Bravo-Young, Brooks lead Penn State in pre-seeds for Big Ten Wrestling Championships
Penn State is one of only two teams with multiple No. 1 seeds for this weekend's Big Ten Wrestling Championships, after the conference announced the preliminary seeds Tuesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions and Iowa Hawkeyes have two and four top seeds, respectively.
Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds) and Aaron Brooks (184 pounds) will represent the Nittany Lions at the top line of the bracket if their seeds hold when they're finalized by the coaches later this week. The Hawkeyes four top seeds are Spencer Lee at 125 pounds, Jaydin Eierman at 141 pounds, Alex Marinelli at 165 pounds and Michael Kemerer at 174 pounds.
The two top Nittany Lions are joined by two teammates in the top three of their respective classes with Nick Lee coming in at No. 2 at 141 pounds and Carter Starocci at No. 3 at 174 pounds.
Brooks is the lone Nittany Lion with a Big Ten title to his name after he won the tournament last year at 184 pounds. Both Bravo-Young and Lee made last year's finals but both came up short and finished second at their respective weight classes.
The Big Ten will have eight qualifiers at seven of the 10 weight classes with the outliers coming at 149 pounds (seven), 197 pounds (six) and heavyweight (seven), putting three Penn State wrestlers squarely in the mix to make it and three others needing to outperform their seed to qualify.
Robert Howard (No. 11, 125 pounds) Beau Bartlett (No. 11, 149 pounds) and Michael Beard (No. 7, 197 pounds) will need to outperform their seed in order to lock up a spot at NCAAs.
Brady Berge (No. 5, 157 pounds), Joe Lee (No. 6, 165 pounds) and Greg Kerkvliet (No. 7, heavyweight) will qualify if they perform up to their seed at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.
Bartlett and Kerkvliet will take the mat after making their dual debuts late in the season for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions are looking to bounce back after finishing fourth at last year's Big Ten Wrestling Championships, but will have the advantage of not having to travel this year. This weekend's championships will be held at the Bryce Jordan Center.
125 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Spencer Lee, Iowa
2. Liam Cronin, Nebraska
3. Malik Heinselman, Ohio State
4. Patrick McKee, Minnesota
5. Rayvon Foley, Michigan State
6. Eric Barnett, Wisconsin
7. Devin Schroder, Purdue
8. Michael DeAugustino
9. Dylan Ragusin, Michigan
10. Justin Cardani, Illinois
11. Robert Howard, Penn State
12. Jacob Moran, Indiana
13. Dylan Shawver, Rutgers
14. Zach Spence, Maryland
133 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Roman Bravo- Young, Penn State
2. Austin DeSanto, Iowa
3. Sammy Alvarez, Rutgers
4. Lucas Byrd, Illinois
5. Chris Cannon, Northwestern
6. Jack Medley, Michigan
7. Boo Dryden, Minnesota
8. Jordan Decatur, Ohio State
9. Jacob Rundell, Purdue
10. Kyle Burwick, Wisconsin
11. Tucker Sjomeling, Nebraska
12. Jordan Hamdan, Michigan State
13. Kyle Luigs, Indiana
14. Jackson Cockrell, Maryland
141 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Jaydin Eierman, Iowa
2. Nick Lee, Penn State
3. Sebastian Rivera, Rutgers
4. Chad Red, Nebraska
5. Dylan Duncan, Illinois
6. Marcos Polanco, Minnesota
7. Dylan D'Emilio, Ohio State
8. Drew Mattin, Michigan
9. Parker Filius, Purdue
10. Cayden Rooks, Indiana
11. Danny Bertoni, Maryland
12. Matt Santos, Michigan State
13. Colin Valdiviez, Northwestern
14. Dominic Dentino, Wisconsin
149 LBS.
(Top seven qualify for NCAAs)
1. Sammy Sasso, Ohio State
2. Max Murin, Iowa
3. Griffin Parriott, Purdue
4. Yahya Thomas, Northwestern
5. Kanen Storr, Michigan
6. Michael Blockhus, Minnesota
7. Ridge Lovett, Nebraska
8. Mike VanBrill, Rutgers
9. Graham Rooks, Indiana
10. Peyton Omania, Michigan State
11. Beau Bartlett, Penn State
12. Drew Scharenbrock, Wisconsin
13. Christian Kanzler, Illinois
14. Michael North, Maryland
157 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Ryan Deakin, Northwestern
2. Kaleb Young, Iowa
3. Brayton Lee, Minnesota
4. Kendall Coleman, Purdue
5. Brady Berge, Penn State
6. Will Lewan, Michigan
7. Chase Saldate, Michigan State
8. Garrett Model, Wisconsin
9. Elijah Cleary, Ohio State
10. Caleb Licking, Nebraska
11. Michael Doetsch, Maryland
12. Johnny Mologousis, Illinois
13. Luke Baughman, Indiana
165 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Alex Marinelli, Iowa
2. Dan Braunagel, Illinois
3. Ethan Smith, Ohio State
4. Cameron Amine, Michigan
5. Andrew Sparks, Minnesota
6. Joe Lee, Penn State
7. Peyton Robb, Nebraska
8. Jake Tucker, Michigan State
9. Nick South, Indiana
10. Gerrit Nijenhuis, Purdue
11. Jonathan Spadafora, Maryland
12. David Ferrante, Northwestern
13. Brett Donner, Rutgers
14. Josh Otto, Wisconsin
174 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Michael Kemerer, Iowa
2. Mikey Labriola, Nebraska
3. Carter Starocci, Penn State
4. Logan Massa, Michigan
5. Donnell Washington, Indiana
6. Kaleb Romero, Ohio State
7. Jackson Turley, Rutgers
8. Jared Krattiger, Wisconsin
9. Jake Allar, Minnesota
10. Drew Hughes, Michigan State
11. DJ Shannon, Illinois
12. Emil Soehnlen, Purdue
13. Troy Fisher, Northwestern
14. Philip Spadafora, Maryland
184 LBS.
(Top eight qualify for NCAAs)
1. Aaron Brooks, Penn State
2. Christopher Weiler, Wisconsin
3. Layne Malczewski, Michigan State
4. Owen Webster, Minnesota
5. John Poznanski, Rutgers
6. Taylor Venz, Nebraska
7. Max Lyon, Purdue
8. Zach Braunagel, Illinois
9. Nelson Brands, Iowa
10. Rocky Jordan, Ohio State
11. Kyle Cochran, Maryland
12. Jaden Bullock, Michigan
13. Jon Halvorsen, Northwestern
14. Santos Cantu III, Indiana
197 LBS.
(Top six qualify for NCAAs)
1. Eric Schultz, Nebraska
2. Myles Amine, Michigan
3. Jacob Warner, Iowa
4. Cam Caffey, Michigan State
5. Lucas Davison, Northwestern
6. Thomas Penola, Purdue
7. Michael Beard, Penn State
8. Matt Wroblewski, Illinois
9. Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State
10. Billy Janzer, Rutgers
11. Garrett Joles, Minnesota
12. Jaron Smith, Maryland
13. Nick Willham, Indiana
14. Andrew Salemme, Wisconsin
285 LBS.
(Top seven qualify for NCAAs)
1. Gable Steveson, Minnesota
2. Mason Parris, Michigan
3. Tony Cassioppi Iowa
4. Luke Luffman, Illinois
5. Christian Lance, Nebraska
6. Trent Hillger, Wisconsin
7. Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State
8. Tate Orndorff, Ohio State
9. Christian Rebottaro Michigan State
10. Jack Heyob, Northwestern
11. Christian Colucci, Rutgers
12. Dorian Keys, Purdue
13. Rudy Streck, Indiana
14. Garrett Kappes, Maryland