seeded Fine of Columbia then had a MFF over Foca of Cornell to find himself in the 3rd place match. Pasiuk of Army came into the tournament as the 6th seed, ending his weekend as a national qualifier in 3rd. It was interesting to see a dominant O'Malley of Drexel end his run with four decisions. He is typically pinning opponents left and right. He wrestled Incontrera for the third time of the season this weekend in the finals. O'Malley beat the Penn rival by a 2-1 score in tiebreaker. Not the most exciting match, but when opponents know each other so well, this is bound to happen. Foca, who just returned from a concussion, looked to suffer another one in the semifinal bout. Hopefully, he can be at full strength at NCAAs. 184lb Placewinners 1st - Jonathan Loew (CORN) 2nd - Travis Stefanik (PU) 3rd - AJ Burkhart (LEH) 4th - Charles Small (HOF) 5th - Neil Antrassian (PENN) 6th - Bryan McLaughlin (DRXL) 7th - Brian Bonino (COL) 8th - Cory Day (BING) The top two somewhat separated themselves from the rest this weekend. It's no real surprise to see Loew of Cornell against Stefanik of Princeton in the final. Loew widened the gap with a 12-5 victory, which is much more comfortable of a win compared to the two-point victory last time they met. The third-place finisher (and last automatic qualifier) went to Lehigh's Burkhart. The 7th seed knocked off returning qualifier McLaughlin of Drexel, Antrassian of Penn (5th seed), and third seed Small of Hofstra. Many knew he was capable of this once he upset Loew in the dual back in early January. Personally, I feel both Small and Antrassian had arguments to get at-large selections, but the NCAA committee felt differently. There were some exciting matches on the backside, with many one-score matches in the blood round, continuing into the placing matches. After the top two, the field was very evenly matched. Expect this weight to reload next year with a few placers graduating. 197lb Placewinners 1st - Lou DePrez (BING) 2nd - Luke Stout (PU) 3rd - Jacob Koser (NAVY) 4th - Cole Urbas (PENN) 5th - Jacob Cardenas (CORN) 6th - JT Davis (LEH) 7th - JT Brown (ARMY)** 8th - Sam Wustefeld (COL) DePrez remains King of the EIWA, this time at a different weight class. DePrez's third title was just as impressive as his first two. His closest bout was a one-point match over Koser of Navy. The most exciting match on the winner's side was probably the semi between Stout and Cardenas. Stout earned a takedown in OT to avenge his loss from a month earlier. DePrez won the finals match-up by a 10-4 score. Navy's Koser had a nice tournament, finishing in third place. Urbas of Penn (8th seed) did exactly as I called in my preview. He upset the 5th and 2nd seeds in the wrestle backs using his effective top game. This is his first trip to NCAA's, with a few more in his future. JT Davis of Lehigh had himself a nice tournament, as well. Columbia's 12th seed, Wustefeld, snuck onto the podium with an 8th place finish. DePrez and Brown are the only place winners graduating. This is another weight class that we should see improvement on next year. 285lb Placewinners 1st - Jordan Wood (LEH) 2nd - Lewis Fernandes (CORN) 3rd - Joe Doyle (BING) 4th - Ben Goldin (PENN) 5th - Matt Cover (PU) 6th - Zachary Knighton-Ward (HOF) 7th - Cenzo Pelusi (F&M) 8th - Daniel Conley (COL) Jordan Wood of Lehigh will go down in the history books as the first (and possibly only) five-time EIWA Champion. He was the favorite all year. But his matches were very close. With a 2-0 win over Penn's Goldin in the semi, and a 2-0 win over Fernandes in the final, Wood wasn't the point-scoring machine we typically see. But, when you are the favorite to win, like he is 99% of the time, he will wrestle some close matches. Fernandes had two pins and then a 5-0 win, before his defeat to Wood in the finals. Watching Doyle of Binghamton wrestle is one of the most entertaining things in the heavyweight division. He wrestles like a funky 125lb guy, using all sorts of rolls from Granby's, to funks, to Petersons. He could be a potential dark horse in the NCAA bracket. I was glad to see the EIWA get two at-large bids here in Knighton-Ward of Hofstra and Cover of Princeton. Both guys are athletic, and fun to watch as well. Goldin is just solid all around. I like him too. The EIWA will be well represented in Detroit next week. Team Race 1st - Cornell (153 points & 3 champs, 9 NCAA Qualifiers) 2nd - Penn (143 points & 1 champ, 9 NCAA Qualifiers) 3rd - Princeton (120.5 & 1 champ, 6 NCAA Qualifiers) 4th - Lehigh (111 points & 1 champ, 7 NCAA Qualifiers) 5th - Columbia (84.5 points & 1 champ, 3 NCAA Qualifiers) This was a tight team race. Many may not have expected Penn to be right on the tails of the Cornell Big Red. Many would assume Lehigh would duke it out with Cornell, but major injuries at 125 and 133 held them back slightly. Could this be a permanent situation moving forward? Will this continue to be a four-team battle for the top spot, with Penn now in the mix? Being at the tournament this weekend, Penn had a ton of support in the stands. It almost seemed like they had home-mat advantage in some bouts. Shoutout to Columbia. Fifth place for that team is an incredible step for coach Tanelli and crew. What an improvement they have made over the past few years. Even the middle tier had impressive showings. Binghamton was 6th place, followed by Navy, Army, Harvard, and Drexel rounding out the top 10. We've seen big-time improvements, from the Ivy League schools. Now that the other teams are stepping up their game, this conference will only start to get more competitive year after year. Miscellaneous Awards Outstanding Wrestler Award - Vitali Arujau of Cornell Most Cumulative EIWA Career Team Points - Jordan Wood of Lehigh (109 points) Most Falls in Least Amount of Time - Lewis Fernandes of Cornell Coach of the Year - Roger Reina of Penn Sportsmanship Award - Columbia University

North Central 285 lber Robby Bates (Photo/Matthew Eaker; North Central athletics) Day one of the 2022 NCAA Division III wrestling tournament wrapped up with Wartburg leading the team race. The Knights went 14-1 on the day and picked up 7 All-American awards in the process. Eric Keller's #1 ranked squad punched six of their seven wrestlers into the semifinal round. Led by seniors Kyle Briggs (184) and Brady Kyner (133), the Wartburg Knights have 58 team points. Augsburg follows in 2nd with 45 points. They have 3 All Americans, all sitting in the semifinal round. Wabash ends the day in third with 40.5 points. North Central has 3 in the semis and 4 All Americans to stand fourth. Stevens Tech brought 3 wrestlers and got 3 place finishers to round out the top 5 with 29.5 points. 1 Wartburg College 58.0 2 Augsburg University 45.0 3 Wabash College 40.5 4 North Central College 32.5 5 Stevens Institute Of Technology 29.5 6 Rochester Institute Of Technology 26.5 7 Coe College 24.0 8 Millikin University 22.5 9 University Of Chicago 20.0 10 Baldwin Wallace University 18.0 10 U.S. Coast Guard Academy 18.0 10 University Of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 18.0 9 of the 10 1st seeds survived, but at Heavyweight #1 seed Max Bishop of Wabash was upended by North Central's Robby Bates. Bates then knocked off unseeded Nico Ramirez of Southern Virginia University to earn All American status. Bates is one of three semifinalists for Joe Norton's up-and-coming program. Sophomore Will Esmoil of Coe College shocked the country with back-to-back upsets at 165 pounds. He defeated previously unbeaten and #2 ranked Dominick Reyes of Johns Hopkins University in the opening round, before pinning seventh seed Chase Schmidt of UW-Eau Claire in the quarterfinal. Esmoil will face Wabash's Kyle Hatch in the semifinal round tomorrow morning. Averett's Brandon Woody earned his way to the finals with wins over Augsburg's Sam Stuhl and Elmhurst's second-seeded Jim McAuliffe in a thrilling bout. Woody will take on Wartburg's Zayren Terukina for a spot in the finals tomorrow morning. Semifinal matchups 125- Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace) vs Brady Kyner (Wartburg) 125 - Shandon Akeo (Central College) vs Carlos Champagne (Wabash) 133 - Robbie Precin (North Central) vs Matt Berlin (UW Stevens Point) 133 - Andrew Perelka (John Carroll) Vs Dalton Rohrbaugh (York) 141 - Jordin James ( Mount Union) vs Kyle Slendorn (Stevens Tech) 141 - Zayren Terukina (Wartburg) vs Brandon Woody (Averett) 149 - Brett Kaliner (Stevens Tech) vs Ryan Fleck (Chicago) 149 - Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) vs Kristian Rumph (Wartburg) 157 - Kaidon Winters (RIT) vs Tyler Shilson (Augsburg) 157 - Nathan Lackman (Rhode Island) vs David Hollingsworth (Wartburg) 165 - Braden Birt (Millikin) vs Matt Lackman (Alvernia) 165 - Kyle Hatch (Wabash) vs Will Esmoil (Coe College) 174 - Cornell Beachem (Mount St Joseph) vs Solomon Nielsen (Augsburg) 174 - Michael Ross (JWU) vs Zane Mulder (Wartburg) 184 - Shane Liegel (Loras) vs Jarrit Shinhoster (UW Whitewater) 184 - Paul Detwiler (US Coast Guard) vs Kyle Briggs (Wartburg) 197 - Cody Baldridge ( North Central ) vs Beau Yineman (UW Oshkosh) 197 - Coy Spooner (US Coast Guard) vs Jack Heldt (Wabash) 285 - Robby Bates (North Central) vs Jordan Lemcke (UW Oshkosh) 285 - Tyler Kim (Augsburg) vs Donovan King (Olivet) Wrestling resumes tomorrow at 10:00 am CST with the finals scheduled for 7:00 pm CST.

The top three seeds at 133 lbs Roman Bravo-Young (center), Daton Fix (left), and Michael McGee (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their minds. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. Here's the 125 lb preview We'll move on to the 133 lbers as we release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) After the dust settled in Lincoln, the Penn State wrestler with the longest active winning streak is their 133 lber, Roman Bravo-Young, who has won 31 straight bouts. His most recent defeat took place in the 2020 Big Ten finals against Sebastian Rivera, then of Northwestern. Bravo-Young doesn't get the attention that some of his PSU teammates have received; however, he's perhaps the heart and soul of this squad. The unflappable national champion is just as capable of cooly stymying a winning takedown attempt from DeSanto in the waning seconds of the Big Ten finals, as he is displaying highlight-reel offense. However the match plays out, RBY can find a way to win. A clutch takedown over Daton Fix in sudden victory gave RBY the 2021 national championship, which led into a top-ranking this year. He's never relinquished that position and become more dominant in 2021-22. Bravo-Young's bonus-point percentage has crept up to almost 59%, which represents the highest mark of his career. While generally not considered a "pinner," RBY has three this year, the highest total during his tenure in State College. Speaking of his time with the Nittany Lions, RBY's days in a Penn State singlet could be numbered. At times, he's hinted that he would not use another year of eligibility he is entitled to because of the "Covid Year." So, don't take for granted what could be the last collegiate tournament for this Penn State star. The Contenders: #2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State); #3 Michael McGee (Arizona State); #4 Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech); #5 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) The Conference Champs: ACC: #4 Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) Big 12: #2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) Big Ten: #1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) EIWA: #9 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) MAC: #30 Richie Koehler (Rider) Pac-12: #3 Michael McGee (Arizona State) SoCon: #21 Codi Russell (Appalachian State) Top First-Round Matches #16 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) vs. #17 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley) #9 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) vs. #24 Ramazan Attasauov (Iowa State) #14 Kyle Biscoglia (Northern Iowa) vs. #19 Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) #15 Kai Orine (NC State) vs. #18 Joe Heilmann (North Carolina) This bracket looks a lot like the 2021 version and for good reason. The top-seven finisher at the weight are returning and still at 133 lbs. In 2021, this was one of the rare brackets that didn't explode. The eight All-Americans came from the top-ten seeds and the top four advanced to the semifinals. I'd expect chalk to generally prevail again here. Most fans will probably pick an RBY/Fix NCAA finals rematch and with good reason. Bravo-Young hasn't lost since 2020 and Fix's only collegiate loss in that time period came to the '21 finals to the Nittany Lion star. One way the rematch could get interrupted is by #5 Austin DeSanto. The high-energy Hawkeye has been extremely close to both Fix and RBY in the recent meetings. He doesn't have problems getting to either's legs, but the issue has been securing a takedown. Before the brackets were released on Wednesday evening, we all probably had a Fix/DeSanto semifinal mentally penciled into our brackets. That didn't happen as DeSanto was saddled with the fifth seed, rather than the three. At the end of the day, it just means we could see RBY/DeSanto "Ocho" rather than a meeting with Fix. Either could be entertaining. Fix is undoubtedly looking for another crack at Bravo-Young after his sudden victory in the 2021 finals. He came into the tournament last year as the top-seed and crushed the field, before edging DeSanto. We'll probably see a different version of Fix mentally, after the high of making the Senior World Team and coming away from the World Championships in Oslo with a silver medal. Against most opponents, Fix has opened his offense more; however, it's likely that we'll see at a tactical, chess match, were he and RBY to meet again. Maybe the most significant test for Fix pre-finals, would come in the quarters in the form of Lucas Byrd. In each of the last two Big Ten semifinals, Byrd has lost one-point bouts to DeSanto. Byrd is one of the few wrestlers who doesn't wilt under the constant pressure of DeSanto. It should make for an intriguing match with Fix. Some familiar faces will help round out the list of contenders and have a strong case to make the podium. Surprise third seed, Michael McGee, gets his billing perhaps due to an 8-7 win over Korbin Myers at the Collegiate Duals. It ended up being the only blimp on the radar for the Hokie. Both Myers and McGee are returning top-six finishers from a year ago. The tenth seed is returning All-American Chris Cannon. Provided he can get by #23 Tony Madrigal, in round one, Cannon will see Byrd for the fourth time in two years. Byrd has taken the first three and hasn't surrendered a takedown in any of their matches. New blood into the ranks of podium threats include Dylan Ragusin and Michael Colaiocco. Ragusin was a national qualifier last year at 125 lbs. He pulled out a 3-1 victory in extra time against Byrd in the Big Ten third-place bout, which put him ahead of the Illini AA in the seeding process. Colaiocco was 11th seed at the 2020 tournament, but obviously didn't get to wrestle. Since the Ivy League wiped blocked their members from competing last year, Colaiocco will be making his national debut. He hasn't lost since the calendar turned to 2022 and is riding an 11-match winning streak. Veteran mainstays #11 Devan Turner, #12 Phillippi, and #13 Brock Hudkins (Indiana), all could push for the podium. Phillippi and Hudkins have both advanced to the NCAA Round of 12 in prior trips, while Turner won two bouts last year, his third trip to the Big Dance. Quadrant to Watch: Like 125, we'll stick with the second quadrant, the one that includes the four and five seeds. We've already mentioned that it was shocking to see Austin DeSanto as the fifth seed. That placement in the bracket leads to some potential interesting matchups. In 2021, DeSanto and Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) met in the 4 vs. 5 bout. This time it could be in the round of 16. Normally, Phillippi is able to slow down his opposition, but not in that meeting with DeSanto. The Hawkeye showed his normal, frenetic pace and worked to a 13-5 major decision. Should DeSanto replicate his 2021 performance or merely win, he'd likely see the fourth seed, Korbin Myers. DeSanto and Myers clashed in the NCAA third-place bout last season and DeSanto prevailed 10-6. Getting out of this quarterfinal probably books another bout between DeSanto and Bravo-Young. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #14 Kyle Biscoglia (Northern Iowa) This weight class had been odd all year in that there are no obvious wrestlers from 13-20 that look like they will go on a run towards the podium. One that started unranked, and slowly made his way into the top 15 was Kyle Biscoglia. This is Biscoglia's first crack at the postseason for UNI. After starting the year 8-6 (with one loss not officially counting, as it came to a teammate), Biscoglia has been a model of consistency. His only two losses from late-December until today have come to Daton Fix. One in a dual and the other in the Big 12 finals. During that time, he's picked up wins over six national qualifiers and seen his stock rise significantly. While Biscoglia has a difficult match with #3 Michael McGee looming in the second round, his path to the medal stand is not too brutal. Barring significant upsets, he'd have to go through #11 Devan Turner (Oregon State) and the probable winner of #8 Michael Colaiocco/#9 Rayvon Foley. Certainly no walk in the park, but doable. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #23 Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma) Before the Big Ten Championships, who was responsible for the only loss on Lucas Byrd's record? How about the 133 lbs champion at the Michigan State Open? The answer to both questions is Tony Madrigal and it didn't stop with Byrd. The Sooner senior also posted wins over Rayvon Foley and Dylan Ragusin at that same tournament. Three wins like that were better than many resumes for an entire season. It was enough to immediately catapult Madrigal into the top ten. Since he left East Lansing, Madrigal's results have been ok, at best. He's 7-10 if you exclude those wins. But, what they show is Madrigal is capable of beating almost anyone at the 133 lb weight class. Perhaps he gets hot and reels of three of those caliber victories? Right off the bat, the 2022 Big 12 sixth-place finisher, is paired with returning All-American Chris Cannon (Northwestern). A win would put him through to Byrd, again. Last year, we saw Sooner Jake Woodley make an unlikely run to the semis, could Madrigal be the one this time around, who picks up some big wins? The Team Race: The fifth seed for DeSanto put him in line for a semifinal collision with top-seeded RBY. In their last two meetings, DeSanto has been ever-so-close to the returning champion, but hasn't been able to convert a takedown. Could he do it here, when stakes are the highest? If he does, that would surely provide a huge boost to his team's hopes, while striking a crushing blow to Penn State. For Michigan, Dylan Ragusin could see #3 Michael McGee in the quarterfinals in a rematch of their neutral-site dual in Texas. If Ragusin is able to make the necessary adjustments to reverse a 10-0 major decision, he'd secure a place in the top-six, something that could be difficult otherwise. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) vs. #8 Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) #4 Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) vs. #5 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) #3 Michael McGee (Arizona State) vs. #6 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) #2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #7 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) Projected Semifinals #1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) vs. #5 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) #2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. #3 Michael McGee (Arizona State) Projected All-Americans 1st) Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) 2nd) Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) 3rd) Austin DeSanto (Iowa) 4th) Michael McGee (Arizona State) 5th) Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech) 6th) Michael Colaiocco (Penn) 7th) Lucas Byrd (Illinois) 8th) Kyle Biscoglia (Northern Iowa) Round of 12 Finishers: #10 Chris Cannon (Northwestern); #8 Rayvon Foley (Michigan State); #12 Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh); #6 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) Consolation Round of 16: #17 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley); #11 Devan Turner (Oregon State); #19 Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga); #16 Josh Koderhandt (Navy)

The top three seeds at 125 lbs Nick Suriano (center), Vito Arujau (right), and Patrick Glory (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The 2022 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Detroit, Michigan, with hopes of a national title on their mind. In addition, fan seating will be at 100% capacity for the first time since Pittsburgh in 2019. Now it's in an area that hasn't hosted nationals since 2007 and even that tournament was not held downtown; it was way out in Auburn Hills. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. We'll start with the 125 lbers and release two of our weight class previews for the next five days: The Top Seed: Nick Suriano (Michigan) The 2019 NCAA Champion (at 133 lbs), Nick Suriano, looked like he was ready to win a second title with his showing in Lincoln at the Big Ten Championships. Suriano's “closest” match of the tournament was in the finals when he majored #6 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin), 12-4. To get to the finals, Suriano pinned #9 Devin Schroder (Purdue) with ease. Suriano sports an 11-0 record and seems to be hitting his stride at the right time. Earlier in the season, he barely slipped by #16 Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State), 2-1. That match looks more like an anomaly now, as it is the only one of his 11 contests where he's failed to notch bonus points. Since Suriano joined the Michigan team in January, we generally saw him against Big Ten competition only. No meetings with the EIWA crop of contenders. In his limited action, Suriano has beaten three of the eight NCAA All-American from 2021. Suriano has already been an integral part of history with Rutgers, being their first national champion, so could he be a key cog in Michigan's first NCAA championship team? The Contenders: #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell), #3 Patrick Glory (Princeton), #4 Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) The Conference Champs: ACC: #14 Jakob Camacho (NC State) Big 12: #5 Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) Big Ten: #1 Nick Suriano (Michigan) EIWA: #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) MAC: #17 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) Pac-12: #4 Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) SoCon: #20 Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) Top First-Round Matches: #16 Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State) vs. #17 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) #9 Devin Schroder (Purdue) vs. #24 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) #12 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State) vs. #21 Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley) #11 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) vs. #22 Ryan Miller (Penn) #7 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) vs. #26 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) #15 Brody Teske (Northern Iowa) vs. #18 Noah Surtin (Missouri) Think about all the ways this weight class has changed since October. At that time, Spencer Lee (Iowa) was assumed to be ready to claim his fourth NCAA title, Nick Suriano's status was still up-in-the-air and there were just some whispers that Drew Hildebrandt could change his mind and use his final year of eligibility. Since then, Lee decided to address his previous knee injuries, Suriano gave Michigan a strong title favorite at the weight, and Hildebrandt at least provided Penn State with stability at 125 lbs for the second half of the year. This weight class was decimated by the Ivy League restrictions during the 2020-21 season. Legitimate title contenders, Arujau and Glory, were sidelined, as were Ryan Miller and Joe Manchio (Columbia), who also qualified this year. Without Suriano, and the Ivy twosome, Brandon Courtney emerged as one of the key players at this weight. He did not lose a bout until he met Lee in the NCAA finals. Arujau and Glory returned and have ended up being every bit the title contenders we imagined. Glory struck first and won an 11-9 shootout during the dual season. Unphased, Arujau returned the favor with a stunningly dominant 19-6, near tech-fall, of Glory during the EIWA finals. It would take a significant upset to prevent a third meeting between the two. I've described this weight class as having three distinct tiers. The first includes Suriano/Arujau/Glory. It's hard to imagine anyone else cracking the top-three and any of the trio finishing lower than third. Courtney is on a level of his own. He lost a one-sided major decision to Glory, but generally hasn't been pushed very often. It seems as if Courtney is a good bet to AA. Now from seeds five through 24, it really wouldn't be “that” big of a shocker if anyone landed on the podium. For instance, #21 Taylor LaMont and #24 Sam Latona finished in the top-six last year. Both have taken more losses than they're accustomed to; however, they aren't the caliber of most wrestlers that carry similar seeds. Like most weights, the depth of the Big Ten and Big 12 will be on display. #6 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin), #8 Patrick McKee (Minnesota), #9 Schroder, #10 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern), #12 Heinselman, and #13 Ayala are all top-15 wrestlers from the Big Ten. During the regular season, they all generally exchanged wins with each other, so there's no rhyme or reason to who may get on the podium. Just matchup, by matchup. The Big 12 has #5 Cardinale, #7 Mastrogiovanni, and #15 Teske as top 15 seeds. Cardinale has separated himself from this group, beating Mastrogiovanni by seven in the Big 12 semis and Teske by five in the finals. Even so, his lone hiccup this year came against Terukina. Quadrant to Watch: How about the second, the one that includes the #4 and #5 seeds. Courtney is smooth and looks like a decent bet to emerge; however, Cardinale is much improved from his seventh-place finish a year ago. Also in the mix is the true freshman, Ayala. If he's near top-form, he could be a headache for Courtney in round two. This group also includes a second AA in LaMont, who must get by Heinselman before anything further. Heinselman has a win over Ayala and could be ready for an All-American breakthrough. Darkhorse All-American Contender: #13 Drake Ayala (Iowa) Spencer Lee's injury opened the door for blue-chip true freshman Drake Ayala. While there's no way to properly replace a figure like Lee, many Iowa fans were still confident that the homegrown Ayala could find a spot on the podium this year. Drake's Carver Hawkeye debut saw him fall to Patrick McKee; however, he defeated returning Big Ten champion Devin Schroder two days later. He followed that win with one over Michael DeAugustino. An injury kept Ayala out of the lineup for most of the last month of the regular season. He returned for Big Ten's and notched wins over Jacob Moran (Indiana) and Tristan Lujan (Michigan State), before defaulting out of the tournament after securing a bid to nationals, with a top-eight finish. Ayala will still be less than 100%, but the question is, how healthy is he? I'm guessing he's able to push through it and has a strong performance. Extreme (+20 seed) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #26 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) Last year, Kysen Terukina was the very last seed at 125 lbs. He proceeded to go 0-2, as one may expect from that position. What wasn't expected was that Terukina would elevate himself to the upper echelon of Big 12 contenders. Despite his seed and the need for an at-large in a Big 12 weight class that automatically qualified six, Terukina is an All-American threat. Terukina started the year by winning 17 of his first 18 matches and logging victories over the fifth and seventh seeds here. With a resume that includes Cardinale and Mastrogiovanni, Terukina is capable of beating almost anyone here. The Team Race: Provided Hildebrandt gets by a game Anthony Noto, he'll likely face Suriano. The road back to the podium is not kind on the backside. The path to the top-eight would probably consist of the loser of Teske/Surtin, the loser of #8 Patrick McKee (Minnesota) and Schroder, along with #6 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) in the bloodround. That sounds like a recipe for not placing! Projected Quarterfinals #1 Nick Suriano (Michigan) vs. #9 Devin Schroder (Purdue) #5 Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) vs. #13 Drake Ayala (Iowa) #3 Patrick Glory (Princeton) vs. #6 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) #10 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) vs. #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) Projected Semifinals #1 Nick Suriano (Michigan) vs. #5 Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) #3 Patrick Glory (Princeton) vs. #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) Projected All-Americans 1st) Nick Suriano (Michigan) 2nd) Vito Arujau (Cornell) 3rd) Patrick Glory (Princeton) 4th) Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) 5th) Devin Schroder (Purdue) 6th) Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) 7th) Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) 8th) Drake Ayala (Iowa) Round of 12 Finishers: #24 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech), #14 Jakob Camacho (NC State), #10 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern), #8 Patrick McKee (Minnesota) Consolation Round of 16: #15 Brody Teske (Northern Iowa), #22 Ryan Miller (Penn), #12 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State), #16 Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State)

Phil Davis (top) at the 2008 NCAA Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com The three biggest MMA promotions in the US are back in action for a stacked weekend of the sport. As always, each event is loaded with former wrestlers competing in the hybrid sports. This weekend will see fighters who spent their college days at Missouri, Penn State, Iowa and other schools across the country. Eagle FC 46 Kevin Lee vs. Diego Sanchez Lee joined the club wrestling team at Grand Valley State despite only wrestling two years in high school. In one of his two years wrestling in college, he qualified for the NCWA tournament but failed to reach the All-American podium. Lee signed with the UFC in 2014 after only two years fighting MMA. He fought for the interim lightweight title against Tony Ferguson, but lost via third-round submission. This will be his first fight outside the UFC since 2013. Sanchez is a true veteran of the sport who won the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2005. He is now 40 years old and has a 30-13 professional record. Archie Colgan vs. Dylan Mantello Colgan was a two-time NCAA qualifier for Wyoming. As a junior in 2017, he made the bloodround with victories over Jake Danishek (Indiana), Victor Lopez (Bucknell) and Taleb Rahmani (Pittsburgh) at the NCAA tournament. Colgan made his professional MMA debut this past March and has won all three of his fights to date. Mantello holds a 4-1 record and this will be his first fight since losing for the first time as a professional. In his last bout, he dropped a decision against Josh Ramirez at Ring of Combat 74. Tyler Ray vs. Thomas Webb Ray was a Division III wrestler at Mount St. Joseph. He has been fighting professionally since 2017. In his last fight, he scored an impressive victory over veteran John Howard. That win improved his record to 9-2. Webb will bring a 16-7 record into the cage on Friday. Ryder Newman vs. Manny Walo Newman spent time in college at West Virginia, the Olympic Training Center and Wyoming. He recently competed on the UFC's reality show, but lost his only fight on the show to eventual finalist Tresean Gore. Newman bounded back this past October with a first-round stoppage over Cole Shafer. Walo currently has a 14-4-1 record and has been fighting as a pro since 2011. The entire Eagle FC 48 card will air live via free stream on GoFLX. The event is scheduled to begin at 6:00pm ET. PFL Challenger Series 4 Edwin Cooper Jr. vs. Troy Lamson Cooper was an NJCAA champion and Division II runner-up before ever joining the Iowa wrestling program. Once with the Hawkeyes, he was a national qualifier as a senior in 2016 and finished with an 18-11 record. Cooper made his professional MMA debut in 2018 and currently has a 5-1 record. This will be an all-Big Ten match as Cooper's opponent was also on the squad at Michigan State. Lamson's best season with the Spartans came in 2014 when he went 15-12 with five falls. He made his professional MMA debut later that same year and has gone 13-4 to date. Scottie Stockman vs. Brahyan Zurcher Stockman was a six-year member of the Southern Oregon wrestling team. While there, he was teammates with Austin Vanderford and Taylor Johnson, who have also transitioned to MMA. While wrestling for the NAIA school, Stockman took a variety of amateur and toughman fights. He currently has a 3-1 professional record after turning professional last year. Zurcher turned professional last April and has won both of his fights. The fourth PFL Challenger Series event takes place Friday night at 9:00pm ET and airs live on Fubo TV. UFC Vegas 50 Terrance McKinney vs. Drew Dober McKinney gets a quick turnaround after fighting back on Feb. 26. The two-time Washington state champion split his college career between North Idaho and Chadron State. In 2016, he finished second at the RMAC conference tournament. McKinney made his UFC debut last June and has won both of his fights in the Octagon in under three minutes. Dober has been fighting professionally since 2009 and has a 23-11 record, but he enters this fight after back-to-back losses. Damon Jackson vs. Kamuela Kirk Jackson became an NAIA All-American in 2012 after finishing fifth for Missouri Valley College. He made his professional MMA debut later that year and now has a 19-4-1 record. He last fought in October, where he won over Charles Rosa by unanimous decision. Kirk will bring an 11-4 record into the cage after defeating Makwan Amirkhani in his UFC debut last June. Cody Brundage vs. Dalcha Lungiambula Brundage was a two-time NCAA Division II qualifier for Newberry College. He finished his career in 2017 with 96 wins, which ranked seventh in program history. Brundage is 6-2 as a professional. He made his UFC debut last September and dropped a decision against fellow wrestler Nick Maximov. Brundage faces off against another seasoned grappler here, as Lungiambula was a member of the Congolese judo team before switching to MMA in 2014. He has an 11-3 record. UFC Vegas 50 takes place Saturday night in Las Vegas. McKinney will be part of the main card, which kicks off at 7:00pm ET. Jackson and Brundage are part of the preliminary card set to start at 4:00pm ET. Both editions will air live on ESPN+. Bellator 276 Phil Davis vs. Julius Anglickas Davis was an NCAA champion, two-time finalist and four-time All-American for Penn State. He finished his eligibility in 2008 and made his professional MMA debut later that year. Davis won the Bellator light heavyweight title in 2016, but lost it in his first defense against former Arizona State wrestler Ryan Bader. In his last fight, he scored a decision victory over Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero. Anglickas has a 10-2 record and challenged Vadim Nemkov for the Bellator title in his last fight but fell via fourth-round submission. Johnny Eblen vs. John Salter Eblen spent multiple years in the starting lineup for Missouri. As a senior in 2015, he qualified for the NCAA tournament and picked up wins over Tanner Weatherman (Iowa State) and Andy McCulley (Wyoming) before being eliminated. Eblen turned to MMA in 2017 and has started his career with 10-straight victories. Salter won an NAIA title for Lindenwood University in 2007. He made the transition to MMA in 2009 and quickly made his way through the ranks. Salter earned a shot at Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi after three-straight wins in the promotion. However, in his title fight, he was stopped in the third round. This will be Salter's first fight since losing to Mousasi last August. Alex Polizzi vs. Jose Augusto Azevedo Polizzi was a three-time NCAA qualifier for Northwestern. As a senior in 2015, he went 26-12. Polizzi made his professional MMA debut in 2018 and won his first seven fights before dropping a decision against Anglickas. Since that defeat, he has bounced back with a pair of victories. Azevedo is currently 7-3 and coming off a second-round knockout at the hands of former UFC title challenger Anthony Johnson. Romero Cotton vs. Freddy Sandoval Cotton was a three-time NCAA Division II champion for Nebraska-Kearney, while also competing on the football team. He made his MMA debut in Bellator in 2017 and has won all five of his fights inside the promotion. Sandoval has a 5-6-1 record and has not fought MMA since 2009. He had a boxing match last October but lost via third-round knockout. Diana Avsaragova vs. Kyra Batara Avsaragova reportedly finished third at the 2015 Russian Cadet nationals. She has been fighting since 2017 and has an undefeated 4-0 record. She joined Bellator last year and won a pair of fights over Gabriella Gulfin and Tara Graff. Batara has won four fights in a row after dropping a decision against Asian Championships gold medalist Kanako Murata in 2016. Her record now stands at 8-4. Cody Law vs. James Adcock Law started his wrestling career at Penn State before transferring to Pitt-Johnstown. At the Division II school, he became a two-time All-American and won the NCAA title at 157 pounds in 2018. Law signed with Bellator in 2020, and he has won his first five fights, all with the company. Adcock lost three of his first five fights, but he has since recovered and will bring a 7-4 record into the cage. Bellator 276 goes down Saturday night in St. Louis. The preliminary card, which features Polizzi, Cotton, Avsaragova and Law, airs live on YouTube at 6:00pm ET. Eblen, Salter and Davis are part of the main card, which will begin at 9:00pm ET on Showtime.

Wyoming All-American Stephen Buchanan (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Well, here we are, stuck dead-center in the middle of the two-week break between conference tournaments and the National Tournament and it leaves plenty of time for debate amongst fans. Just remember that while you're batin' to keep it to get it friendly and light. Or don't, I couldn't care less. Threaten to punch a dude's lights out in Detroit because he likes Isaac Trumble's path and you're a Stephen Buchanan fan. Much will be said in this next week by many, including myself, but it's all just noise until that first whistle. I started this endeavor right before the season and truly wasn't sure if I'd last through November and I just want to thank you all for keeping me on my toes and interested by not giving up on me and consistently asking great questions. Speaking of questions...let's get to some! With Chad Red receiving an at-large bid, will we see him become a 5x AA? @chunkofWEAVE The most impressive thing about Chad's three tournaments is that he did it by never making it past the round of 16. The Backside Slayer has gone a whopping 12-5 in consolation brackets, including a victory via pin over a two-time champ in 2018. No stranger to doing things the hard way, the Husker senior may have to take that familiar road again if he can't get past a hungry, but ailing, Sebastian Rivera in round two. Either way, I have no doubt that the man they call C.J. will make his presence felt again next weekend. Matt in Upper Saddle River g'head Matt First-time, long-time, should catholic schools be banned from NJ states? I'll hang up and listen… @mattg197 I get asked this a lot, and thanks for the call, Matt, and the answer is no. Ok? This idea that private schools shouldn't compete at individual states is asinine. Ok? New Jersey already separates the privates from publics in team states, so no problem there. Regardless of school, the individual tournament is still a collection of the best wrestlers in the state and if most champs come from private schools, then that's the way it is. The private school kids still come from Jersey and sometimes a few other states, but they don't come from Krypton. Beat 'em on the mat; the tournament gives you that opportunity. What are your thoughts on stall calls from the neutral position? Are they more controversial now? Not returning to the center is never called stalling. When someone goes out of bounds, you never know if the call will be continuing action or stalling. It makes the ref's job harder. @WisconsinWrest1 Push. Out. Point. That should straighten things out. How does one know the difference between a Real Bracket and a Forged Bracket? @MichWrestlinRef The forged brackets are seeded correctly. Out of the guys that did not get an at large bid, who are some of the biggest snubs? @yaboybready Alex Madrigal and Charles Small, to name a few. It's an unforgiving sport and the slightest misstep or injury can bite you in a big way. Sucks to see and we wish everyone could get a spot. Can you help get folks to sign my petition to put the WWE 24/7 Title on Gable Steveson before the NCAA tournament? Bob Oboberson Sure, Bob. That's quite a name you got there. Sign Bob's petition here, which will surely be the first online petition to actually work. Who does Kaleb Young have compromising photos of on the seeding committee? Bea Arthur Enjoy the quiet weekend, all you Jagoffs and Jaggettes! One week from now, we'll be watching the greatest round in all of sports. NCAA quarterfinals, baby! Yours truly has taken the day off work and you should do the same.

Minnesota state champion Gavin Nelson (photo/Mary Christen; TheGuillotine.com) This weekend the high school state tournament scene started to wind down, but still had some of the traditional powers like Minnesota and New Jersey held their much-anticipated season-ending tournaments. 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 Air Force Evan Binder (Whitfield) - Missouri Class 3 State Champion (132) Drake Buchanan (Center Grove) - Indiana State Champion (182) Peyton Hahn (Boonville) - Missouri Class 2 State Champion (285) Ryker Johnecheck (Williamston) - Michigan D3 State Champion (140) Appalachian State Hunter Adams (Gainesville) - Georgia 3A State Champion (182) Levi Andrews (Avery County) - North Carolina 1A State Champion (285) Kaden Keiser (Winner Area) - South Dakota Class B State Champion (145) Ethan Shell (Avery County) - North Carolina 1A State Champion (138) Arizona State Tyler Antoniak (Millard South) - Nebraska Class A State Champion (152) Corey Camden (College Park) - Texas 6A State Qualifier (138) Diego Chavez (Santa Cruz Valley) - Arizona D4 State Champion (175) Michael Kilic (Woodward Academy) - Georgia 5A State Champion (160) Jacob Meissner (Osseo) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (220) Damion Schunke (Brandon Valley) - South Dakota Class A State Champion (195) Caleb Vanbuskirk (Palm Desert) - California State Qualifier (220) Army West Point Evan Anderson (Western Reserve) - National Prep fourth-place (220) Oscar Aranda (St. John Bosco) - California State third-place (160) Braden Basile (Tampa Jesuit) - Florida 2A State Champion (132) Joel Brown (Landon) - National Prep third-place (132) - Class of 2023 Sam Cartella (Western Reserve) - National Prep Runner-Up (138) - Class of 2023 Conor Collins (Southern Regional) - New Jersey State third Place (120) - Class of 2023 Gage Cook (Granger) - Washington 1B/2B State Champion (285) Nick Corday (Baylor School) - Tennessee DII State Champion (113) Gunner Filipowicz (Woodward Academy) - Georgia 5A State Champion (170) Cooper Haase (Osceola) - Florida 3A State Champion (138) Tommy Link (Malvern Prep) - National Prep third-place (113) Kent McCombs (Clinton) - Michigan D3 State third-place (160) Dakota Morris (Kingsway) - New Jersey State Runner-Up (157) Jaime Rivera (Sunnyside) - Arizona D1 State Champion (150) Ben Rogers (Wantagh) - New York DI State Runner-Up (152) Augustana Max Ramberg (Baldwin-Woodville) - Wisconsin D2 State Champion (195) Averett Braeden Fluke (Great Bridge) - Virginia 4A State third-place (220) Binghamton Carter Baer (Gouverneur) - New York DII State Champion (160) Will Ebert (Fairfield) - Connecticut Class LL State Champion (170) Fin Nadeau (Flathead) - Montana AA State Champion (145) Charlie Tibbitts (New Hartford/Saquoit Valley) - New York DI State Champion Brown Jared Brunner (Eastern) - New Jersey State Runner-Up (113) Jacob Gonzales (Holly) - Michigan D2 State Champion (160) Nicholas Olivieri (Delbarton) - New Jersey State fourth place (190) Bucknell Johnny Lopez (Poway) - California State third-place (138) Murphy Menke (Ponderosa) - Colorado 5A State Champion (160) Cal Baptist MJ Gaitan (Temecula Valley) - California State Champion (160) Kainoa Medina (Vacaville) - California State sixth-place (106) Mitchell Mesenbrink (Arrowhead) - Wisconsin D1 State Champion (152) Cal Poly Ty Chandler (Clovis North) - California State Qualifier (120) Cade Creighton (Palo Alto) - California State fifth-place (182) Koda Holeman (Clovis) - California State fifth-place (113) Dominic Mendez (Righetti) - California State Runner-Up (113) Luke Meyer (Capistrano Valley) - California State Qualifier (285) Zeth Romney (Chaminade) - California State Runner-Up (126) Cash Stewart (Poynette) - Wisconsin D3 State Runner-Up (160) Michael Torres (Oakdale) - California State Qualifier (126) Luke Villaluz (Corona Del Mar) - California State Qualifier (138) Wesley Wilson (Morro Bay) - California State Qualifier (182) Campbell Dom Baker (New Kent) - Virginia 3A State Champion (170) Devon Bell (Laney) - North Carolina 4A State Champion (182) Jack Hawbaker (Great Bridge) - Virginia 4A State Runner-Up (152) Hagen Heistand (Underwood) - Iowa 1A State Champion (145) Central Michigan Logan Badge (Clinton) - Michigan D3 State Runner-Up (189) Grayson Sonntag (Tonganoxie) - Kansas 4A State Runner-Up (138) Central Oklahoma Jaxon Randall (Edmond North) - Oklahoma 6A State Champion (170) Chadron State Jackson Tonkovich (Batavia) - Illinois 3A State Qualifier (182) Chattanooga Cole Cochran (Woodland Cartersville) - Georgia 5A State Champion (160) Jeremy Paradice (Colquitt County) - Georgia 7A State Champion (160) Cole Thomas (Ryle) - Kentucky State Champion (132) Clarion Chase Cordia (Osage) - Missouri Class 2 State Champion (182) Cleveland State Dylan Layton (Indian Land) - South Carolina 4A State Champion (145) Keith Ransom (Mexico) - Missouri Class 2 State Runner-Up (145) Columbia Richard Fedalen (McDonogh) - National Prep Runner-Up (152) Evan Frost (Dowling Catholic) - Iowa 3A State Champion (132) Jacob Frost (Dowling Catholic) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (138) Kai Owen (Wyoming Seminary) - National Prep third-place (138) Jack Wehmeyer (Malvern Prep) - National Prep Runner-Up (182) Yianni Vines (Thompson) - Alabama 7A State Champion (126) Cornell Foster Cardinale (Liberty) - Virginia 4A State Runner-Up (126) Ashton Davis (Cleveland) - Tennessee AA State Champion (285) Aiden Hanning (Northfield Mt. Hermon) - National Prep Champion (195) Simon Ruiz (Delbarton) - New Jersey State Champion (157) - Class of 2023 CSU Bakersfield Paul Sharp (Clovis North) - California State Champion (220) Davidson Devin Diaco (Trinity-Pawling) - National Prep Qualifier (126) Jarek Stewart-Karolweics (Brevard) - North Carolina 2A State Runner-Up (285) Davis & Elkins Nick Cottone (Shawnee) - New Jersey State Qualifier (126) Brenden Hansen (Hightstown) - New Jersey State eighth-place (285) Tanner Peake (Hunterdon Central) - New Jersey State fourth-place (157) Drexel Gabe Giampietro (Smyrna) - Delaware State Champion (120) Jordan Soriano (Clarke) - New York DII State Champion (138) Ethan Wilson (Washington Township) - New Jersey State Qualifier (150) Gardner-Webb Jeff Jacome (South Plainfield) - New Jersey State Qualifier (113) Tyson Lane (Brandon) - Florida 2A State Champion (120) Josh McCuthen (Valdosta) - Georgia 6A State Champion (195) George Mason Alex Frowert (Atlee) - Virginia 4A State Champion (152) Donovan Sprouse (Patriot) - Virginia 6A State Runner-Up (220) Harvard Joe Cangro (Bergen Catholic) - New Jersey State Champ (138) Jack Crook (Tampa Jesuit) - Florida 2A State Champion (152) Hofstra Alex Turley (Webster Groves) - Missouri Class 3 third-place (126) Illinois Brian Beers (Barrington) - Illinois 3A State fifth-place (126) Kole Brower (Moline) - Illinois 3A State Champion (138) Kannon Webster (Washington) - Illinois 2A State Champion (132) Indiana Cole Rhemrev (Stevenson) - Illinois 3A State fifth-place (138) Gabe Sollars (Mater Dei) - Indiana State Champion (195) Indianapolis Mason Cantu (Hart) - Michigan D3 State Runner-Up (145) Nathan Smith (Southport) - Indiana State third-place (106) Iowa Ryder Block (Waverly-Shell Rock) - Iowa 3A State Champion (138) - Class of 2023 Easton Fleshman (West Lyon) - Iowa 2A State Champion (285) Bradley Hill (Bettendorf) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (195) Joel Jesuroga (Southeast Polk) - Iowa 3A State sixth-place (145) Nate Jesuroga (Southeast Polk) - Iowa 3A State Champion (126) - Class of 2023 Ben Kueter (City High) - Iowa 3A State Champion (220) - Class of 2023 Carson Martinson (Southeast Polk) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (160) Carter Martinson (Southeast Polk) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (152) Drake Rhodes (Billings West) - Montana AA State Champion (160) Jace Rhodes (Mason City) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (132) Aiden Riggins (Waverly-Shell Rock) - Iowa 3A State Champion (160) Iowa State Carter Fousek (Crestwood) - Iowa 2A State Champion (138) Tate Naaktgeboren (Linn-Mar) - Iowa 3A State Champion (170) - Class of 2023 Manuel Rojas (Detroit Central Catholic) - Michigan D1 State Runner-Up (171) Christian Stanek (Xavier) - Iowa 3A State third-place (160) Casey Swiderski (Dundee) - Michigan D3 State Champion (152) Fernando Villaescusa (Gilbert) - Iowa 2A State Runner-Up (182) Kent State Eli Ashcroft (Kearney) - Missouri Class 3 State Champion (145) Keith Barr (Hickman) - Missouri Class 4 State sixth-place (138) Nico Calello (St. Joseph - Metuchen) - New Jersey State sixth place (120) Billy Meiszner (Providence Catholic) - Illinois 3A State fourth-place (132) Lander Samuel Gerard (Robinson) - Virginia 6A State Champion (152) Jackson Harms (Hillcrest) - South Carolina 5A State Champion (170) Brayton Killiri (Summerville) - South Carolina 5A State Runner-Up (138) Lehigh Remy Brancato (Bergen Catholic) - New Jersey State seventh-place (190) Kimo Leia (Selma) - California State fourth-place (138) - Class of 2023 Justin Onello (Bergen Catholic) - New Jersey State seventh-place (175) - Class of 2023 Caden Rogers (Malvern Prep) - National Prep Runner-Up (220) Lindenwood Aidan Boline (Washburn Rural) - Kansas 6A State Champion (160) Little Rock Brendon Abdon (Lake Gibson) - Florida 2A State Champion (160) Kodiak Cannedy (Greeneville) - Tennessee A State Champion (170) Chance Davis (Perry) - Oklahoma 3A State Champion (160) Kyle Dutton (Liberty) - Missouri Class 4 State Champion (145) Cael Keck (Park Hill) - Missouri Class 4 Runner-Up (132) Stephen Little (Union County) - Kentucky State Champion (190) Keith Miley (Whitfield) - Missouri Class 2 State Champion (285) Brennan Van Hoecke (Palmetto Ridge) - Florida 3A State Champion (145) Maryland Luke Jacobs (Westfield) - New Jersey State Qualifier (138) Kal Miller (Park Hill) - Missouri Class 4 Runner-Up (145) McKendree Logan Rathjen (Liberty) - Missouri Class 4 Runner-Up (152) Michigan Cam Catrabone (Williamsville North) - New York DI State sixth-place (145) - Class of 2024 Dylan Gilcher (Detroit Central Catholic) - Michigan D1 State Champion - Class of 2023 Caden Horwath (Davison) - Michigan D1 State Champion (125) - Class of 2023 Ira Jenkins (Whitehall) - Michigan D2 State Champion (285) Nathan Jerore (Woodhaven) - Michigan D1 State Champion (145) Codei Khawaja (Floyd Central) - Indiana State Qualifier (170) Josh Knudten (Libertyville) - Illinois 3A State Champion (182) Beau Mantanona (Palm Desert) - California State Runner-Up (138) Rylan Rogers (Coeur d'Alene) - Idaho 5A State Champion (195) Michigan State Ceasar Garza (Oakdale) - California State Champion (170) Isiah Pasik (New Lothrop) - Michigan D4 State Runner-Up (285) Minnesota Hunter Lyden (Stillwater) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (170) Max McEnelly (Waconia) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (195) - Class of 2023 Gavin Nelson (Simley) - Minnesota AA State Champion (220) - Class of 2023 Missouri Ryan Boersma (Mt. Carmel) - Illinois 3A State Champion (285) J Conway (Floyd Central) - Indiana State Champion (160) David Cross (Francis Howell Central) - Missouri Class 4 Runner-Up (138) Tommy Hagan (Lafayette) - Missouri Class 4 State Champion (220) Easton Hilton (Liberty) - Missouri Class 4 third-place (138) Carter McCallister (Rock Bridge) - Missouri Class 4 State Champion (138) - Class of 2023 Kaden Moore (Allen) - Texas 6A State Champion (138) Peyton Moore (Nixa) - Missouri Class 4 third-place (126) Zeke Seltzer (Cathedral) - Indiana State Champion (132) Owen Uhls (Fulton) - Missouri Class 2 State Champion (138) Clayton Whiting (Oconto Falls) - Wisconsin D2 State Champion (182) Mount Olive Lucas Cotto (Laney) - North Carolina 4A State Qualifier (113) Navy Jonathan Ley (Lake Highland Prep) - National Prep Runner-Up (170) Ryder Rogotzke (Stillwater) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (182) - Class of 2023 Evan Tallmadge (Brick Memorial) - New Jersey State Champion (120) Nick Vafiadis (New Kent) - Virginia 3A State Champion (160) Danny Wask (Blair Academy) - National Prep Champion (170) NC State Jackson Baglio (Central Cabarrus) - North Carolina 3A State Champion (120) - Class of 2023 Koy Buesgens (New Prague) - Minnesota AA State Champion (138) - Class of 2023 Danny Curran (Dekalb) - Illinois 3A State fifth-place (132) Tommy Curran (Dekalb) - Illinois 3A State Champion (145) Chase Horne (West Laurens) - Georgia 4A State Champion (285) Jeremiah Price (Surry Central) - North Carolina 2A State Champion (152) - Class of 2023 Vincent Robinson (Homewood) - Illinois 3A State Runner-Up (126) - Class of 2023 Cheaney Schoeff (Avon) - Indiana State third-place (132) - Class of 2023 Matthew Singleton (Woodward Academy) - Georgia 5A State Champion (182) Nebraska Harley Andrews (Tuttle) - Oklahoma 4A State Champion (285) Alan Koehler (Prior Lake) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (120) - Class of 2023 Antrell Taylor (Millard South) - Nebraska Class A State Champion (170) Nebraska-Kearney Joey Airola (Boulder) - Colorado 5A State sixth-place (132) Jacob Awiszus (Gering) - Nebraska Class B State Champion (182) Cael Erickson (Cedar Grove-Belgium) - Wisconsin D3 State Runner-Up (145) Newberry Aidan Lambert (Kellam) - Virginia 6A State fifth-place (160) North Carolina Nasir Bailey (Rich Township) - Illinois 3A State Champion (132) Cole Hunt (Cass) - Georgia 5A State Champion (120) Max Martin (Great Bridge) - Virginia 4A State sixth-place (120) Danny Nini (Lake Highland Prep) - National Prep third-place (152) Jayden Scott (Rush-Henrietta) - New York DI State Champion (145) Cade Tenold (Don Bosco) - Iowa 1A State Champion (170) Carson Tenold (Don Bosco) - Iowa 1A State Champion (195) North Dakota State Fernando Barreto (Walnut) - California State Qualifier (132) Walker Bents (Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) - Minnesota A State Champion (132) Gavin Drexler (Stratford) - Wisconsin D3 State Champion (138) Boeden Greenley (Lisbon) - North Dakota Class B State Champion (160) Brendan Howes (Anoka) - Minnesota AAA State Qualifier (145) Landen Johnson (Owatonna) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (160) Maxwell Petersen (Byron) - Minnesota AA State Champion (145) Zach Silvis (Park) - Minnesota AAA State Runner-Up (120) Northern Colorado Andrew Blackburn-Forst (Lockport) - Illinois 3A State Champion (220) Bryce Garcia (Pueblo County) - Colorado 4A State Champion (170) Brady Hankin (Woodland Park) - Colorado 3A State Runner-Up (138) Kobi Johnson (Loveland) - Colorado 4A State Champion (120) Derek Matthews (Declo) - Idaho 2A State Champion (182) Quentin Saunders (Goddard) - Kansas 5A State Champion (182) Northern Illinois Tom Bennett (Brother Rice) - Illinois 2A State Champion (170) Jacob Brya (St. Johns) - Michigan D2 State Champion (140) Damien Lopez (Dekalb) - Illinois 3A State third-place (152) Eli Rocha (Platte County) - Missouri Class 3 State Champion (138) Northern Iowa Trever Anderson (Ankeny) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (120) Chet Buss (North Butler-Clarksville) - Iowa 1A State Champion (285) Garrett Funk (Don Bosco) - Iowa 1A State Runner-Up (132) Cory Land (Moody) - Alabama 5A/6A State Champion (138) Wyatt Voelker (West Delaware) - Iowa 2A State Champion (195) Northern State Carter Ban (Anoka) - Minnesota AAA State fifth-place (138) Max Balow (Lake City) - Minnesota AA State Runner-Up (285) Payton Handevidt (Jackson County Central) - Minnesota A State Champion (160) Northwestern Sammie Hayes (Carl Sandburg) - Illinois 3A State sixth-place (120) Joseph Martin (Buchanan) - California State Champion (182) Kai Neumark (Deerfield) - Illinois 2A State Runner-Up (138) Ohio Charlie Heydorn (Lake Forest) - Illinois 2A State fourth-place (182) Ohio State Nic Bouzakis (Wyoming Seminary) - National Prep Champion (132) Nick Feldman (Malvern Prep) - National Prep Champion (285) Jesse Mendez (Crown Point) - Indiana State Champion (138) Oklahoma Joey Cruz (Clovis North) - California State Champion (113) KJ Evans (Heritage Hall) - Oklahoma 4A State Champion (152) - Class of 2023 Christian Forbes (Broken Arrow) - Oklahoma 6A State Runner-Up (106) Zan Fugitt (Nixa) - Missouri Class 4 State Champion (120) - Class of 2023 AJ Heeg (Edmond Memorial) - Oklahoma 6A State Champion (182) - Class of 2023 Anthony Santaniello (Brick Memorial) - New Jersey State Runner-Up (132) - Class of 2023 Kaden Smith (Bridge Creek) - Oklahoma 4A State third-place (132) John Wiley (Mustang) - Oklahoma 6A State third-place (160) Oklahoma State Zach Blankenship (Bixby) - Oklahoma 6A State Champion (132) Cael Hughes (Stillwater) - Oklahoma 6A State Champion (126) - Class of 2023 Jersey Robb (Bixby) - Oklahoma 6A State Champion (195) - Class of 2023 Cutter Sheets (Stilwell) - Oklahoma 4A State Runner-Up (145) Jordan Williams (Owasso) - Oklahoma 6A State Runner-Up (160) Oregon State Isaiah Anderson (Chiawana) - Washington 4A State Champion (195) Chase DeBlaere (Simley) - Minnesota AA State Runner-Up (132) Damion Elliot (Del Oro) - California State sixth-place (132) CJ Hamblin (Mountain View) - Washington 3A State Champion (170) Austin Scott (Mountain View) - Arizona D2 State Champion (157) Nash Singleton (Roseburg) - Oregon 6A State Champion (132) Noah Tolentino (Poway) - California State third-place (145) Gabe Whisenhunt (Crescent Valley) - Oregon 5A State Champion (126) Cade White (Meridian) - Idaho 5A State Runner-Up (145) Penn Alex Almeyda (St. Joseph's) - New Jersey State third-place (138) Christian Carroll (New Prairie) - Indiana State Champion (220) - Class of 2023 Andrew Connolly (Malvern Prep) - National Prep third-place (195) Martin Cosgrove (Camden Catholic) - New Jersey State Champion (215) Evan Mougalian (Kinnelon) - New Jersey State Champion (126) Jackson Polo (Cold Spring Harbor) - New York DII State Champion (145) Brady Pruett (Archbishop Spaulding) - National Prep fifth-place (126) Andrew Troczynski (Delbarton) New Jersey State Champion (150) Cross Wasilewski (Delbarton) - New Jersey State third-place (144) - Class of 2023 Penn State Josh Barr (Davison) - Michigan D1 State Champion (171) - Class of 2023 Braeden Davis (Dundee) - Michigan D3 State Champion (119) - Class of 2023 Presbyterian Ty Chittum (Great Bridge) - Virginia 4A State Champion (160) Ryan Luna (St. Francis) - California State Qualifier (132) Princeton Rocco Camillaci (Hilton) - New York DI State Champion (152) Drew Lang (West) - Utah 6A State Champion (144) Christopher Martino (Bishop Kelly) - Idaho 4A State Champion (132) Kole Mulhauser (Central Square) - New York DI State Champion (189) Eligh Rivera (Lake Highland Prep) - National Prep Champion (138) - Class of 2023 Ty Whalen (Clearview Regional) - New Jersey State Runner-Up (144) Purdue Brody Baumann (Mater Dei) - Indiana State Champion (170) Rider D'Amani Almodovar (St. Augustine) - New Jersey State Qualifier (126) Angelo Esposito (Northgate) - California State Qualifier (170) Hogan Horsey (Oakcrest) - New Jersey State Qualifier (126) Hunter Horsey (Oakcrest) - New Jersey State Qualifier (132) Hunter Mays (Howell) - New Jersey State Champion (165) Roanoke Zane Cox (Benedictine) - National Prep fourth-place (160) Rutgers PJ Casale (Delbarton) - New Jersey State Runner-Up (215) Joe Fongaro (Boonton) - New Jersey State Champion (144) Luke Gayer (Calvary Chapel) - California State Runner-Up (160) Brian Soldano (High Point) - New Jersey State Champion (190) SIU Edwardsville Andrew Doehring (Lafayette) - Missouri Class 4 fourth-place (138) Bradley Gillum (Dekalb) - Illinois 3A State Runner-Up (182) Marcel Lopez (New London) - Iowa 1A State Champion (126) Alec Peralta (Temecula Valley) - California State seventh-place (145) Brock Woodcock (St. Clair) - Missouri Class 2 State Champion (145) - Class of 2023 South Dakota State Bennett Berge (Kasson-Mantorville) - Minnesota AA State Champion (195) Brock Fettig (Bismarck) - North Dakota Class A State Champion (182) Logan Graf (Rapid City Stevens) - South Dakota Class A State Champion (126) Christian Noble (Big Lake) - Minnesota AA State Champion (126) Luke Rasmussen (Brookings) - South Dakota Class A State Champion (220) Caleb Thoennes (St. Michael-Albertville) - Minnesota AAA State sixth-place (132) Kail Wynia (Kasson-Mantorville) - Minnesota AA State third-place (182) St. Cloud State Ethan Birch (Vacaville) - California State Qualifier (145) Archer Heelan (Kearney) - Nebraska Class A State fifth-place (120) Owen Herbst (Buffalo) - Minnesota AAA State Qualifier (160) Donnie Hidden (Washington) - Illinois 2A State Runner-Up (195) Elijah Novak (Foley) - Minnesota AA State Champion (285) Nick Renteria (IC Catholic) - Illinois 1A State Champion (120) Brandon Ross (Caledonia-Houston) - Minnesota A State sixth-place (126) Logan Vaughan (Kasson-Mantorville) - Minnesota AA State Runner-Up (152) Jaydon Walls (Platte County) - Missouri Class 3 State Champion (195) Stanford Brook Byers (Sprague) - Oregon 6A State Champion (182) Daniel Cardenas (Pomona) - Colorado 5A State Champion (152) Jack Darrah (Wyoming Seminary) - National Prep third-place (220) Hunter Garvin (Iowa City West) - Iowa 3A State Champion (152) Zach Hanson (Lakeville North) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (145) - Class of 2023 Lain Yapoujian (Byers) - Colorado 2A State Champion (138) - Class of 2023 The Citadel Aiden Curry (Central Academy) - North Carolina 3A State Champion (160) Caelan Riley (Libertyville) - Illinois 3A State third-place (120) Dillon Roman (Monarch) - Colorado 5A State Runner-Up (138) Thomas Snipes (Hillcrest) - South Carolina 5A State Champion (145) Hayden Watson (Center Grove) - Indiana State Champion (145) Virginia Robert Avila Jr. (Iowa City West) - Iowa 3A State Runner-Up (145) Griffin Gammel (Waukee Northwest) - Iowa 3A State Champion (182) Jack Gioffre (Buchanan) - California State Champion (132) Michael Gioffre (Buchanan) - California State Champion (138) Garrett Grice (Bellevue East) - Nebraska Class A State Champion (138) Nick Hamilton (Papillion-La Vista) - Nebraska Class A State Champion (160) RJ May (Maggie Walker) - Virginia 3A State Champion (182) Kyle Montaperto (Central Academy) - North Carolina 3A State Champion (126) Keyveon Roller (Lakeway Christian) - Tennessee DII State Champion (132) Cooper Rudolph (Robinson) - Virginia 6A State Champion (285) Nick Sanko (Pittsford) - New York DI State Runner-Up (160) Virginia Tech Tom Crook (Tampa Jesuit) - Florida 2A State Champion (145) Logan Frazier (Crown Point) - Indiana State Champion (126) - Class of 2023 Caleb Henson (Woodland-Cartersville) - Georgia 5A State Champion (152) Evan Holloway (New Kent) - Virginia 3A State Champion (145) Aiden Lacoma (Christensburg) - Virginia 3A State Champion (285) Hunter Mason (Greeneville) - Tennessee A State Champion (145) - Class of 2023 TJ Stewart (Blair Academy) - National Prep Champion (220) VMI Dyson Dunham (Benedictine) - National Prep fifth-place (132) Wisconsin Brock Bobzien (Poway) - California State third-place (132) Greyson Clark (Kaukauna) - Wisconsin D1 State Champion (138) - Class of 2023 Felix Lettini (St. Peters Prep) - New Jersey State fifth-place (138) Nicolar Rivera (Stoughton) - Wisconsin D1 State Champion (126) James Rowley (Crescent Valley) - Oregon 5A State Champion (182) Mikey Tal-Shahar (American Heritage) - Florida 1A State Champion (195) Wyoming Garrison Dendy (Baylor School) - Tennessee DII State Champion (138) David Harper (Baylor School) - Tennessee DII State Champion (195) Jore Volk (Lakeville North) - Minnesota AAA State Champion (132) Kevin Zimmer (Carl Sandburg) - Illinois 3A State Runner-Up (285)

Messiah's national qualifier Josiah Gehr (top) (Photo/Messiah athletics) It is indisputable that the toughest level of college wrestling is happening on the NCAA Division I front. However, throughout history, there have been a variety of wrestlers from other divisions who have gone on to make a name on the international level. For example, former Nebraska-Kearney wrestler Tervel Dlagnev officially received his Olympic bronze medal this past week, and fellow Loper veteran Kamaru Usman currently holds the UFC welterweight title. Unlike many college sports, there is still a fair bit of competition across levels. It is not irregular for an NAIA team to face off against a Division I team in a tournament or even a dual. This past season there were 52 duals between Division I teams and teams from other divisions. In a sign that perhaps the gap is widening, only one team from a lower division was able to win one of these matches. The following looks back at that dual and some of the top individual performances across inter-divisional duals. The only team from a lower division to best a top-level team in a dual this season was Averett. The Division III squad knocked off Bellarmine 22-16 in a match back on Nov. 13. To be fair, Bellarmine just launched their wrestling program in 2016 and only moved up to the Division-I level for the 2021 season. However, Averett is also a budding program as the school began competing during the 2018 season. The dual was part of the Patriot Duals hosted by George Mason. The Cougars won the first four matches of the match as Sam Braswell (125), Joseph Jones (133), Brandon Woody (141) and Gabe LaVey (149). Bellarmine made things interesting by going on a four-match streak of their own. However, Averett sealed the victory in the final two matches. At 197, Billy Baldwin scored a decision over Charlie Cadell to even the dual score at 16-16. With the result on the line, heavyweight Trent Ragland scored a third-period fall over Bryant Wilkinson. A few weeks ago, Averett finished third in the Southeast Regional and qualified four wrestlers for the upcoming NCAA tournament. Braswell won the qualifying tournament while Woody, Alex Turley, and Hunter Campbell also qualified. Outside of Averett's victory, the only other team from a lower division to come within a match against a Division I team was Cumberland. The NAIA team dropped a 25-10 match against Chattanooga on Nov. 6. The Mocs forfeited 125 pounds, but Cumberland wrestlers Cole Smith (165), River Henry (197) and Patrick Depiazza (285) scored victories as well. All three qualified for last weekend's NAIA tournament. Smith, a refugee from the dropped Old Dominion program, pinned Grand View's Marty Margolis in the finals to claim the NAIA title at 165 pounds and finish the season undefeated. While dual victories were hard to come by this season, there were some standout individual performances by lower division wrestlers in these duals. The following are some of the best wins by these competitors against ranked or nearly ranked Division I wrestlers. 165: No. 1 Matt Malcom (Nebraska-Kearney - Division II) decision over No. 30 Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) 10-5 Malcom was an Iowa state champion in high school and started his collegiate career with the Hawkeyes before transferring to Nebraska-Kearney. With the Lopers, he has already become a three-time All-American and won a national title at 157 pounds in 2019. This year he is back, looking to reach the top of the podium once again. Malcom recently won the Super Region 6 title and holds a 26-2 record, with one of those losses coming against No. 1 Evan Wick (Cal Poly). Nebraska hosted in-state foes Chadron State and Nebraska-Kearney to open this season. Wilson joined the starting lineup after going 19-3 as a redshirt in 2020 and sitting out the 2021 season with an injury. Wilson scored the first two takedowns of the lead and had a 5-1 lead about halfway into the second period. However, Malcom turned things around with a takedown and tile to finish the frame. He scored the final nine points of the bout and took the decision victory. The two rematched at the CKLV Invitational, and this time Wilson won the bout via an 11-5 score. The Nebraska wrestler is currently ranked in the InterMat rankings. He entered last weekend's Big Ten tournament as the eighth seed, but finished sixth to qualify for the NCAA tournament. 133: No. 10 Jack Huffman (Augustana - Division II) decision over No. 26 Kellyn March (North Dakota State) 5-3 Huffman recently won the Super Region 5 tournament to qualify for his first NCAA tournament. He went 18-1 on the season, with his only loss coming against No. 13 Kaden Anderlik (Upper Iowa). During the year, Huffman actually picked up a pair of wins over Division I opposition, but his win over March was his most impressive. The bout was part of a dual that the Bison ended up winning 28-10. During regulation, Huffman was able to score a reversal and escape, and the bout went to sudden victory even at 3-3. In the extra period, The Augustana wrestler broke through and took the 5-3 victory. March went 14-7 prior to the Big 12 tournament and holds an impressive fall victory over No. 27 Ramazan Attasauov (Iowa State). He entered this past weekend's Big 12 tournament as the number-four seed but dropped both of his matches. He missed out on an at-large bid to make the NCAA tournament. 141: No. 9 Josiah Gehr (Messiah - Division III) fall over Seth Koleno (Clarion) Gehr entered this season as a two-time NCAA qualifier. He has gone 33-4 on the year and recently finished second at the Southeast Regional. That finals appearance earned him yet another trip to the NCAA tournament. On Dec. 11, Messiah hosted a quadrangular against Clarion, Lock Haven and Stevens Tech. It was a tough day for the Falcons as they dropped all three duals. However, Gehr's performance at 141 pounds was certainly a bright spot. Earlier in the day, Koleno had taken a major decision over No. 5 Kyle Slendorn (Stevens Tech), who had handed Gehr two of his four losses on the season, so the Clarion wrestler appeared to be a clear favorite. However, Gehr was able to pick up the fall only 1:22 into the match. Koleno finished the regular season with a 25-7 record. He is not currently ranked by InterMat, but he is 21st in the RPI, which indicates he faced a rather demanding schedule during the year. He entered the MAC tournament as the third seed. He needed to place in the top three to automatically qualify for the tournament but ended up finishing fifth. Koleno did not receive an at-large bid to make the tournament.

Northern Colorado's first Big 12 champion Andrew Alirez (Photo/Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) With the at-large's announced on Tuesday and brackets released last night, the NCAA Championships are officially looming. And now, less than a week away. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our previews, here's a fun look at the NCAA Tournament, its competitors (individuals/teams). It's some of the facts, trends, numbers, and overall randomness that you never thought to look up about the participants of the 2022 NCAA Championships. State-Related Notes Alaska has a pair of state qualifiers (Caleb Hopkins - Campbell and Evan Bockman - Utah Valley). It's the first time since 2012 that the state has produced multiple qualifiers. Those 2012 qualifiers were Nathan Hoffer (Arizona State/141) and Cayle Byers (Oklahoma State/197). Florida has a big year with 11 NCAA qualifiers. That's the biggest total for the state in at least 20 years (my records are fuzzy before 2000). The only other time in that span that Florida had double digits was 2009. They were Obe Blanc (Oklahoma State/125), Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan/125), Franklin Gomez (Michigan State/133), Frank Celorrio (Appalachian State/133), Chris Bencivenga (UNC Greensboro/141), Jake Patacsil (Purdue/149), Cesar Grajales (Penn/149), David Craig (Lehigh/184), Odie Delaney (The Citadel/197), Rashard Goff (Cleveland State/285). A lot has been made about Georgia's rise on the high school scene, which has spilled over into college. This year, Georgia actually has fewer national qualifiers (seven) than any year since 2017. There were five NCAA qualifiers from Georgia that wrestled at the 2021 tournament, who didn't qualify in 2022. Illinois has an astounding 32 NCAA qualifiers. The only time in the last 20 years that they have had more than 30 was in 2017, when they had 31. Indiana has 13 NCAA qualifiers, which is a normal figure for them. They do have an incredible crop at 141 lbs with three multiple-time All-Americans in Nick Lee (Penn State), Stevan Micic (Michigan), and Chad Red Jr (Nebraska). Kansas' seven national qualifiers represents the state's best showing in a decade. They had six in 2021, but the last time they had seven was in 2012. They were Nathan McCormick (Missouri/133), Jordan Keller (Oklahoma/133), Kendric Maple (Oklahoma/141), Tyler Koehn (Nebraska/174), Kyle Detmer (Oklahoma/174), Boaz Beard (Iowa State/184), and Steve Andrus (Michigan State/285). Ohio's 22 national qualifiers are the state's lowest total in at least 20 years. During that time, the state's highwater mark was in 2015 when they had 38. That year 11 of those 38 AA'ed. Legend Lamer (Cal Poly) is the only national qualifier from Oregon in 2022. Oregon had produced at least three per year, for the last 20 years (maybe longer). To no one's surprise, Pennsylvania led all states with 45 NCAA qualifiers. While 184 and 197 had the most PA natives in their bracket (7 each). The pure quality of 174 lbs can't be overlooked. Five of the top nine seeds at the weight class are from Pennsylvania. #1 Carter Starocci (Erie), #4 Hayden Hidlay (Lewistown), #5 Michael Kemerer (Murrysville), #6 Ethan Smith (Latrobe), #9 Mikey Labriola (Easton). #25 Gerrit Nijenhuis is also in the bracket. Texas had no NCAA qualifiers after having at least four in every year since 2017. The last time the state failed to produce an NCAA qualifier was back in 2011. Virginia has eight NCAA qualifiers, but three of them came at 125 lbs. Killian Cardinale (West Virginia), Joey Prata (Oklahoma), and Patrick McCormick (Virginia) comprise the lightweights from VA. The only wrestler in the tournament from New Mexico (Real Woods) will meet the only one from New Hampshire (Connor McGonagle) in the opening round at 141 lbs. The only two wrestlers from Massachusetts in the entire tournament are set to square off against one another at 165 lbs with #8 Phil Conigliaro (Havard) and #25 Brevin Cassella (Binghamton). School-Related Notes Air Force crowned their first-ever Big Champion in Wyatt Hendrickson at 285 lbs. Their most recent conference champion was Greg Rinker at 133 lbs in 2014. Codi Russell has become Appalachian State's first four-time NCAA qualifier since Austin Trotman did so from 2008-12. Cal Poly had five wrestlers qualify for NCAA's. It was the first time the Mustangs had that many since 2010. Those were Boris Novachkov/133, Filip Novachkov/141, Nick Fisher/149, Chase Pami/157, and Ryan DesRoches/174. Central Michigan's 285 lber Matt Stencel became the first-ever five-time MAC champion with his win over Isaac Reid (Lock Haven). Clarion has had one NCAA qualifier in each of the last two seasons. Both were 197 lbers. Greg Bulsak last year and Will Feldkamp this year. For the second consecutive year, Cleveland State has sent three wrestlers to the Big Dance. The last time the Vikings had at least three in back-to-back years was in 2006-07. Duke's Finesilver twins (Josh and Matt) both qualified for NCAA's. This marks the 14th time that a member of their family has wrestled at the national tournament. Since 2015, Duke has seen wrestlers qualify for nationals on 26 occasions. Only 12 were by Blue Devil's not named Finesilver. Wil Gil finished third at EIWA's and locked up an automatic bid to Detroit. He's only the third Franklin & Marshall wrestler to qualify for nationals since 2012. Richard Durso did it four times and Antonio Pelusi three. Phil Conigliaro's EIWA championship was the first by a Harvard wrestler since Devon Gobbo won the conference (at the same weight class) in 2016. Illinois' four NCAA qualifiers are the team's lowest number since 2010. For the third consecutive year, Iowa will be sending all ten postseason starters to nationals. This is the first time during that time that all ten automatically qualified through the conference tournament. Alex Marinelli won his fourth Big Ten title and surprisingly became the first Iowa wrestler to do so since Mark Ironside in 1995-98. David Carr's third Big 12 championship made him the first Cyclone wrestler to accomplish the feat since Kyven Gadson did so from 2013-15. Iowa State's NCAA qualifiers comprise one of the most diverse in terms of home states (or countries) out of any team in the country. They have two from Iowa (Joel Devine and Marcus Coleman). One from Hawaii (Kysen Terukina), Michigan (Ian Parker), Montana (Jarrett Degen), Ohio (Carr), and New York (Schuyler). Also Ramazan Attasauov is from Russia and Yonger Bastida is from Cuba. Jordan Wood became the first-ever five-time EIWA champion with a 2-0 shutout of Cornell's Lewis Fernandes. From 2015-2020, all of Lock Haven's national qualifiers were Pennsylvania residents. 2014 saw New York's Mac Maldarelli make the dance at 149 lbs. This year is quite the opposite as three of their five NQs are from outside of PA. Anthony Noto (New York), Ben Barton (Kentucky) and Ashton Eyler (Ohio). Michigan won their first Big Ten team title since 1973. Also related to Michigan. The Wolverines placed five wrestlers in the Big Ten finals for the first time since 1991. One of those finalists for Michigan at 158 lbs was their current head coach, Sean Bormet. He lost to current Ohio State head coach, Tom Ryan, 4-3. Myles Amine became Michigan's first two-time Big Ten champion since Kellen Russell won four between 2008-12. Gable Steveson won his third Big Ten title. He became the first Minnesota wrestler to accomplish the feat since fellow heavyweight Tony Nelson won three between 2012-14. Missouri returned to the Big 12 in style. Brian Smith's team reclaimed the Big 12 crown, one that they had won during their final year (2011-12) before moving to the MAC. Since then, Mizzouri has won 11 straight conference titles. Two in the Big 12 and nine in the MAC. NC State saw all ten of their wrestlers qualify automatically for nationals. None of them finished lower than third at the ACC Championships. Nebraska's Big Ten finals woes continued. They have now dropped nine consecutive Big Ten finals, a streak that dates back to 2016. Eric Schultz fell in the 197 lb finals for the third straight year. Andrew Alirez made history for the Northern Colorado program. He became the school's first Big 12 champion, by winning the 141 lb weight class. The past two years, they have placed a wrestler in the finals (Jackson Hemauer - 2021 and Mosha Schwartz - 2020). UNC's last conference champion was Mitchell Polkowske at 165 lbs in the West Regional/WWC. Northern Illinois saw three wrestlers come away with MAC titles (Izzak Olejnik - 165, Mason Kauffman - 174, Brit Wilson - 184). The last time the Huskies crowned three champs in the same year was 2003. That year it was Sam Hiatt (133), Scott Owen (157), and Ben Heizer (184), who did it. Northern Iowa's unreal streak of dominance at 184 lbs continued. The Panthers had a champion at the weight class for the fifth consecutive year. He's won the last two titles; Taylor Lujan won it in 2020. Drew Foster was the champion in 2018-19. With the addition of 149 lber Yahya Thomas through the at-large process, Northwestern will send all ten of their starters to Detroit. It's the third time the program has sent all ten and the first time since 1970. Ryan Deakin won the 157 lb Big Ten Championship. He is only the third Wildcat to win three, joining Jake Herbert (2006-07, 2009) and Wesley Brown (1931-33) Ohio State did not crown a Big Ten champion for the first time since 2011. The Big 12 consolation semifinal bout at 184 lbs, one needed for an NCAA berth, featured a pair of ex-teammates squaring off. Keegan Moore (Oklahoma) and Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State), were both Cowboys before Moore transferred UNI then to OU. Moore defeated Geer by a 9-4 margin, the same score he amassed during their Bedlam meeting, as well. Oklahoma State will roll into Detroit with eight NCAA qualifiers. That's the fewest for the Cowboys since they sent eight in 2008. Oregon State has eight wrestlers qualified for NCAA's. The last time they had eight was in 2014. Penn made a whole lot of history with their performance at the EIWA's. The team's runner-up finish at the tournament was its best showing since they were second in 2010. The Quakers nine national qualifiers is a school record. Head coach Roger Reina was named the conference Coach of the Year, an award he received on three previous occasions; however, the most recent was in 1999. Though Penn State came up just short of a Big Ten title, they had four champions, a mark that's been hit three previous times during the Cael Sanderson era. Penn State's crew heading to Detroit features more NCAA qualifiers from Arizona (Roman Bravo-Young and Beau Bartlett) than Pennsylvania (Carter Starocci). Jake Wentzel won the ACC title for Pittsburgh at 165 lbs for a third consecutive season. Wentzel is the first Panther wrestler to win three ACC championships. Rider's Richie Koehler and Quinn Kinner won MAC titles at back-to-back weights (133/141). It was the first time since they've been part of the MAC that Rider has claimed multiple individual championships. Of the eight NCAA qualifiers for Virginia, three of them were home-grown. That's the highest total for the Cavaliers in over 20 years. Austin Gomez's Big Ten championship was the first for the Wisconsin program under head coach Chris Bono. He's also the first Badger 149 lber ever to win the conference crown. Wisconsin also had a pair of Big Ten finalists in Eric Barnett and Gomez. That marked the first time since 2011 that the team had multiple Big Ten finalists. They were Tyler Graff (133), Andrew Howe (165), and Trevor Brandvold (197). Wyoming's four national qualifiers are the program's least since 2016, when they had three. But, they did have a national finalist that year. Could that happen again? This tournament features six(!) former Fresno State wrestlers. Haiden Drury (Utah Valley), Kyle Parco (Arizona State), Jacob Wright (Wyoming), Matt Olguin (Oregon State), Adam Kemp (Cal Poly), and AJ Nevills (South Dakota State). In the same vein, there are three former Old Dominion wrestlers. Killian Cardinale (West Virginia), Michael McGee (Arizona State) and Shannon Hanna (Campbell). Seeding/Bracketing Evan Wick received the top seed at 165 lbs. He's the first Cal Poly wrestler to earn top billing since Chad Mendes at the 2008 tournament (141 lbs). Cal Poly also has Bernie Truax at #5 at 184 lbs. The last time the Mustangs had multiple wrestlers with top-ten seeds was in 2012 with Boris Novachkov (#6/141) and Ryan DesRoches (#6/174). Michigan has a pair of top-seeded wrestlers in Nick Suriano (125) and Myles Amine (184). The last time multiple Wolverines were seeded #1 was in 2009 with Kellan Russell (141) and Steve Luke (174). Penn State's four number one seeds (RBY, Nick Lee, Starocci, Max Dean) marks the first time in the Cael Sanderson era that more than three PSU wrestlers have been given that distinction. Penn State also has the longest-running streak of any school with at least one #1 seed. They've had one or more every year since 2016. David Carr received the top seed at 157 lbs for Iowa State. He's the first Cyclone to get the number one since Jon Reader did so in 2011. Max Dean gets the top seed at 197 lbs. His brother, Gabe, received the top seed on three occasions. You have to go back to 2013 to find a pair of brothers that have gotten the number one seed, at one point or another, during their careers. Then it was Hunter and Logan Stieber (Ohio State), who happened to get them in the same season. Roman Bravo-Young's top seed at 133 lbs makes him the first Arizona native to receive the #1 seed since Anthony Robles did so in 2011. Likewise, Bravo-Young's teammate Nick Lee is the first Indiana native to hold the top-seed since Angel Escobedo in 2010. A pair of Michigan natives come into the tournament as #1 seeds, Myles Amine (184) and Max Dean (197). The last time multiple Michigan natives were seeded number one was in 2006 with Nick Simmons (125), Ryan Churella (165), and Wynn Michalak (197). Gable Steveson was named the number one seed at heavyweight for the third time in his career. The last heavyweight to earn three number one seeds was Kerry McCoy (Penn State) in 1994, 1995, and 1997. #2 Stephen Buchanan becomes only the fourth Wyoming wrestler during the Mark Branch-era to get a top-two seed at nationals. He joins Bryce Meredith 1/2018, Shane Onufer 2/2012, and Joe LeBlanc 1/2012. With Mekhi Lewis getting the #2 seed at 174 lbs, Virginia Tech has had a #2 in each of the last three years (Sam Latona/2021, Hunter Bolen/2020) and six of the last seven (David McFadden/2018 and Joey Dance/2016-17). West Virginia has a pair of top-ten seeds with #5 Killian Cardinale (125) and #9 Peyton Hall (165). The last time a pair of Mountaineer teammates were seeded in the top ten was 2006. Brandon Radar was ninth at 141 lbs and Matt Lebe was fourth at 157. Wyatt Hendrickson's fifth seed at 285 lbs makes him the first Air Force wrestler to garner a top-ten seed since Josh Martinez in 2014 (#4/125). Josh Heil's #7 seed is the highest in Campbell's program history. The previous mark was an eighth seed, which he and Andrew Morgan received in 2020. There are three wrestlers in this tournament named Dom. Lajoie (Cornell), Zaccone (Campbell), and Solis (Maryland). Lajoie and Zaccone meet in the 133 lb pig-tail match. Be careful filling out your bracket at 141 lbs. You could confuse yourself during the Ian Parker/Parker Filius bout. Former teammates are set to square off in round one at 141 lbs with #16 Quinn Kinner (Rider) and #17 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State). Kinner was at Ohio State and appeared at 133 and 157 lbs before moving on to Rider. Transfer portal madness! In the top quad at 125 lbs, the number one seed is former Penn State wrestler, by way of Rutgers, now at Michigan, Nick Suriano. He'll take on Penn State's current starter, Drew Hildebrandt, a graduate transfer from Central Michigan in the Round of 16. That's provided that Hildebrandt gets by Lock Haven's Anthony Noto, an NC State transfer. 197 lbs will feature a first-round matchup between a pair of Junior World medalists in #10 Yonger Bastida (silver) and #23 Braxton Amos (gold). Whoever wins is likely to face another Junior World Champion in the second round, in #7 Rocky Elam (Missouri). The weight classes that features multiple undefeated wrestlers are: 133: #1 Roman Bravo-Young, #2 Daton Fix 141: #1 Nick Lee, #3 Sebastian Rivera 149: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis, #2 Tariq Wilson 157: #1 David Carr, #2 Ryan Deakin, #3 Jacori Teemer 165: #1 Evan Wick, #2 Keegan O'Toole 285: #1 Gable Steveson, #2 Cohlton Schultz, #5 Wyatt Hendrickson The only first-round matchup between returning NCAA All-Americans is a 157 lbs with #2 Ryan Deakin and #31 Wyatt Sheets. Remember when filling out your brackets to include some minor upsets. The last time more than six #1 seeds won titles was in 2012. Last year, only three won.

The top seed at 165 lbs Matt Malcom of Nebraska-Kearney (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) 125 The returning national champion Cole Laya (West Liberty) highlights a field full of monsters set to do battle in St Louis. The team race is going to be close and with the top four teams all having finalist threats at this weight, things will heat up quickly. Half of the 2021 All-Americans are back in the tournament, including the other finalist Nick Daggett (UNC Pembroke). Joe Arroyo (UW Parkside) is returning to the tournament and looking to make the jump from third to first. He will need to stay ahead of Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma), who enters as the two seed. Be in your seats for bout number two, Evan Carrigan (Newberry) will wrestle the fourth seed Christian Mejia (McKendree). The two met at the NWCA National Duals tournament and Carrigan won the matchup 13-2. Talk about upset special. The bottom of this bracket is total anarchy waiting to happen. Paxton Creese (St. Cloud State) missed out on a nationals trip in 2021, but he earned the three-seed after wins over 2019 finalist Josh Portillo (Nebraska Kearney), Daggett, and Arroyo. Daggett finds himself on Laya's side of the bracket, but the rest of them are all on the bottom side. This weight class has been crazy all year, 2021 All-American Christian Mejia arrived second semester and promptly won the Midwest Classic. Do not overlook Dawson Collins (Colorado Mesa), he made a run at the MWC that saw him fall in finals to Mejia. Collins is just a freshman, but he holds an impressive resume full of wins over Isaiah DeLaCerda, Dagget, Rosen, and Cody Fatzinger (Western Colorado). A third-place finish in SRVI sees him as one of the best unseeded wrestlers at any weight class. I would be remiss if I did not mention the first NCAA Division II national qualifier in Davenport University history, Manuel Leija. The freshman made the SRIII finals and will need to ride that high to continue his charge through history. Quarterfinals #1 Cole Laya (West Liberty) v #8 Jacob Dunlop (Gannon) #5 Nicholas Daggett (UNC Pembroke) vs Dawson Collins (Colorado Mesa) #3 Paxton Creese (St. Cloud State) vs #6 Josh Portillo (Nebraska Kearney) #2 Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) vs Tyshawn White (Shippensburg) I am picking two different early-round upsets at the weight. Evan Carrigan (Newberry) has already beaten Christian Mejia & a first-round matchup between the two could send the fourth seed to the consolation side early. That would create a match between two unseeded wrestlers in Carrigan & Dawson Collins. I mentioned Collins earlier because he is a young man who has played the role of spoiler well this season and he has already blown up one impressive bracket with his showing at the Midwest Classic. I am picking Tyshawn White (Shippensburg) to mess up seeding on the bottom half, because I think he poses a real style challenge to the seventh-seed Joe Arroyo. The best quarterfinal on paper is Paxton Creese taking on Josh Portillo. The two met at National Duals with the repeat freshman Creese earning a 5-3 victory. Portillo is a #SuperSenior looking to bounce back from a very disappointing tournament in 2021. This is the type of match that cements a legacy in a program, with every fiber of my being I want to pick him to win this match. But I just have a feeling that Creese has learned enough from his first freshman season to avoid the type of mistakes that would see him give up big points from his feet or bottom. The places that Portillo likes to feast. I do think that Paxton Rosen is going to have his hands full with either Joe Arroyo or Tyshawn White. They are both such technically sound on their feet that Rosen could find himself in a 3-2 match and any time the score is decided by the first takedown, anything can happen. Semifinals Cole Laya (West Liberty) vs Dawson Collins (Mesa) Paxton Creese (St Cloud State) vs Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) I could see this weight class only sending one of the top four seeds into the semifinals, that is how thin the margin for error is. Cole Laya has lost just once at the national tournament in two appearances. He is the best wrestler at this weight class until someone proves me wrong on the biggest stage. I really want to see this other semifinal because, how often do two Paxtons meet in a national tournament semifinal match? There can be only one! I am looking for a Highlander situation where the loser of this match has to change their name. Here's the thing, Rosen could face Arroyo who has beaten him in the quarterfinals. Or he could face the very good Tyshawn White. This side of the bracket is just so deep. We could see Creese fall to Portillo in the quarters. This is going to be me making the pick because of what I am looking at now, not trying to hedge my bet and get the most finalists right. I am going with the older, more battle-tested Paxton and picking Rosen. Finals Cole Laya (West Liberty) vs Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) Cole Laya is very, very good. His only loss at the national tournament was in 2019 to eventual national champion Carlos Jacquez. I would have loved to see him in 2020 take on one of the best fields at any weight, thanks a lot Covid. In 2021 he went, Decision-Fall-Major Decision, to win his first title. I do not care who they put across from him in the finals, Danny Irwin may be the best coach in the country at making sure his top athletes' peak. Paxton Rosen will have earned the right to be in the finals if he makes it. That side of the bracket is just one land mine after another. He will earn the Brochos some much-needed points, but running into Laya just makes for a bad Saturday night. 1st Cole Laya - West Liberty University 2nd Paxton Rosen - University of Central Oklahoma 3rd Paxton Creese - St. Cloud State University 4th Dawson Collins - University of Colorado Mesa 5th Joe Arroyo - University of Wisconsin Parkside 6th Tyshawn White - Shippensburg University 7th Josh Portillo - University of Nebraska Kearney 8th Evan Carrigan - Newberry College 133 I honestly feel that the committee did itself a disservice by not making certain that Wesley Dawkins (Nebraska Kearney) and Jon Andreatta (Adams State) were not placed on the same side of the bracket. We missed our chance to see their grudge match in the SRVI finals after an MFF by Andreatta propelled Dawkins to the title. These two fan bases do not like each other and these two athletes seem to care for each other even less than that. They also happen to be two of the most exciting wrestlers at any weight. This weight class is bound to have some “upsets” brought about by the draw and seeding. It seems like the committee put a lot of weight on the performance at the Midwest Classic, and why not? Athletes that have won the MWC have historically done very well at the national tournament. Metzgar defeated fellow national qualifiers Eric Bartos (Mercyhurst), Tanner Hitchcock (Lindenwood), and Reece Barnhardt (Mary) there. His season from then on though was an 11-4 campaign that saw his best win as the replacement for Patrick Allis at Western Colorado, Alex Alvarez. Majid Corbit (Limestone) is undefeated and a Super Regional II champion, he is unseeded. Eric Bartos (Mercyhurst) has an almost as impressive body of work and finished higher in his Super Regional than Metzgar did in his. Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) also finished third in his Super Regional and still managed to earn a seventh-seed. Vos has won over national qualifiers Corey Gamet (Lake Erie), Elijah Lusk (Lander), and the fifth-seed Reece Barnhardt (Mary). The freshman Marauder did avenge that loss in the Super Regional V tournament though, he sent the returning national finalist to the consolation side. I kind of feel like they did not know what to do with the one-loss Collin Wickramaratna (Kutztown). He avenged his regular-season loss to Eric Bartos in the SRI finals, but his only other quality win is over Devin Flannery. He earned the sixth seed but opens his tournament against undefeated Corbit with the three-seed Jack Huffman (Augustana) looming. Huffman is another wrestler that seemed to be seeded due to some transitive properties, his two wins over Barnhardt highlighted his season results, and Barnhardt's big wins seemed to equal a jump in the seeding for Huffman. Huffman and Barnhardt are going to do damage and if Garrett Vos can bounce back, three podium spots should belong to the SRV crew. I am a little surprised that Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) earned the top-seed over Dawkins, but the junior is undefeated with wins over Andreatta, Metzgar, and Tanner Hitchcock (Lindenwood). The 2021 7th-place All-American Hitchcock is unseeded and opens the tournament against Vos in bout number three. Do not be late getting into the arena. Quarterfinals #1 Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) vs #8 Collin Metzgar (Colorado Mesa) #5 Reece Barnhardt (Mary) vs #4 Jon Andreatta (Adams State) #3 Jack Huffman (Augustana) vs #6 Collin Wickramaratna (Kutztown) #7 Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) vs #2 Wesley Dawkins (Kearney) The quarterfinal from the very bottom of this bracket is going to be huge for the team race, the winner between Garrett Vos and Wesley Dawkins will immediately earn All-American finish points for their program and give their team an early boost. I expect Tanner Cole to roll for Central Oklahoma, which puts a lot of pressure on the likes of St. Cloud State and Nebraska Kearney. The four vs five and three vs six battles both feel like toss-ups to me. I know that seems weird, especially in the match between Jack Huffman and Collin Wickramaratna, but this bracket seems poised to get crazy at the quarters. Reece Barnhardt pinned Jon Andreatta at the Midwest Classic and now he gets the chance to show that was not just freshman luck. He is very capable of pulling the “upset” again. I am not sure why I am not as high on Huffman as the seeding committee, but I have reservations. It is not like Wickramaratna has a much flashier resume, it is just the eye test. I hope he passes it on Friday evening. Semifinals Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) vs Jon Andreatta (Adams State) Jack Huffman (Augustana) vs Wesley Dawkins (Kearney) We may never see Garrett Vos take on Jack Huffman and that makes me sad. Augustana forfeited the weight in their dual despite having Brandon Carroll, who beat Vos early in the season, and Huffman on the roster. What we will get to see is Huffman take on two-time All-American and four-time national qualifier Wesley Dawkins. Nebraska Kearney fell a point and a half short of a team title in 2021; it stung. I think we are going to see the best effort the Lopers have at every weight. In the top-side battle, Tanner Cole takes on the dangerous Jon Andreatta. I am going to pick Cole because of his style of wrestling, it is just so fundamentally sound that I think he will frustrate Andreatta and create a mistake that he can take advantage of. I could be wrong though and Andreatta could toss him on his head. Finals Tanner Cole (Central Oklahoma) vs Wesley Dawkins (Kearney) Wesley Dawkins and Tanner Cole will find themselves the focus of much of the arena when they meet in the finals. If the team race is still up for grabs, which it probably will be, the winner of this match could secure the trophy for their program and end St. Cloud State's reign. It will also be a rematch of the 2021 consolation finals that Tanner Cole won 12-7. That loss has to have stung looking at the point differential that separated Kearney from the trophy last year. I expect that there has been a freshman tasked with whispering in Dawkins ear at every meal, “remember the Bronchos .”Hopefully, it works out better for him than it did for the Persians. 1st Wesley Dawkins - the University of Nebraska Kearney 2nd Tanner Cole - University of Central Oklahoma 3rd Garrett Vos - St. Cloud State University 4th Jack Huffman - Augustana University 5th Reece Barnhardt - University of Mary 6th Jon Andreatta - Adams State University 7th Eric Bartos - Mercyhurst University 8th Collin Metzgar - University of Colorado Mesa 141 If you want to see coaches argue and agree at the same time, ask the eighteen coaches how they feel about the seeding of this weight class. There are going to be some very upset program leaders and some very happy ones as well. A, for example, would be Keaton Schorr (Augustana), who was 5-6 at 149lbs before starting for the Vikings at the SRV tournament and making the finals. His best win is over fellow qualifier Tate Murty (Upper Iowa). Caleb Morris (Pitt-Johnstown) and Alexis Soriano (Mercyhurst) both have better season resumes. Unseeded, two-time national champion Tyler Warner has at least as impressive a resume this season, and given his history, deserves to be ahead of him. Morris, Soriano, and Warner's coaches have to be wondering how this happened. More than that, Schorr also got a great draw that should see him advance at least to the quarters. If you are Colby Smith (Lindenwood) or Nick James (Kearney), you have to look at your first match and feel like your path to a national championship is going to be a difficult one right away. Smith drew the 2019 All-American Soriano, while James hits the landmine that is Tyler Warner right away. Even the second-seed Branson Proudlock has to be on upset alert as he takes on Tate Murty (Upper Iowa) right away. Proudlock has been nearly perfect this season, including a Midwest Classic crown. But all it takes is one mistake at the national tournament to go from finalists to 0-2. There will be seeded wrestlers going down at this weight, I guarantee it and everyone should be on upset alert. Quarterfinals #1 Joe Bianchini (St Cloud State) vs #8 Keaton Schorr (Augustana) #5 Christian Small (Kind) vs #4 Zeth Brower (Lander) #3 Colby Smith (Lindenwood) vs Tyler Warner (West Liberty) #7 Peter Kuster (Drury) vs #2 Branson Proudlock (Findlay) I want to voice a complaint right away about this weight class, why are Christian Small and Zeth Brower on a collision course in the quarterfinals? I hate to see this matchup because I feel like after Joe Bianchini, this weight class could have been seeded in so many different ways. Colby Smith as a two seed with Branson Prouldock three could have been switched. Heck, Zeth Brower could be the three if you are going to put that much weight on his win over Small in the SRII finals. I also think that Keaton Schorr and Bianchini meeting in the quarterfinals is another head-scratcher. Why are we running those Super Regional finals again? I do not expect the results to change for either of these matches. The ones to watch will be Colby Smith taking on Tyler Warner and Peter Kuster battling Branson Proudlock. The Kuster match could be one of those sneaky upset specials. Proudlock only has the one loss to Soriano this season and Kuster is very similar. He also has some big wins on his resume. Can Tyler Warner pull a second upset in a row to make the semifinals? Sure. But he will have to be perfect against Colby Smith. Smith took losses to Kuster and Proudlock and then after the Midwest Classic never looked back. Warner has a loss to the Findlay wrestler as well so this match comes down to really, how much of a 141 Warner is. Colby Smith is full-sized and battle-tested at this weight. That could be the difference despite the incredible record of success that Warner has at this tournament. Semifinals Joe Bianchini (St. Cloud State) vs Zeth Brower (Lander) Colby Smith (Lindenwood) vs Branson Proudlock (Findlay) As badly as I want to predict anarchy at this weight, I think that most of it will occur on the backside of this bracket. Joe Bianchini has a clear path to the finals and St. Cloud State needs him to deliver a title to help them build for their team race. Zeth Brower will make history for his program if he makes the semifinals as their first All-American. But he will run into the buzzsaw that is Bianchini. He has scored bonus points in 13 of his 17 wins against Division II foes. Colby Smith versus Branson Proudlock is a rematch from the Midwest Classic that Proudlock won 4-1. If the first semifinal is favored one way, this one is a toss-up. I will probably just flip a coin. Finals Joe Bianchini (St. Cloud State) vs Colby Smith (Lindenwood) A one seed versus a three seed is probably not a great surprise. But when we look back at this tournament bracket in a couple of seasons, I think we will see how impressive a run it was for these two athletes. I already spoke about how big of a weight class this is for St. Cloud State and even more than that, it is important for Bianchini to put a finals loss from 2021 in his rearview mirror. Colby Smith had his designs on a national title in 2021 and his third-place finish has to have been in his mind for the last 365 days. A narrow loss to eventual national champion Isiah Royal (Newberry) kept him from that career goal and now he has a chance at redemption. I worry that whoever comes out of this side of the bracket will have had to leave too much on the mat making the finals to have anything left in the tank. And you do not want to wrestle Bianichini with anything less than a full tank of premium gasoline. 1st Joe Bianichini - St. Cloud State University 2nd Colby Smith - Lindenwood University 3rd Tyler Warner - West Liberty University 4th Branson Proudlock - Findlay University 5th Zeth Brower - Lander University 6th Christian Small - King University 7th Peter Kuster - Drury University 8th Caleb Morris - University of Pittsburgh Johnstown 149 I do not hate the seeding at this weight, but having Dom Means (Gannon) as an unseeded wrestler creates a heck of a landmine at this weight. It may be a good thing that the three seed Noah Hermosillo has a first-round match to get warmed up, because he is not going to want to go into that matchup cold. 2021 141 lb national champion Isiah Royal (Newberry) will need to be ready right away himself, the one-seed draws the very tough sophomore from Northern State, Wyatt Turnquist. He has four wins over national qualifiers, including a regular-season win over Nick Novak (St. Cloud State). Novak rode the momentum of a Super Regional V crown to a seventh-seed at the tournament, and the true freshman will look to start writing his own history at the storied program during his first trip to the national tournament. The best story in college wrestling right now is Darick Lapaglia (Central Missouri), not only is he part of the resurgence of his program but he is also back in the national tournament eight years after earning All-American honors as a freshman for Maryville University. Craig Cook (Davis & Elkins) beat 2021 national champion Lukas Martin (Fairmont State) in his first match of the season, seemingly sending him into retirement. He capped the year off with a Super Regional III crown and now he needs to be on upset alert as he takes on the bigger of the #BaileyBros in round one. Logan Bailey (Indianapolis) has picked up big wins in his two years in the Hounds lineup and is a must-watch whenever he takes the mat. With West Liberty, Nebraska Kearney, and St. Cloud State all having wrestlers at this weight, Central Oklahoma will be hoping for big points from the two-seed Brik Filippo. He could carve a path right through West Liberty and St. Cloud State on his way to make the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Sam Turner (Nebraska Kearney) has a chance to advance through the quarters if he can find a way to beat Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown). I honestly think he could be a national finalist and from his fourth seed, his path seems very realistic. Quarterfinals #1 Isiah Royal (Newberry) vs Jason Hanenberg (Western Colorado) #5 Sam Turner (Kearney) vs #4 Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) #3 Noah Hermosillo (Adams State) vs Logan Bailey (Indianapolis) #7 Nick Novak (St. Cloud State) vs #2 Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) In his last two trips to the national tournament where we had wrestling, Isaiah Royal has been a finalist both times. In 2021, he won the 141 crown over Joe Bianchini (St. Cloud State). It very nearly spoiled the Huskies' day and a chance at a national championship. He is going to make the finals again and while I expect Jason Hanenberg to cause a ruckus early, Royal is not one to relinquish the crown so easily. I think the best match of the quarters will be when Sam Turner takes on Jacob Ealy. Turner was the number one wrestler in the country, until his loss to Brik Filippo and to Noah Hermosillo at the SRVI tournament dropped him to the fifth seed at this weight. This hurt the Lopers because now he must face off against the surging Ealy who has gotten even better as the season has progressed. Noah Hermosillo looks to be on a mission and that means Logan Bailey is on the wrong railroad track. Nick Novak could boost the St. Cloud chances with a big upset of Brik Filippo, but I think the true freshman may find that he is running into a seasoned vet who has been here before. Semifinals Isiah Royal (Newberry) vs Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) Noah Hermosillo (Adams State) vs Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma) Isiah Royal will enter the national tournament without having really been tested, he wrestled such an abbreviated schedule in 2022 that you have to wonder if he is totally back. I do not think it matters, he has shown that he knows what he has to do to get it done at the national tournament, and woe to those who try to usurp the Royal crown. Jacob Ealy will be trying to do just that though. He is a seasoned veteran in his own right and the returning All-American is looking to make a big jump from his eighth-place finish a year ago. The repeat sophomore is going to find himself on the consolation side once again, but by making the semifinals he will guarantee himself a higher finish. The Noah Hermosillo versus Brik Filippo semifinals will have all kinds of storylines riding on it. The largest will be the team race factor. If the Central Oklahoma junior is the only athlete from the big four to make the finals at this weight and in doing so could hand head coach Todd Steidley a team trophy. The only wrestler to beat Hermosillo this season is Dom Means and guess what, he will not be wrestling Dom Means in this semifinal. Hermosillo is now a four-time national qualifier and seems a lock to improve upon his sixth-place finish from 2021. Finals Isiah Royal (Newberry) vs Noah Hermosillo (Adam State) You can call me crazy, but I think this is the finals match we see for no other reason than it is the one I want. If this is how the seeds and draws are going to be, then this is the finals match I want to watch. These two wrestlers are so good at what they do. Isiah Royal is smooth on his feet and puts a tough enough ride on even the best wrestlers that it shortens the match. Noah Hermosillo is a score from anywhere wrestler and that includes all three positions. It is not so much a battle of styles as a battle of wills. Which athlete can fully impose their will upon their opponent? There will be no team race implications here, just a matter of two guys who can go out there knowing that this is their last college match and they have nothing to lose. 1st Noah Hermosillo - Adams State University 2nd Isiah Royal - Newberry College 3rd Jacob Ealy - University of Pittsburgh Johnstown 4th Brik Filippo - University of Central Oklahoma 5th Dom Means - Gannon University 6th Nick Novak - St. Cloud State University 7th Logan Bailey - University of Indianapolis 8th Darick Lapaglia - Central Missouri University 157 This entire weight class was turned on its head when Chance Esmont (Ashland) upset returning national champion James Wimer at the SRIII tournament. Esmont went on to win the championships while Wimer missed the national tournament. Anthony Herrera (St. Cloud State) jumped John Ridle (Central Missouri) to earn the top-seed at the weight. A loss in the SRVI finals after an injury default kept Josiah Rider (Adams State) from earning the top spot as well. JoJo Gonzalez (American International) was able to navigate a very tough Super Regional I tournament and earn the fourth seed. Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma) will have to carry the hopes of the Bronchos national tournament title and he has a very good chance to finish about his seed. The biggest surprise qualifier for me at this weight is Patrick “the Wonder Boy” Wunderlich (Coker) who battled back in SRII to finish third. He comes into the tournament at 68 in the D2Wrestlestat rankings. Dallas Boone (King) enters the tournament on a nine-match win streak and momentum can mean everything. That is why it is important to keep an eye on how Esmont starts off his tournament. If you want a real wildcard at the weight, Braydon Huber is one of the most explosive wrestlers at any weight and every time he steps on the mat there is the chance to see a big move. There is a lot of balance at this weight and there are probably six or seven wrestlers who could end up with the national title. Quarterfinals #1 Anthony Herrera (St. Cloud State) vs #8 Braydon Huber (Mary) #5 Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma) vs #4 JoJo Gonzalez (American International) #3 Josiah Rider (Adams State)vs Nick Young (Gannon) #2 John Ridle (Central Missouri) vs #7 Dawson Combest (Indianapolis) The top half of this bracket should probably wrestle to seed. This is important because it sets up the possibility of a Central Oklahoma versus St. Cloud State semifinal. For that to happen, Anthony Herrera just needs to defeat the always dangerous Braydon Huber again. They met very early in the season and Herrera won that battle 6-3 at the prestigious Finn Grinaker Cobber Open. Then, Ty Lucas will need to “upset” 2021 All-American JoJo Gonzalez. These two had a chance to meet at the Midwest Classic, but it did not happen. Gonzalez can go from zero to 60 faster than a Formula 1 racer and when he puts the pedal down is nearly unstoppable. He is a matchup nightmare for anyone. In a shoot-out, he can wrestle with the best in the country, and now as an All-American, he can wrestle without the pressure. Nick Young (Gannon) is two upsets away from being an All-American. An early win over Ryan Wheeler will put him just one away. Josiah Rider was the number one seed in the tournament before an injury default in the SRVI finals had him fall to the third. If he is healthy, he is a great finals bet. Dawson Combest and John Ridle is an SRIV battle and somehow will be the first meeting between these two. I know, it is really hard to believe that they have never wrestled each other. They are both sophomores so we should get to see this a few more times. Semifinals Anthony Herrera (St Cloud State) vs JoJo Gonzalez (American International) Josiah Rider (Adams State) vs John Ridle (Central Missouri) St. Cloud State needs to win this match, it is the chance for them to score points while Nebraska Kearney and West Liberty miss out. More than that, if Tyler Lucas does not make the semifinals they can stay ahead of Central Oklahoma at this weight as well. Anthony and JoJo Gonzalez have not met and there is no time that they would have matched up. On paper, this should be all Herrera, but not so fast my friend. Herrera wins a lot of matches, but he has done it without scoring big points. The redshirt sophomore has a decorated junior college career on his resume, but that is not the NCAA Division II national tournament. Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face and I expect Gonzalez to come out swinging hard. On the other side, it is a battle between a couple of young wrestlers. Josiah Rider is a redshirt sophomore as well and he will take on the sophomore John Ridle in what could be the start of an awesome rivalry. Again, I worry about the health of Rider, anything less than 100%, and Ridle is going to be an NCAA finalist as a sophomore. Finals JoJo Gonzalez (American International) vs John Ridle (Central Missouri) I could be way off on this prediction and it is just as likely that we see a battle between the redshirt sophomores Josiah Rider and Anthony Herrera, but I am going with my almost always wrong gut though and picking one of my favorite wrestlers at any weight and a young man who is part of the renaissance happening at Central Missouri under interim head coach John Feeney. The Mules had two national qualifiers and Ridle won their first Super Regional championship since 2015. If the “interim” does not disappear from before Feeney's name, there is something seriously wrong in that athletic department. Gonzalez has been very good for the last three seasons and after being locked out of the tournament in 2020, he made the podium in 2021. I can see him finishing his career with the title, the first finalist for the Yellowjackets since 2000. 1st JoJo Gonzalez - American International University 2nd John Ridle - Central Missouri University 3rd Anthony Herrera - St. Cloud State University 4th Ty Lucas - Central Oklahoma University 5th Dawson Combest - the University of Indianapolis 6th Josiah Rider - Adams State University 7th Braydon Huber - University of Mary 8th Chance Esmont - Ashland University 165 When Alex Faranchek (Gannon) succumbed to a knee injury late in the season, this weight class appeared to be a one-horse race. 2019 national champion and three-time All-American Matt Malcom is back in his fifth national tournament and against anyone not named Fred Green has seemed unstoppable the last three seasons. If there is going to be a challenger though to his attempt to ride off into the sunset a champion, it may come from the redshirt junior from Wisconsin Parkside, Shane Gantz. He is undefeated this season and the Midwest Classic champion. John Dean (Belmont Abbey) will be on the same side of the bracket as Gantz, and the junior wrestled the Super Regional tournament back at 165 after spending part of the second semester at 157. A :20 pin by James Burks (Northern State) is the only blemish on his Division II record this season, and other than that total anomaly he has been perfect. If there is going to be a wrestler to stop him it will almost certainly have to be one of those two. The fourth and fifth seed on Malcom's side includes the surging Jack Eiteljorge (Indianapolis) and undefeated in #D2Wrestle competition Dillon Keane (Pitt Johnstown). Even after his SRIV crown, Eitejorge is a surprise four seed. He has seven losses on his D2 season including to wrestlers who unseeded in this tournament or did not qualify. I thought he was a six or maybe seven seed, but now he has all the pressure of someone expected to make the semifinals. Talon Seitz (Newberry) got into the tournament and the former Loper gets the first crack at his old teammate Matt Malcom in the first round. He is back in the Carolinas and now he is a national qualifier. I wonder if James Penfold's (Lake Erie) MFF in the SRIII finals caused him to fall down the seeds, but at the seventh, he has a path to the quarters. He took an injury default against a teammate during the Storm Open and other than that would be undefeated. Eight of his 12 wins in D2 are by fall, those are some video game-type results. Corey Peterson (McKendree) finished fourth in 2021, but this year was the last wrestler out of SRIV. This weight has clear favorites and then wrestlers who should be All-Americans, the question is who will mess this all up. Quarterfinals #1 Matt Malcom (Kearney) vs #8 Nate Trepanier (Lindenwood) #5 Dillon Keane (Pitt-Johnstown) vs #4 Jack Eiteljorge (Indianapolis) #3 John Dean (Belmont Abbey) vs #6 Corey Peterson (McKendree) #2 Shane Gantz (UW Parkside) vs #7 James Penfold (Lake Erie) Nate Trepanier was looking great in #SRIV headed into the tournament and seemed ready for a rematch against Corey Peterson in the finals. Along came Jack Eiteljorge and a top-six seed turned into the eighth and a quarterfinal match against Matt Malcom. These are both seasoned veterans with plenty of experience, but one of them has the accolades and has proven he can perform when it counts. Jack Eiteljorge will have a chance to prove the doubters wrong right away, as he will battle Dillon Keane, the redshirt freshman who has made a big jump in his third year in the Johnstown room. Then we have a sneaky matchup between John Dean and Corey Peterson. They finished fourth and fifth in 2021 with Peterson picking up a win in their head-to-head meeting in St Louis. Can he do it again? The last quarterfinal could have been a battle of undefeated, but that teammate loss has Penfold sitting on the one. Regardless, after this match, he will have a second. Gantz has looked like a monster this season just going out and winning match after match. Semifinals Matt Malcom (Nebraska Kearney) vs Dillon Keane (Pitt Johnstown) Corey Peterson (McKendree) vs Shane Gantz (UW Parkside) I feel bad for anyone standing in the way of Matt Malcom making the finals. He has a 75% bonus rate this season and that is against all competition, not just Division II. When you factor in just matches against Division II wrestlers, it is an astounding 85%. I think that Dillon Keane can pull the upset in the quarterfinals to become an All-American, but he will have to do the rest of his work in the consolation rounds. Much like Kean, Corey Peterson can pull that quarterfinal upset. But like Kean, he will run into a buzzsaw in the next round. Gantz has scored bonus points himself in 12 of his 17 matches against Division II. He seems on a collision course with Malcom in the 165 finals. Finals Matt Malcom (Nebraska Kearney) vs Shane Gantz (UW Parkside) This is the final I want to see and I believe it is the one we deserve to see. These two athletes have been the best at the weight this year and they will put on a show in St Louis. One of these two #SuperSeniors will walk away into retirement as a national champion and the other will just walk away. I mean with an All-American finish, so it is not like they will leave empty-handed. In a match that turns into a scoring fest, Matt Malcom will have the advantage. He will also have the most pressure as his winning a title boosts his team's chances at the trophy. If this match stays close, Shane Gantz has more than enough offense to find that final takedown. He has a heck of a coach in his final who just happens to know a thing or two about winning Division II national titles. Even if his brother tried to run me over with a scooter last year. 1st Matt Malcom - University of Nebraska Kearney 2nd Shane Gantz - University of Wisconsin Parkside 3rd Corey Peterson - McKendree University 4th John Dean - Belmont Abbey College 5th Nate Trepanier - Lindenwood University 6th Dillon Keane - University of Pittsburgh Johnstown 7th John Penfold - Lake Erie University 8th Jack Eiteljorge - University of Indianapolis 174 The University of Nebraska Kearney did a bit of a weight class shuffle late in the season and Austin Eldredge moved down from 184 to start at the 174 class. He has won all 11 of his matches at the weight by tech fall, I feel like I'm telling a lie typing that. He has wrestled 11 matches at 174 and he has won every one of those matches by tech fall. If you want to be even more impressed, he has only allowed a total of nine points in those 11 matches. He has found a #D2Wrestle cheat code. New Mexico Highland University may have taken longer than any team in the country to update their roster, hopefully, they get a jump on 2023 and add “national qualifier” to the bio of Allen Michel. The senior almost won more matches in 2022 than he did his first three seasons wrestling for New Mexico Highlands. Hunter DeLong won 37 matches this season and this is his reward? He faces the third seed Andrew Sams (Indianapolis) in the first round. Sams is a very solid three-seed and a semifinal matchup with Cade Mueller (Augustana) is looking likely. Mueller just won the #SRV crown after beating Trevor Turriff (MSU Mankato) and the Viking could be the first Augustana finalists since 2019. I spoke about Caleb Spears in my “dark horse” article, if Dan Beemer (Ashland) is still injured then he could be a quarterfinalist very quickly. Heck, Beemer needs to be on upset alert as he takes on Dillon Walker (Mercyhurst). The freshman has come into Division II ready to wrestle and is a terrible draw for anyone who is not 100%. Job Ayala (UW Parkside) wrestled matches at 197 last season, he either cut off a leg or sold his soul to the devil to make 174. Either way, he is a national qualifier and a very serious All-American threat from the eighth seed. West Liberty's Ty McGeary is on Eldredge's side of the bracket and if they match up it will impact the team race. Central Oklahoma has Alex Kauffman facing Mueller in the first round, so the junior JUCO college All-American may need to do some work on the consolation side to feed the Bronchos title hopes. This is a big weight because those three teams can all make up ground or possibly build leads while St. Cloud State is without a point scorer. Just a note, 2021 fourth-place finisher Josh Jones (McKendree), is unseeded. So is two-time All-American Brock Biddle (Pitt-Johnstown), it goes to show the committee is looking for what you did this season. Quarterfinals #1 Austin Eldredge (Nebraska Kearney) vs #8 Job Ayala (UW Parkside) #5 Ty McGeary (West Liberty) vs #4 Trevor Turiff (MSU Mankato) #3 Andrew Sams (Indianapolis) vs Caleb Spears (Newberry) Josh Jones (McKendree) vs #2 Cade Mueller (Augustana) I fully expect the tech fall run to continue for Austin Eldredge at the national tournament. This means that Job Ayala is going to have his hands full with the hottest wrestler in Division II at the worst possible time. The Parkside Ranger is going to have to win a match on the consolation side if he wants to be an All-American. In what is a tiny bit of an upset, I think that Ty McGeary gets it done against Trevor Turiff in the quarters. The Hilltopper only has a loss to Dan Beemer on his record and he did not get the chance to avenge that in the SRIII finals. Turiff was a national finalist in 2021, but this season has been tougher with the addition of Cade Mueller to the weight class and it puts him on a much tougher path to return to the stage. Andrew Sams is firing on all cylinders at the right time and the Greyhound is going to be a very tough matchup for Cade Mueller in the semifinals. Josh Jones is now a three-time national qualifier, he knows what it takes to win big matches, but he is wrestling a man who is fully prepared for the national tournament. Semifinals Austin Eldredge (Nebraska Kearney) vs Ty McGeary (West Liberty) Andrew Sams (Indianapolis) vs Cade Mueller (Augustana) If the streak is still alive for Eldredge, this is where it stops. He is not going to come out and just steamroll Ty McGeary off the mat. He will still probably beat him and it could possibly even be a major decision, but it will not be a match termination. West Liberty arrives at the national tournament ready to wrestle and that is a good thing. When that whistle blows, Eldredge is going to be coming forward looking to score. The match between Andrew Sams and Cade Mueller is going to come down to the first takedown. The matches that Sams has lost this season have all seemed to happen when he allows his opponents to score first. In low-scoring matches or when he has the lead to build on, Sams can shut them down. Cade Mueller can score but can let high-level competitors hang around. Someone is going to get that first takedown and whoever does is going to win. Finals Austin Eldredge (Nebraska Kearney) vs Cade Mueller (Augustana) I just do not know how you could pick against Austin Eldredge, unless you are an Augustana fan, or possibly a St. Cloud State one. You know that they and Central Oklahoma will be cheering for Cade Mueller in this match. If the Lopers can get two finalists, that would be two more than they had when they fell short in 2021. Matt Malcom seems to be one, and Austin Eldredge could be number two. Cade Mueller will be looking to be the first Augustana national champion since 2010. 1st Austin Eldredge - University of Nebraska Kearney 2nd Cade Mueller - Augustana University 3rd Andrew Sams - University of Indianapolis 4th Ty McGeary - West Liberty University 5th Alex Kauffman - University of Central Oklahoma 6th Brock Biddle - University of Pittsburg Johnstown 7th Trevor Turiff - Minnesota State University Mankato 8th Josh Jones - McKendree University 184 Coming into the 2021 season, I do not think that was the only person following Division II wrestling who thought this weight class wasn't Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) and then everyone else. Billy Higgins (Kearney) has entered the lobby. He ended Gray's 50-plus match win streak, knocked him to the second seed despite being the returning national champion, and set up a possible semifinal match with huge team race ramifications. This is another weight without a St. Cloud State wrestler, so the points that West Liberty, Central Oklahoma, and Nebraska Kearney all earn here are huge. It just so happens that those three teams all have top three seeded athletes. 2019 national champion and 2021 runner-up Connor Craig (West Liberty) sits atop the bracket. Caden Steffen (Southwest State) was a bit of a surprise All-American last season, although given his lineage he should not have been. This season he is not sneaking up on anyone and as the fifth-seed will have expectations to shoulder. 2021 All-American Noah Curreri made history for Queens as their first All-American in program history, if he wants to add to that total he will do so starting unseeded. He also draws returning All-American Dan Filipek (McKendree) right out of the gate. Martin Verhaeghe (Fort Hays State) has won well over 100 matches in his career, it will take at minimum three more for him to become a first-time All-American, before he graduates this spring. He needs to be on upset alert as he will face Kutztown's, Matt Weinberg. Kutztown has Weinberg listed as a freshman but some results from the Penn State Wrestling Club list him as a sophomore. Whatever class he is, he's dang good. Cole Houser lost his program at Urbana and then helped to build Glenville State into a surprise sophomore contender. He earned a spot at his first national tournament to be part of his new program's history. Heath Gray is good. If he had not lost that squeaker to Higgins, this weight class would write itself. Quarterfinals #1 Connor Craig (West Liberty) vs Logan Hall (Notre Dame) #5 Caden Steffen (Southwest State) vs #4 Dan Filipek (McKendree) #3 Billy Higgins (Nebraska Kearney) vs Matt Weinberg (Kutztown) #7 Anderson Salisbury (Colorado Mines) vs #2 Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) West Liberty needs wins, but they also need them to include bonus points. I am not sure they can match their three finalists from 2021, but if they cannot they need to add bonus points to every win. Connor Craig can turn it on and he needs to do so against a familiar foe in Logan Hall. Caden Steffen will have the chance to join his father, Link Steffen, in Southwest Minnesota State program history as a semifinalist. Last season, Jackson Ryan accomplished the feat, and imagine what it would be like for Steffen to do the same. In 2021, Dan Filipek had the fastest pin of the tournament against Steffen in :17, I expect this go-around to be a much different match. The four-time national qualifier has the experience on Steffen, but the gap has closed in 2022 between these two. Against anyone not named Billy Higgins in the last three seasons, Heath Gray has walked away with a Division II victory. He is not wrestling Higgins in the quarterfinals, so I expect history to hold. Anderson Salisbury (Colorado Mines) will need to win one more match on the backside to become a two-time All-American. What I expect to be a very good match will be Billy Higgins taking on the unseeded and upset-minded Matt Weinberg. We all want to see the rematch between Higgins and Gray, but the Loper will have to make it that far for us to get what we want. Semifinals Connor Craig (West Liberty) vs Dan Filipek (McKendree) Billy Higgins (Nebraska Kearney) vs Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) I am not certain the last time that Heath Gray walked out on a mat with the expectations that he will be carrying during his semifinal battle. He has fallen short of the finals once before in this round and this time, as a senior trying to win an individual and team title I wonder how heavy that burden must be. Billy Higgins wants to help his team win a trophy and earn his own crown, but this will not be his last trip to the championship. A tight Heath Gray and a loose confident Billy Higgins could spell doom for the Bronchos. Then again, this is Heath Gray and we all know this is the match he wants. Connor Craig has never wrestled in the NCAA tournament and has not been a national finalist. He wants to be a national champion again and only one more win stands between him and a chance at revenge against Gray. Dan Filipek is good, but much like Gray, Connor Craig is on a different level. Three of the top-four seeds at this weight will graduate after the 2022 season, that is just crazy. Finals Connor Craig (West Liberty) vs Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) Wrestling is all about adjustments. I believe that Heath Gray will make them in his rematch against Billy Higgins and I know that Connor Craig will make them when he faces off against Gray again. The match was a 3-2 win for Gray in 2021 and it kept West Liberty from finishing third in the team race. I remember talking with him and his teammates after the tournament and you could already see the hunger in his eyes. It is very easy to switch those types of results between two top-tier athletes and while Gray needs to be thinking about Higgins, Connor Craig is already focused on what he needs to do to beat Gray. 1st Connor Craig - West Liberty University 2nd Heath Gray - University of Central Oklahoma 3rd Billy Higgins - University of Nebraska Kearney 4th Dan Filipek - McKendree University 5th Martin Verhaeghe - Fort Hays State University 6th Matt Weinberg - Kutztown University 7th Anderson Salisbury - Colorado School of Mines 8th Logan Hall - Notre Dame College 197 We could wrestle this bracket 100 times and we would probably see 100 different top eights, and that is just a guess because I do not remember how to do the math of probabilities like that. I just mean to say that this weight is poised on the razor's edge of anarchy and, as an agent of chaos, I am always happy to advocate for that. We could see upsets right away out of Walker Uhl (Ashland) and Logan Kemp (West Liberty). They are both very dangerous unseeded wrestlers who have landed in the bracket in a great place to cause havoc. Logan Kemp is a national qualifier again, but for West Liberty to challenge for a team trophy they need him to finally break through and become an All-American. St. Cloud State will have the two-seed Noah Ryan, the returning All-American could make a run to the finals. Central Oklahoma has its own firepower here in returning national finalist Dalton Abney. One of the strongest, smoothest, most dominating wrestlers in the country will have a shot at putting away the team trophy race if he can win it all. The Lopers will have the sixth seed in Hayden Prince. Prince has lost to four of the national qualifiers, but two of those were to Abney and Ryan. A bracket-buster would benefit West Liberty the most here. Alderson Broaddus is still looking for the first All-American in program history, and Gino Sita has been close before. In 2019, he lost in the blood round, falling just short of standing on the podium. Darius Parker (Lander) has his name in the Lander history books, and he can add to it by becoming the first All-American for head coach RC LaHaye. Brian Kennerly (Kutztown) is a tough wrestler to grade, he enters as the fourth-seed after winning SRI but without the history in #D2Wrestle, it is hard to know just how good he is. I know he is good, but is he making a run to the finals good? To do so he will have to get through 2019 national champion Nicholas Mason (Tiffin). The Dragon is up to his old tricks again after blowing through the #SRIII regional tournament. He seems poised to put the 0-2 2021 national tournament in his rearview mirror and end his career as an All-American. Quarterfinals #1 Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) vs #8 Gino Sita (Alderson Broaddus) #5 Nicholas Mason (Tiffin) vs #4 Brian Kennerly (Kutztown) #3 Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) vs Logan Kemp (West Liberty) #7 Joel Leise (Gannon) vs #2 Noah Ryan (St. Cloud State) The quarterfinals could look very different than my prediction, but I expect that Dalton Abney and Noah Ryan are safe bets to make it that far. Brain Kennerly was a heavyweight for Division I Virginia in 2020 and 2021. You may remember that the last wrestler from a Division I school in Virginia who transferred to Kutztown found a lot of success. He was not tested this season before the Super Regional and then he just went out and pinned Gino Sita in overtime and beat Joel Leise by a major decision 15-6. I don't know. It may be sentimental, my picking of Nicholas Mason in this match, but we all know how good Mason can be when he is good. Derek Blubaugh has a chance to make the finals for the Hounds, but he will need to make his way past Logan Kemp here. I have Kemp earning the upset first round over Hayden Prince (Nebraska Kearney), but either way, Blubaugh should be the favorite in the quarters. The Joel Leise matchup with Noah Ryan is one of those you want to take a little longer look at. Ryan beat him in the wrestlebacks in 2021 and this could come down to who has gotten better since then. The record seems to show that it is Noah Ryan. Semifinals Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) vs Nicholas Mason (Tiffin) Derek Blubaugh (Indianapolis) vs Noah Ryan (St Cloud State) I am sure of my pick for Dalton Abney to reach this point but I keep wanting to go back and change my Nicholas Mason/Brian Kennerly prediction. It is too late, I broke my “delete” button on this keyboard years ago and have never looked back. Either way, I believe that Abney is the wrestler to beat at this weight and he should advance. Derek Blubaugh taking on Noah Ryan is a redshirt freshman taking on a redshirt junior. If Indianapolis is in the middle of the team race, despite my bold “pretender” prediction, this semifinal looms large for the Hounds. It's a chance to score big points while also knocking out a team race competitor. That holds true for Noah Ryan too, the Huskies will need every point they can find to hold off Central Oklahoma and Nebraska Kearney. The margin for error is so small in these matches that I will lean on the experience of Noah Ryan to get it done. Finals Dalton Abney (Central Oklahoma) vs Noah Ryan (St. Cloud State) Dalton Abney can ride. This match may come down to what Noah Ryan chooses when he has to make a decision. Does he go under and know that he will need to find a way to earn an escape, or does he choose neutral and rely on his offense. It also may come down to how the referee interprets “stalling”. If the official allows Abney to control the position from top without really attempting a turn, it could be a rough finals match for Ryan. On their feet, I would grade these two fairly close. That mat wrestling is going to be the decision-maker. Knowing he may be unable to choose bottom adds that much more urgency to every exchange for Ryan and can cause mistakes. 1st Dalton Abney - University of Central Oklahoma 2nd Noah Ryan - St. Cloud State University 3rd Nicholas Mason - Tiffin University 4th Derek Blubaugh - University of Indianapolis 5th Brian Kennerly - Kutztown University 6th Logan Kemp - West Liberty University 7th Gino Sita - Alderson Broaddus University 8th Walker Uhl - Ashland University HWT Andrew Dunn (Kutztown), Francesco Borsellino (West Liberty), and Kameron Teacher (St Cloud State) have a combined 2021 record of 52-1 in Division II. Dunn is the 2019 national champion. Borsellino is a returning All-American. Teacher is a three-time All-American and 2021 national champion. They are all on the same side of the bracket. Opposite of them are SRIV champion Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma), SRV champion Darrell Mason (MSU Mankato), and 2021 finalist Weston Hunt (Mines). This bracket is the “fair and balanced” of brackets. Darrell Mason's upset finals victory over Teacher threw this entire weight class into disarray and took what should have been the premier finals match and made it a semifinal battle. Good for him. A miserable failure for me as a fan. Returning All-Americans Steven Hajas (Augustana) and AJ Cooper (Fort Hays State) are not even seeded in the bracket. Neither is Weston Hunt who finds himself in an opening-round match against Division I transfer Shawn Streck. Lee Herrington (Nebraska Kearney) can keep his team's hopes alive if he can finish his season with a win, he fell to Steven Hajas in the consolation finals last year. AJ Cooper starts right off against Jacob Robb (Mercyhurst), have your cameras ready because these two will go big quickly. Robb has lost to Dunn and Ian Kuehl (McKendree) both twice this season. That was enough to propel Kuehl to the fifth seed despite not even being a #SRIV finalist. Or at least that is what I have to think. Neither of his losses to Division II wrestlers was to an athlete who qualified for the national tournament. This weight class could finish exactly how the seeds play out and I would still argue that it was seeded wrong. I mean, Borsellino is a returning All-American who won all of his matches scoring bonus in more than 80% of them and you are telling me should be seeded LOWER than where he finished in 2021? Quarterfinals #1 Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) vs #8 Francesco Borsellino (West Liberty) #5 Ian Kuehl (McKendree) vs #4 Kam Teacher (St. Cloud State) #3 Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) vs #6 Lee Herrington (Kearney) #7 Jacob Robb (Mercyhurst) vs #2 Darrell Mason (MSU Mankato) I can admit when I am wrong and I am going to be wrong at about at least one name in these quarterfinals. The separation among these athletes is so thin that I expect to see more than one first-round match go into sudden victory. When that happens, upsets are sure to follow. I feel like Andrew Dunn and Kameron Teacher are going to be exceptions to that rule as neither of them should be tested right away. Francesco Borsellino and Ian Kuehl will start their days off with tough matches. I feel that Borsellino is better than the eighth, but no matter his seed, there is too much separation between him and Dunn. The same thing goes with Kuehl and Kam Teacher. Shawn Streck has been perfect since joining Central Oklahoma and they will need him to send the Kearney big man to the consolation side to maximize their team points. Herrington was a 2021 All-American, but in their dual meeting, Streck was the victor, 5-2. I am picking an upset special this round, Jacob Robb will find a way to score the takedown he needs to beat the two-seed Darrell Mason. Mason is coming off a huge win over Kam Teacher in the #SRV finals, but he only wrestled one Division II wrestler who was not from that Super Region. His lone win out of #SRV was McKendree backup heavyweight Julian Ramirez. He is going to be tested in round one by Freddie Nixon (Gannon) and from there it does not get any easier. Semifinals Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) vs Kam Teacher (St. Cloud State) Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) vs Jacob Robb (Mercyhurst) Am I a little bitter that that is a semifinal instead of a finals match at this weight? Am I upset that this super match could be how we ended the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Wrestling National Tournament and instead it is a semifinal? Have I wracked my brain wondering why this is happening? The answer to all of those questions is yes. The last time these two met was the 2019 national tournament semifinals in Cleveland, so I guess they should meet in this round again. Then it was Andrew Dunn pulling the upset and sending the second-seed Kam Teacher into the consolation of the bracket. Will Kam Teacher return the favor and vault his team ahead on the leaderboard? Shawn Streck was a national qualifier as a freshman for Purdue in Division I. His arrival in Division II at Central Oklahoma was a huge boon to their national title hopes and may end up being the difference. He will face the dangerous Jacob Robb in the second semifinal. This could be a battle of styles as Robb tends to be more successful when there is more mat action. Streck is so strong and keeps such great positioning that it may end up difficult for Robb to find those attack angles that lead to big points. Finals Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) vs Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) I am rolling with “Dunnyboi” no matter who, where, or why in this national tournament. He has not lost a match to a Division II wrestler. He is now a four-time national qualifier and the way he has bounced back after being forced to miss all of the 2021 season due to Covid is a testament to his mental fortitude and commitment to the sport of wrestling. If he passes the test in Kam Teacher in the semifinals he faces a fellow Division I transfer in Streck. They have a history dating all the way back to 2018 CKLV. There Streck was a 5-1 victor over Dunn in what would be their only collegiate meeting. Their paths have diverged since then, but now they find themselves on a collision course with a national title on the line. Andrew Dunn is the champion of this weight until someone defeats him and it has not happened yet. 1st Andrew Dunn - Kutztown University 2nd Shawn Streck - Central Oklahoma University 3rd Kameron Teacher - St Cloud State University 4th Francesco Borsellino - West Liberty University 5th Jacob Robb - Mercyhurst University 6th Darrell Mason - Minnesota State University Mankato 7th Lee Herrington - University of Nebraska Kearney 8th Weston Hunt - Colorado School of Mines I know you are all dying to see my team race prediction as well. I truly believe that this will be a four-team race between Nebraska Kearney, St Cloud State, West Liberty, and Central Oklahoma. Keep your eye on Indianapolis, Gannon, and Kutztown as they look to play spoiler while pushing for the top five as well. Team Champions: University of Nebraska-Kearney Runner-up: Central Oklahoma University 3rd Place: St Cloud State University 4th: West Liberty University 5th: University of Indianapolis

Ridge Lovett (right) and Jaden Abas at the 2021 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com NCAA brackets have been released! The first of our many articles related to the 2022 NCAA Championships will focus on the best opening round matches. There are plenty at every weight class, but we'll focus on one per weight. While anyone is susceptible to a loss, these competitors will have to be ready to go, match number one, out of the gate! 125 lbs #9 Devin Schroder (Purdue) vs. #24 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) It's sort of surprising to see a 9/24 matchup as one of the best of the first round, but Sam Latona isn't a typical 24th seed. Latona was an NCAA All-American a year ago and entered the tournament as the second seed. Schroder is a two-time Big Ten finalist that came up a match shy of the podium a year ago. Both were in the top ten to start the year and this was a bout you'd expect to see in the bloodround moreso than session one. 133 lbs #9 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) vs. #24 Ramazan Attasauov (Iowa State) Another good one at 9/24. EIWA champion Michael Colaiocco makes his NCAA tournament debut after the 2020 event was canceled. He's only lost twice this year and comes in on an 11-match winning streak. More often than not, your recent record is more important than season totals at the NCAA Tournament. That bodes well for Ramazan Attasaouv, who finished third at the Big 12. During dual competition, Attasauov hung tough with #2 Daton Fix and #5 Austin DeSanto. 141 lbs #14 Dresden Simon (Central Michigan) vs. #19 Chad Red Jr (Nebraska) Two of the most notable at-large selections at 141 lbs will clash in the opening round as three-time NCAA All-American meets Dresden Simon, a 2021 NCAA Round of 12 finisher. Last year, the two squared off in the Round of 16, as Red Jr. was the eighth seed and Simon the ninth. In that instance, Simon pulled the ever-so-slight upset, 6-3. That evened the score between these two, who also met at the 2016 Midlands, while redshirting. Red Jr. got that one, 9-3. We'll have to see what condition both are in, mentally and physically, after both going 1-2 and failing to place at their respective conference tournaments. 149 lbs #10 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. #23 Jaden Abas (Stanford) This is another matchup that feels like it should take place in the quarterfinals or the bloodround, rather than right off the bat. Jaden Abas was a seventh-place finisher at the tournament last year, while Lovett entered the 2021 championships as the fifth seed, after making the Big Ten finals. These two already met at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and Lovett had a surprisingly one-sided, 9-2 decision. But, Abas has been there and done that, at the big show, while Lovett was 1-2. 157 lbs #16 Brady Berge (Penn State) vs. #17 Hunter Willits (Oregon State) Seeing Big Ten third-place finisher Brady Berge as the 16th seed doesn't really pass the eyeball test, but I'm sure his lack of matches hurt him in the seeding room. That didn't hurt him in Lincoln, as he started B1G's as the tenth seed and reeled off a pair of wins over Kaleb Young (Iowa) and dominated Kendall Coleman (Purdue). Hunter Willits is as solid as they come. While he has six losses this year and turned in a subpar performance in Vegas. Willits has risen to the level of his competition and taken undefeated #3 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) into extra time on two occasions. 165 lbs #15 Austin Yant (Northern Iowa) vs. #18 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State) In the 2021 Tournament, Anthony Valencia was the second seed at 165 lbs. On the opposite side of the bracket, Austin Yant was the lowest-seeded wrestler of the bunch at #33. Yant has improved dramatically, finishing third in the Big12 and sporting a record with only six losses. Valencia started the year winning 13 straight, but now is in the midst of a 3-6 slump. If Valencia can right the ship, he can get an "upset" that's only an upset in number. 174 lbs #12 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) vs. #21 Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) One of the more underappreciated wrestlers at this weight has been Bailee O'Reilly. O'Reilly seized the starting role for the Gophers after a third-place showing at the Southern Scuffle. A strong showing at the B1G's could have catapulted him into the top ten, but instead, he had to pull out with an injury. Hopefully, it's something he can fight through in Detroit. He'll see a familiar face in Cade Devos, someone who edged him by a point at the Bison Open, 3-2. DeVos also blossomed in 2021-22, a regular season that was highlighted by a title at the Scuffle. 184 lbs #16 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) vs. #17 Jeremiah Kent (Missouri) By the numbers, 16 vs 17 should be the most competitive bout at every weight. That certainly looks like the case at 184 lbs. Two-time NCAA All-American Dakota Geer fought through Jeremiah Kent in the school's classic dual meet with a 2-0 win. Kent seems to have heated up at the right time and defeated #7 Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) in the season finale, before doing so again in the Big 12 semifinals. Geer, on the other hand, did not automatically qualify and had to rely on an at-large berth. 197 lbs #10 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. #23 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) Obviously, the NCAA season is folkstyle, but both of these two have proven themselves in freestyle. Braxton Amos with a Junior world title and Yonger Bastida a Junior world silver medal and a bronze at U23's. However, this plays out; we should see a lot of offense from the pair. As one may expect, Bastida has seen his results improve as he becomes more acclimated to folkstyle. Amos had sky-high expectations this year, but hasn't been able to crack into the top-20 consistently. But none of that matters with a couple of wins next week. 285 lbs #16 Zach Elam (Missouri) vs. #17 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) This is another matchup where the lower-seeded wrestler is a multiple-time All-American. That's Trent Hillger, albeit a very slight underdog, seeding-wise. Hillger had an off-song Big Ten and had to settle for ninth-place, though he still qualified automatically. Zach Elam was an upset victim at the Big 12 Championship, but rallied for third place. These two have a history with each other at the NCAA Tournament. While both were freshmen, they met in the bloodround and Hillger prevailed, 1-0.

The 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place Detroit (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com The brackets have been released for the 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The event takes place March 17-19 in Detroit. Link: Brackets

Three-time national qualifier Jacob Robb of Mercyhurst (Photo courtesy of Mercyhurst athletics) Did you know the first known usage of the phrase “dark horse” is from some guy named Benjamin Disraeli's novel The Young Duke way back in 1831? What it meant and still means, is a horse that gamblers do not really know much about and is therefore tough to place odds on. In the #D2Wrestle world, and therefore in my world, it means a wrestler who I think will challenge for a national title that most people will not see coming, if all they look at is the top seeds in the brackets. In 2021, Fairmont State University had a national champion in Division I transfer Lukas Martin (149). In 2019, I picked Kutztown's heavyweight Andrew Dunn to make a run, and then he went out and exceeded my expectations, winning a national title. I do not expect you to go out on a limb; that is my job. So watch me walk way out on these branches as I pick a wrestler at each weight. I expect to not only upset the apple cart, but to flip the whole thing over. 125 Josh Portillo - University of Nebraska Kearney There is no one in Division II I am a bigger fan of than Josh Portillo. He is a four-time NCAA Division II national qualifier. You would think that the 2019 finalist would be resting on his laurels. One of those laurels is the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which basically means he is the smartest guy in all of Division II (it really means he had the highest GPA of all qualifiers). He has been open about his battle with mental health in an attempt to dispel the stigma among athletes. He and his brother are active on social media and had one of the most exciting matches in college this season when Grand View traveled to Kearney. He has also promised to become my internet nemesis after this season. All of that aside, let's look at the bracket. As the sixth-seed, he has a path that would include the three-seed Paxton Creese (St. Cloud State) and the two-seed Paxton Rosen (Central Oklahoma) to make the finals. They are both wrestlers who defeated him this season. A year ago, a loss in the bloodround ended his season and may have mathematically cost the Lopers the team championship. In 2022, I don't think there is any way that he comes up short again. He has put his heart and soul into this team. 133 Collin Wickramaratna - Kutztown University Collin Wickramaratna was a Division III national qualifier for Ursinus College back in 2019. He is now a two-time Division II national qualifier and will look to end his junior season as an All-American. He sits in the bracket as the sixth-seed with a path to the quarterfinals and semifinals within reach. Two seasons ago, he upset returning national champion Tyler Warner (West Liberty) in the SRI finals (Warner was at Pitt-Johnstown at the time), but was denied his chance to wrestle for the podium by the cancellation of the tournament. He is 28-1 against Division II foes, with the lone loss to Eric Bartos (Mercyhurst) avenged in the SRI finals. I want to watch the New Jersey native go full Jersey Shore and fist pump on the podium. He hails from Cherokee High School in Marlton, which is closer to PA than to the shore, but I am not about to let geography rain on my parade. 141 Tyler Warner - West Liberty University Why is a three-time All-American, two-time defending national champion a “dark horse”? Well, when you go up a weight class and then take two losses on the season, you have to wonder if he has lost a step. Then again, he is the most decorated wrestler in all of Division II at the moment. When you add in his 2020 NWCA All-American honors, he is already a four-time All-American. Some athletes just know when to turn it on and Tyler Warner has shown me over his history that when the lights shine the brightest, he will be ready. He would have back-to-back matches against 2021 All-Americans to just make the semifinals, where he gets a shot at revenge against Branson Proudlock (Findlay). Every win he earns in St. Louis adds to his legacy and the history books he has been writing alongside head coach Danny Irwin since their time together at Wheeling Jesuit. 149 Dom Means - Gannon University The 2020 NWCA All-American from Gannon University, Dom Means, is the 2022 Midwest Classic Champion. That tends to bode well for performance at the national tournament and, while I understand that he has taken two losses late in the season, they were to Jacob Ealy (Pitt-Johnstown) and to the undefeated at the time Josh Laubach (Alderson Broaddus). Means already has a win over Noah Hermosillo (Adams State), Wyatt Turnquist (Northern State), Jason Hanenberg (Western Colorado), and Brik Filippo (Central Oklahoma). From his position, he is what we like to refer to as a “bracket buster.” Pick against him at your own peril. 157 Chance Esmont - Ashland University It is unclear to me how Chance Esmont did not do enough at the SR3 tournament to warrant a seed in St Louis. The #SuperSenior from Pickerington, Ohio, has saved his best for last. His win over 2021 returning national champion James Wimer (Findlay) propelled him to the national tournament and his victory over three-time national qualifier Noah Tarr (Davis & Elkins) made him a super-regional champion. An early test against the dangerous Mason Boutain (San Francisco State) looms and after that, he faces 2021 All-American Ty Lucas (Central Oklahoma). If he continues his hot streak, those are winnable matches. I want to see his story continue and he has the skill set to keep writing his name upon the record books. 165 Dillon Keane - University of Pitt-Johnstown Let me be clear, Dillon Keane is my pick to make it to the 165 semifinals against Matt Malcom (Kearney). What will happen when he gets there is up to him. Keane is a redshirt freshman out of Bradford High School in McKean, Pennsylvania, who was unable to advance to the national tournament in 2021. This season he has run his record to a perfect 15-0 against Division II wrestlers and earned himself the 5th seed at the national tournament. He will open the tournament with Rashaan Vereen (UNC Pembroke) and after that test, he will have Drew Weichers (Ashland). The two met early in the season and Keane was able to win a 9-7 match in TB1. Two wins to start the day and he will meet the surprise fourth-seed Jack Eiteljorge (Indianapolis) with All-American status on the line. Besides the win over Weichers early on, he also owns a win over 2021 national qualifier Chase Morgan (West Liberty) and 2020 national qualifier Evan Fisler (Gannon). 174 Dillon Walker - Mercyhurst University If you are looking for a first-round upset special, keep an eye on true freshman Dillon Walker when he takes on Daniel Beemer (Ashland) right away. Beemer was forced to MFF from the SR3 finals and it cost him at the seeding meeting. He now meets a very good athlete in Dillon Walker who can and will take full advantage if he is not 100%. The path for Walker is set after that as he would face Caleb Spears (Newberry). Spears has won 12 straight matches, but at the Midwest Classic, he fell to Walker by technical fall. Looking at the freshman's results this season, it is weird to see three matches lost in SV-1 by the score of 3-1. If he can win one or two of those next weekend, he will be an All-American. Walker has made the jump from being a two-time Ohio state placer for LaSalle High School in Cincinnati to a possible All-American in his first season in Division II. 184 Billy Higgins - University of Nebraska Kearney I am sure everyone is aware of Billy Higgins after his win over returning national champion Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) in their dual meeting. But here is the thing, at this weight, that was only good enough for the third seed. A two-time Nebraska Class B state champion at Omaha Skutt Catholic High School, Higgins found himself wrestling in Colorado in college. After three years with the University of Northern Colorado, Higgins transferred to Kearney and took over the 174-pound spot. It did not seem like a great fit, though; he started off with just a 7-6 record. Then came the move to 184 and a 10 match winning streak that saw him defeat Gray, Nolan Krone (Colorado Mesa), and Martin Verhaeghe (Fort Hays State) twice. He is one of the most important parts of the Loper push for a team trophy. If he wrestles as well as I think he can, he could be the athlete who brings the team title back to Kearney. 197 Nicholas Mason - Tiffin University But Bryce, Mason is a 2019 NCAA champion; he cannot be a dark horse. I disagree. It has been three years since his run to the top of the podium and since then, he has had a national tournament canceled in 2020 and gone 0-2 at the 2021 tournament. It's been three years since he has won a match on the biggest stage. This season he has taken three losses in Division II. Going into the postseason, he was ranked outside the top five by myself. Do you want to read a crazy statistic, Nicholas Mason is 16-3 in his Super Regional with a 14 match win streak and four straight titles. Do you want dominance? How about 10 falls? Or maybe you will be impressed by six consecutive pins and an MFF (in the finals, no less). Nicholas Mason is a #SuperSenior with unfinished business and the talent to back up that hunger. The Utica High School product out of Shelby Township in Michigan, has been a staple of Division II these last few years and capping his career off with another crown would be Manning retiring after a Superbowl win. The perfect ending to an amazing story. Not too shabby for a kid who was just a two-time state qualifier, never placing higher than 5th. 285 Jacob Robb - Mercyhurst University At a weight class with a clear favorite in Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) and another returning national champion, it is hard to see someone else making a run to the finals. And most people would pick a wrestler like Darrell Mason (MSU Mankato) or Shawn Streck (Central Oklahoma) if they were going to pick anyone. Streck has dominated since entering the lineup in the second semester and Mason just defeated Kam Teacher in the Super Regional V finals. But give me the pinning machine #SuperSenior from Armstrong High School in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the century club in Division II and, for the last three seasons, has been one of the most prolific bonus machines in the country. As a heavyweight! His four losses in Division II this year? Andrew Dunn and Ian Kuehl (McKendree). He was undefeated a year ago before injury ended his season. Robb just pushed Dunn to an overtime match in the Super Regional I finals. Sleep on this explosive big man if you want, but I, for one, could see him going on a run and finding himself in the NCAA finals. Nearly half of his wins this season have come by fall. Overlook him at your own peril.

3x Big Ten Champion Gable Steveson (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Big Ten Conference tournament wrapped up on Sunday. No. 1 Penn State finished with four individual champions, but No. 2 Michigan walked away with the tournament title. Along the way, there were several top statistical performers. These performances say a lot about not only a wrestler's showing on the conference level but also their prospects at next week's NCAA tournament. No. 1 Nick Lee (Penn State) recently completed an undefeated regular season. His last loss came in the 2021 Big Ten final against No. 2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa). Since then, Lee has won all of his matches, including a pair of rematches against Eierman. The two seemed destined to meet in the Big Ten finals once again before Lee received a medical forfeit and took home the conference title. While Lee only wrestled two matches at the Big Ten tournament, his dynamic scoring was on full display. He scored 3.14 points per minute, while only allowing 0.10 points per minute. His +3.04 point differential was the highest of the entire tournament. In his two matches against No. 24 Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin) and No. 10 Jake Bergeland (Minnesota), Lee scored five takedowns, three four-point near falls, three two-point near falls and two reversals. Interestingly enough, both of his reversals came in the third period to close out technical falls. The only point he allowed was a first-period escape against Bergeland. Despite having the lowest bonus rate of his career this season (58.82%), Lee appears to be rounding into form and poised to make a run at his second NCAA title. He will enter his final tournament as the number-one seed and the clear favorite. The rest of the top five in point differential features some of the usual suspects. No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) forfeited out of the tournament after making the semifinals. No. 5 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) suffered a close loss against eventual champion No. 3 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) at 165 pounds, before bouncing back with a sudden victory upset over No. 7 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) in the third-place match. Top Five Point Differential Performances Nick Lee (Penn State) +3.04 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) +2.13 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) +1.44 Nick Suriano (Michigan) +1.38 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) +1.13 No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) continued his historic run through the heavyweight division. Like Lee, he received a medical forfeit in the finals, but he scored a 20-5 technical fall over No. 15 Tate Orndorff (Ohio State) and a 14-6 major decision over No. 5 Mason Parris (Michigan). His points per minute rate was the highest of the tournament as he edged out Lee's rate by only 0.006. In those two matches, Steveson had 13 takedowns and added three two-point near falls. He, as per usual, allowed nothing but escapes. For the season, he has outscored his opponents 201 to one excluding escapes, and that one point was a penalty point for shoving Parris out of bounds during their regular season match. After adding 13 takedowns this past weekend, Steveson now has 81 for the season. He has not come close to surrendering one this year. If he is able to finish the NCAA tournament without giving up a two-point score, he should take home his second-straight Hodge trophy and ride off into the WWE craziness. Top Five Points per Minute Performances Gable Steveson (Minnesota) 3.14 Nick Lee (Penn State) 3.14 Nick Suriano (Michigan) 2.04 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) 1.92 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) 1.57 While Lee only allowed one point through two matches and had the lowest points allowed per minute rate (0.10), the wrestler who displayed the second-best defense was a bit of a surprise. No. 6 Cameron Amine (Michigan) entered the tournament as the fourth seed, and he ended up facing off against Kharchla in the semifinals. He won that match and moved on to the finals. Amine allowed only five points through his four matches. The only match where he allowed more than one point was the final. Marinelli managed to best him via a 2-1 score. Even in that performance, Amine allowed only an escape and a stalling point. So far this season, Amine has a 16-5 record. He has only allowed 2.29 points per match, and he has only allowed more than three points in three of his matches on the year. Having a lot of close matches can be risky, but at the same time, the strategy often pays dividends at tournament time. If Amine can show this type of defense at the NCAA tournament, he might be able to get on a roll and score a few more upsets. Top Five Points Against per Minute Performances Nick Lee (Penn State) 0.10 Cameron Amine (Michigan) 0.17 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) 0.19 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) 0.24 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) 0.25 Amine's trip the finals was an essential part of Michigan's tournament victory. The Wolverines won their first Big Ten crown since 1973. As a team, they averaged 0.78 match points per minute and allowed 0.49 per minute. This left the squad with a collective +0.29 differential. Despite finishing with only one champion and finishing third, Iowa had the highest point differential. The Hawkeyes scored 0.82 points per minute, which was the second-highest scoring rate behind Wisconsin (0.87). Defensively they allowed only 0.41 points per minute, which was second-best behind Penn State (0.39). Top Five Point Differential Performances by Team Iowa +0.41 Penn State +0.40 Michigan +0.29 Wisconsin +0.10 Ohio State +0.06 Many wrestlers choose to slow down the pace when tournament time comes around. While early in the season, folks are willing to let it fly, there is a lot of the line in a qualifier for the NCAA tournament. This was mostly the case last weekend, as the average combine points per match was 9.41. However, there was one in the 157-pound weight class that defied this trend. In the first round of the tournament, No. 13 Kendall Coleman (Purdue) and Lucas Cordio (Maryland) combined to score 30 points, and Coleman walked away with the major decision victory. Cordio actually started off the scoring with a takedown 10 seconds into the match. The Purdue wrestler appeared to then take over with three takedowns of his own. However, Cordio got back into the match with a takedown in the last 45 seconds. The comeback came up well short. This time Coleman really did take control. He scored five more takedowns and walked away with the major decision victory.