ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference released its preliminary seeding for the 2019 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, scheduled for March 9-10 in Minneapolis. These seeds will be confirmed and finalized in bracket form by league coaches on March 8 prior to the start of the tournament.
The pre-seeds, as voted on by the conference's coaches, rank the top eight wrestlers in three weight classes, along with all 14 starters in seven weight classes due to the Big Ten receiving nine or more NCAA Championships qualifier allocations in those classes.
Eight Scarlet Knights earned pre-seeds for the tournament, highlighted by No. 1
Anthony Ashnault at 149 pounds. Ashnault (23-0) finished the 2018-19 regular season 10-0 against the Big Ten Championships' field and owns wins over six top-20 opponents, according to
Intermat. Ashnault's seed marks the third consecutive year RU will have a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, as
Nick Suriano earned the No. 1 seed at 125 pounds in 2018, while Ashnault was the No. 1 seed at 141 pounds in 2017.
Suriano also earned a top-four seed at the Big Ten Championships, as the junior is seeded third at 133 pounds. Suriano (20-3) is 4-2 against the projected field and owns four wins over ranked individuals. Suriano closed out 2018-19 as the team leader in bonus-point victories (18) and was second in dual points (73).
Others seeded for Rutgers include No. 9
Peter Lipari (141), No. 9
Joseph Grello (174), No. 9
Nicholas Gravina (184), No. 10
John Van Brill (157), No. 12
Stephan Glasgow (165) and No. 13
Shane Metzler (125).
Matthew Correnti (197) and
Christian Colucci (HWT) are both unseeded against the field. This will be Correnti's second trip to the Big Ten Championships, while Colucci will make his first appearance at Big Tens since his transfer from Lehigh last summer. Glasgow, Lipari and Metzler will also make their Big Ten Championships' debuts this weekend.
To qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships from March 21-23 in Pittsburgh, each Scarlet Knight will have to finish within the threshold listed at his weight. The Big Ten leads the country with 78 of the total 286 automatic bids on the table, with a total conference breakdown below.
Session I of the Big Ten Championships is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 9.
125 lbs.
1. Sebastian Rivera, NU
2. Spencer Lee, IOWA
3. Sean Russell, MINN
4. RayVon Foley, MSU
5. Travis Piotrowski, ILL
6. Drew Mattin, MICH
7. Zeke Moisey, NEB
8. Malik Heinselman, OSU
9. Devin Schroder, PUR
10. Elijah Oliver, IND
11. Brandon Cray, MD
12. Devin Schnupp, PSU
13. Shane Metzler, RU
14. Ethan Rotondo, WIS
133 lbs.
1. Stevan Micic, MICH
2. Austin DeSanto, IOWA
3. Nick Suriano, RU
4. Roman Bravo-Young, PSU
5. Luke Pletcher, OSU
6. Ethan Lizak, MINN
7. Ben Thornton, PUR
8. Dylan Duncan, ILL
9. Anthony Tutolo, MSU
10. Colin Valdiviez, NU
11. Jens Lantz, WIS
12. Paul Konrath, IND
13. Jevon Parrish, NEB
14. Orion Anderson, MD
141 lbs.
1. Michael Carr, ILL
2. Nick Lee, PSU
3. Joey McKenna, OSU
4. Tristan Moran, WIS
5. Kanen Storr, MICH
6. Mitch McKee, MINN
7. Max Murin, IOWA
8. Chad Red, NEB
9. Peter Lipari, RU
10. Nate Limmex, PUR
11. Kyle Luigs, IND
12. Austin Eicher, MSU
13. Danny Bertoni, MD
14. Alec McKenna, NU
149 lbs.
1. Anthony Ashnault, RU
2. Micah Jordan, OSU
3. Pat Lugo, IOWA
4. Thomas Thorn, MINN
5. Cole Martin, WIS
6. Brady Berge, PSU
7. Shayne Oster, NU
8. Malik Amine, MICH
157 lbs.
1. Jason Nolf, PSU
2. Tyler Berger, NEB
3. Ryan Deakin, NU
4. Alec Pantaleo, MICH
5. Kaleb Young, IOWA
6. Steve Bleis, MINN
7. Ke-Shawn Hayes, OSU
8. Eric Barone, ILL
9. Griffin Parriott, PUR
10. John Van Brill, RU
11. Jake Danishek, IND
12. Jake Tucker, MSU
13. Garret Model, WIS
14. Alex Whitesell, MD
165 lbs.
1. Vincenzo Joseph, PSU
2. Alex Marinelli, IOWA
3. Evan Wick, WIS
4. Isaiah White, NEB
5. Logan Massa, MICH
6. Te'Shawn Campbell, OSU
7. Bryce Martin, IND
8. Carson Brolsma, MINN
9. Joseph Gunter, ILL
10. Tyler Morland, NU
11. Phillip Spadafora, MD
12. Stephan Glasgow, RU
13. Austin Hiles, MSU
14. Cole Wysocki, PUR
174 lbs.
1. Mark Hall, PSU
2. Myles Amine, MICH
3. Dylan Lydy, PUR
4. Mikey Labriola, NEB
5. Devin Skatzka, MINN
6. Ethan Smith, OSU
7. Ryan Christensen, WIS
8. Drew Hughes, MSU
9. Joseph Grello, RU
10. Mitch Bowman, IOWA
11. Carver James, ILL
13. Jake Covaciu, IND
14. Josh Ugalde, MD
15. Braxton Cody, NU
184 lbs.
1. Myles Martin, OSU
2. Shakur Rasheed, PSU
3. Tyler Venz, NEB
4. Emery Parker, ILL
5. Cash Wilcke, IOWA
6. Mason Reinhardt, WIS
7 .Jelani Embree, MICH
8. Max Lyon, PUR
9. Nicholas Gravina, RU
10. Cameron Caffey, MSU
11. Norman Conley, IND
12. Brandon Krone, MINN
13. Kyle Jasenski, MD
14. Brendan Devine, NU
197 lbs.
1. Bo Nickal, PSU
2. Kollin Moore, OSU
3. Jacob Warner, IOWA
4. Christian Brunner, PUR
5. Eric Schultz, NEB
6. Jackson Striggow, MICH
7. Dylan Anderson, MINN
8. Brad Wilton, MSU
285 lbs.
1. Gable Steveson, MINN
2. Anthony Cassar, PSU
3. Mason Parris, MICH
4. Trent Hilger, WIS
5. Chase Singletary, OSU
6. Conan Jennings, NU
7. David Jensen, NEB
8. Sam Stoll, IOWA
2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships Conference Allocations
Conference |
125 |
133 |
141 |
149 |
157 |
165 |
174 |
184 |
197 |
HWT |
Total |
ACC |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
37 |
Big 12 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
53 |
Big Ten |
9 |
8 |
9 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
78 |
EIWA |
4 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
4 |
47 |
EWL |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
MAC |
4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
27 |
PAC 12 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
17 |
SOCON |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
Total Qualifiers |
29 |
29 |
29 |
28 |
29 |
29 |
27 |
29 |
28 |
29 |
286 |