What seeds did Penn State wrestlers draw for the NCAA Championships? Takeaways, and more

Penn State wrestlers have learned their seeds for the NCAA Championships.

The event will be held next Thursday-Saturday in Detroit, Mich. Nine Nittany Lions have qualified for the tournament. Penn State will be represented in every weight class except for 165 pounds, as Creighton Edsell did not earn an at-large bid for the last stage of the collegiate postseason.

Last weekend at the Big Ten tournament, Penn State finished second behind Michigan by 1.5-points.

“I think we competed,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson told reporters in Lincoln, Neb., per PennLive.”We lost a lot of close matches, but we still had a chance to win.

“Our guys competed hard, especially today (Sunday) and we just have to regroup and get ready. I think the guys wrestled well and there’s just a fine line between winning and losing and that’s life…we get ready for the next one.”

Penn State NCAA seeds, 125-157 pounds

125 pounds: Drew Hildebrandt had a disappointing conference tournament. The two-time All-American exited the event after just two matches and had to win a mini-bracket to even qualify for nationals. He is the No. 16 seed at NCAAs. Hildebrandt’s opening match will be opposite No.17 seed Anthony Noto of Lock Haven. The winner of that match draws the weight’s top-seeded wrestler, Nick Suriano of Michigan. So, that’s obviously not an ideal seed for Hildebrandt or Penn State as it relates to the team race.

133 pounds: Roman Bravo-Young is the top seed as expected after winning the Big Ten title. His first match will be against the winner of a pigtail bout between Dominic LaJoie of Cornell and Domenic Zaccone of Campbell. They are the No. 32 and 33 seeds, respectfully. Iowa’s Austin DeSanto is on RBY’s side of the bracket.

141 pounds: Defending NCAA champion Nick Lee is No. 1 here as expected. He’ll face the winner of a 32/33 match between Dylan Cedeno of Virginia vs. Josh Mason of Bloomsburg. 

149 pounds: Beau Bartlett is No. 13 here. The Penn State wrestler draws No. 20 Colin Realbuto of Northern Iowa first. Bartlett could face four-seed and returning NCAA finalist Sammy Sasso of Ohio State in Round 2 if both win their opening bout. Bartlett and Realbuto didn’t meet when the Lions wrestled UNI earlier this year.

157 pounds: Brady Berge is the No. 16 seed. He will face No. 17 Hunter Willits of Oregon State in Round 1. Berge wasn’t back with Penn State yet when the Lions and Beavers met in November. The winner gets top-seeded David Carr of Iowa State in Round 2. Another less than ideal draw for the Lions.

Penn State NCAA seeds, 165-285 pounds

165 pounds: No Penn State representative. Evan Wick of Cal-Poly is the top seed.

174 pounds: Carter Starocci is the top seed. The Penn State wrestler and defending NCAA champ will first battle the winner of a 33/32 bout between Connor O’Neill of Rutgers and Dominic Solis of Maryland. Starocci just pinned Solis in the Big Ten quarterfinals. No. 9 Mikey Labriola from Nebraska could be a quarters draw and No. 5 Michael Kemerer could be a semifinal opponent.

184 pounds: After losing the Big Ten final, Aaron Brooks is the No. 2 seed behind the man who beat him, Myles Amine of Michigan. It puts Brooks on the same side of the bracket as three-seed Trent Hidlay of North Carolina State, who is a Pennsylvania native, of course. Brooks will face No. 31 AJ Burkhart of Lehigh first. Brooks was out of the lineup when the Lions met Lehigh earlier this season.

197 pounds: Max Dean is the top seed after winning his first Big Ten title. The Penn State wrestler draws the winner of a 33/32 bout between Matthew Waddell of Chatanooga and Will Feldkamp of Clarion. Dean would need to again beat Michigan State’s Cameron Caffey and Michigan’s Patrick Brucki to make the finals. Dean beat Brucki in the regular season, 6-4 in sudden victory. He also topped Caffey at Big Tens.

285 pounds: Greg Kerkvliet is No. 4 after finishing third in the Big Ten tournament. That puts him on the same side of the bracket as Minnesota hammer Gable Steveson. The Penn State heavyweight draws No. 29 Brandon Metz of North Dakota State first. Five seed and undefeated Air Force wrestler Wyatt Hendrickson is the likely quarterfinal opponent if both get there.

Takeaways and more NCAA Tournament info

–Penn State has absolutely brutal draws at 125 and 157. Hildebrandt and Berge would both have to pull off massive upsets to still be in the winners’ bracket on Friday.

–It wasn’t totally crazy to think that Amine and Brooks could end up on the same side of the bracket. But, it’s not bad news for either that they did not.

–Dean having to go through Caffey and Brucki to make the finals will be challenging. But, the Penn State wrestler has topped both before.

–A terrific team race should be on deck. Penn State would have preferred some better draws, of course, but the Lions and Michigan both will need some key wins to take the title. Others will be in the mix too. A great weekend of wrestling is now one step closer to happening.

You can find more information about the NCAA Tournament, including full brackets, here.