NCAA Wrestling Championships brackets: Which seed is each Penn State starter, and who will he face first?
Official seeding and brackets are out for all 10 weight classes ahead of next week’s NCAA Wrestling Championships. Penn State is sending all of its starters to the event. It will be held this year at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The information was announced during a Wednesday evening selection show on NCAA.com.
Four Nittany Lions earned a No. 1 seed. Freshman Luke Lilldahl is No. 1 at 125. Sophomore Tyler Kasak tops the 157-pound bracket. Redshirt sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink is the top seed at 165 pounds. And, Carter Starocci leads the way at 184 pounds. He is attempting to win a record-setting fifth NCAA title, though the first four came at 174 pounds.
Nine members of head coach Cael Sanderson’s team earned a top-five seed. Only 133-pound sophomore Braeden Davis is outside of that. He is No. 8 at 133 pounds. It sets up a potential quarterfinal with No. 1 Lucas Byrd. Senior Beau Bartlett is No. 2 at 141. Junior Shayne Van Ness is No. 3 at 149. Junior Levi Haines is No. 2 at 174. At 197, redshirt freshman Josh Barr is No. 4. And, senior Greg Kerkvliet is No. 3 at heavyweight, behind both Gable Steveson of Minnesota, who beat him in the Big Ten finals, and Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State.
Click here to see the full brackets.
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Who will each Penn State wrestler face first?
The tournament begins next Thursday, March 20, with preliminary round action. First and second-round bouts, plus consolation bracket action, make up all of day one. Quarterfinals and wrestlebacks start the action on Fri., March 21. Semifinals are held that evening. The consolation finals are then at 11 a.m. on Sat., March 22. The championship finals are that night at 7 p.m. ET.
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To make it to the final session, each Penn State wrestler will have to win his first match on Thursday. Here’s who each Nittany Lion will face then. Note that the number beside each grappler’s name is his seed for nationals, not his InterMat ranking.
125 pounds: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, PSU vs. No. 33 Caleb Weiand Michigan State OR No. 32 Marcelli Milani, Cornell
133 pounds: No. 8 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No. 25 Kurt Phipps, Bucknell
141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, PSU vs. No. 31 Jordan Titus, West Virginia
149 pounds: No. 3 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs. No. 30 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming
157 pounds: No. 1 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 33 Richard Fedalen, Colorado vs. No. 32 Landon Johnson, Northern Illinois
165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State vs. No. 33 Chandler Amaker, Central Michigan vs. No. 32 Jared Keslar, Pittsburgh
174 pounds: No. 2 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 30 Avery Bassett, Lock Haven
184 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. No. 33 TJ McDonnell, Oregon State vs. No. 32 Caden Rogers, Lehigh
197 pounds: No. 4 Josh Barr, PSU vs. No. 29 Tucker Hogan, Lehigh
285 pounds: No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 30 Sam Mitchell, Wyoming
