Who does each Penn State wrestler have first at Big Tens? The brackets are finalized
The Big Ten has released brackets for all 10 weight classes ahead of this weekend’s conference tournament at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Md. Back on Monday, pre-seeds were released, but those were unofficial. Now, everything is locked in for the start of Session I at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday morning.
“It’s the same for us every year, we just want to want our kids to be happy and want to help them just reach their goals,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said this week. “You know, just keep focus on little things. You know, it’s small and simple things that make the big things take place. So just keep things simple and just have fun.”
Who does each Nittany Lion have first?
Here’s the full rundown. The number listed before each wrestler is his seed for the Big Ten tournament. CLICK HERE to see the complete brackets.
125 pounds: No. 6 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No. 11 Justin Cardani of Illinois
133 pounds: No. 5 Aaron Nagao, PSU vs. No. 12 Andrew Hampton of Michigan State
141 pounds: No. 1 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. winner of No. 9 Danny Fongaro (Indiana) vs. No. 8 Jordan Hamdan (MSU)
149 pounds: No. 4 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 13 Aiden Vandenbush of Northwestern
157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 Joey Blaze of Purdue and No. 9 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern
165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU vs. winner of No. 7 Stoney Burell (Purdue) vs. No. 10 Blaine Brenner (Minnesota)
174 pound: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 DJ Washington (Indiana) vs. No. 9 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)
184 pounds: No. 3 Bernie Truax, PSU vs. No. 14 Chase Mielnik of Maryland
197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 Evan Bates (Northwestern) vs. No. 9 Ben Vanadia (Purdue)
Top 10
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- 2
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- 3
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- 4Hot
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- 5
Auburn punished
SEC fines Tigers for field storming
285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU vs. winner of No. 8 Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) vs. No. 9 Josh Terrill (Maryland)
Bracket takeaways
The bracket ended up mirroring the pre-seeds after the coaches’ meeting Friday afternoon, which is no surprise. That’s usually how it plays out. Starocci has had some spirited matches with Washington in the past. So, if Starocci is healthy and competes in the quarterfinals, and Washington wins his pigtail, that could cause some sparks. Otherwise, things look as expected and we took a deeper dive into each weight class in our tournament preview. CLICK HERE to read it.
How to follow Penn State wrestling at the Big Ten tournament
The Big Ten tournament will be a mixture of live television coverage and streaming. Penn State matches will be part of Big Ten Network’s over-the-air coverage of sessions one, three, and five. BTN+ will stream matside coverage for all sessions. It is also the exclusive home to watch sessions two and four.
The Penn State Sports Network will be on the air with the prematch show at 9:45 p.m. Longtime broadcaster Jeff Byers will be on the call. ET. Click here to access the free LionVision feed.
You can also follow along live and chat with other Penn State wrestling fans on Blue-White Illustrated’s The Wrestling Room forum. Access it by clicking here for live updates.
