Penn State wrestling: Where are the Lions seeded for the NCAA Tournament? Brackets and more
Penn State wrestling is sending nine competitors to the NCAA Championships next weekend in Tulsa, Okla. The three-day event starts Thursday, March 16 with two session at the BOK Center. Two more, including the semifinals, will be held on Friday. Finally, the tournament concludes with the All-American round Saturday morning before the finals that night.
On Wednesday, the NCAA released seeding and bracket information for all 10 weight classes. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s side will be represented in nine of them, with the only void coming at 125 pounds.
Sizing up the bracket
Two Nittany Lions earned a top seed. Big Ten champ and two-time NCAA champ Roman Bravo-Young will face one of two wrestlers, either McGwire Midkiff of North Dakota State or Jack Maida of American at 133 pounds. At 174 pounds, reigning conference champ and two-time NCAA winner Carter Starocci opens with the winner of John Worthing of Clarion and Will Miller of Appalachian State.
At 184 pounds, two-time NCAA champ Aaron Brooks starts with Matthew Waddell of Chattanooga and is surprisingly the No. 3 seed in his weight class.
Penn State also has numerous Lions with top six seeds. Beau Bartlett is No. 6 at 141 pounds. Freshman phenom and Big Ten champ Levi Haines is No. 2 at 157 pounds. And, Greg Kerkvliet is No. 3 at heavyweight.
Defending NCAA champ Max Dean is No. 9 at 197.
Last but not least, redshirt freshman Shayne Van Ness, who wrestles at 149 pounds, and classmate Alex Facundo, who competes at 165, are the lowest-seeded Nittany Lions. The former is No. 13 and opens the national tournament with 20th-seed Johnny Lovett if Central Michigan. The latter, then, is also No. 13 and will begin his of quest to stay in the championship bracket with a match against No. 20 Holden Heller of Pitt.
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The Lions are fresh off a dominating performance at Big Tens, where the team crowned four individual champions and blasted the field in the team title race. Now, they are the favorites to win it all at nationals.
Complete list of initial matchups for Penn State wrestlers at the NCAA Tournament
All rankings listed below are the wrestlers’ seeds in the NCAA Tournament as opposed to their InterMat rankings.
125 pounds: No competitor
133 pounds: No. 1 Roman Bravo Young, Penn State vs. winner of McGwire Midkiff, NDSU vs. Jack Maida, American
141 pounds: No. 6 Beau Bartlett, PSU vs. No. 27 Shannon Hanna, Campbell
149 pounds: No. 13 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs. No. 20 Johnny Lovett, Central Michgian
157 pounds: No. 2 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 31 Ashton Eyler, Lock HAven
165 pounds: No. 13 Alex Facundo, Penn State vs. No. 20 Holden Heller, PITT
174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU vs. winner of John Worthing, Clarion vs Will Miller, Appalachian State
184 pounds: No. 3 Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. Matthew Waddell, Chattanooga
197 pounds: No. 9 Max Dean, PSU vs. No. 24 Levi Hopkins, Campbell
285 pounds: No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 30 Hayden Copass, Purdue
