Penn State will have seven No. 1 seeds and a total of eight first-round byes in this weekend’s Big Ten Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center after brackets were finalized on Friday.
The final seedings had a few notable changes from the pre-seeds released earlier this week, when for the first time the conference used WrestleStat’s Tournament Seeder Program.
Nittany Lion senior Levi Haines will be the No. 1 seed at 174 pounds after initially (and perplexingly) being seeded No. 2 behind Nebraska’s Christopher Minto. Haines, the undefeated defending Big Ten champion, defeated Minto during the regular season, one of four losses on the year for the Cornhusker. Minto slid to No. 2 in the final bracket.
Braeden Davis also moved up one spot to the No. 6 seed at 141 pounds.
A notable No. 1 seed that remained unchanged is undefeated Nittany Lion freshman Marcus Blaze, who remains ahead of undefeated defending national champion Lucas Byrd of Illinois. Byrd is ranked No. 1 in the most recent Intermat poll, but will be No. 2 in the conference tournament.
Luke Lilledahl (125), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr also retained their No. 1 seeds in the final brackets, as expected.
Freshman PJ Duke will join them in receiving a first-round bye, as he earned the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds.
Davis and Cole Mirasola, the No. 4 seed at 285, are the only Nittany Lions who will wrestle in the first round on Saturday morning. Davis will meet No. 11 seed Dario Lemus of Maryland, while Mirasola will take on No. 13 seed Gabe Christenson of Northwestern, whom he beat by tech fall in January.
The most notable second-round matchupS for Penn State could come at 157 and 184.
At 157, Duke will face the winner of the first-round bout between No. 7 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State and No. 10 Victor Voinovich of Iowa. Cannon has been No. 1 in the Intermat rankings but fell to a lower seed in the conference tournament after missing time due to injury, including the dual meet between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes.
At 184, Welsh will meet the winner of the first-round bout between Angelo Ferrari of Iowa and Sam Goin of Indiana. Ferrari is No. 2 in the Intermat rankings, but because of his limited 9-1 record, is the No. 8 seed in the tournament. Welsh defeated Ferrari in tiebreakers during a January dual meet.
Penn State will be seeking its fourth consecutive Big Ten tournament team title and ninth overall.
PENN STATE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS OPENING BOUTS
125 (second round)
No. 1 Luke Lilledahl vs. No. 8 Dean Peterson (Iowa) or No. 9 Diego Sotelo (Michigan)
133 (second round)
No.1 Marcus Blaze vs. No. 8 Braxton Brown (Maryland) and No. 9 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers)
141 (first round)
No. 6 Braeden Davis vs. No. 11 Dario Lemus (Maryland)
149 (second round)
No. 1 Shayne Van Ness vs. No. 8 Ryder Block (Iowa) or No. 9 Michael Gioffre (Illinois)
157 (second round)
No. 2 PJ Duke vs. No. 7 Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) or No. 10 Victor Voinovich (Iowa)
165 (second round)
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink vs. No. 8 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) or No. 9 Tyler Lillard (Indiana)
174 (second round)
No. 1 Levi Haines vs. No. 8 Brody Baumann (Purdue) or No. 9 Colin Kelly (Illinois)
184 (second round)
No. 1 Rocco Welsh vs. No. 8 Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) or No. 9 Sam Goin (Indiana)
197 (second round)
No. 1 Josh Barr vs. No. 8 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) or No. 9 Ben Vanadia (Purdue)
285 (first round)
No. 4 Cole Mirasola vs. No. 13 Gabe Christenson (Northwestern)
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 7
10 a.m. Session I (First Round, Quarterfinals, Wrestlebacks) Big Ten Network
5 p.m. Session II (Consolation Matches, Wrestlebacks) B1G+
7 p.m. Session II (Semifinals) Big Ten Network
Sunday, March 8
Noon Session III (Consolation Semifinals, 7th-Place Matches) B1G+
4:30 p.m. Session IV (1st-, 3rd- and 5th- Place Matches) Big Ten Network
