Wednesday night, Patrick Glory of Princeton University was seeded second at 125 pounds for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
The NCAA Tournament will be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from November 16-18.
Glory, who was a two-time NJSIAA champion and four-time state finalist at Delbarton from 2014-2018, was the runner-up to Nick Suriano of Michigan in the national championship last season.
Spencer Lee of Iowa is the No. 1 seed at 125 pounds and the heavy favourite to conclude his sensational career with a fourth national championship.
Glory is in the same half of the bracket as returning All-American Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State, who is the seventh seed, and Big Ten Conference runner-up Liam Cronin of Nebraska, who is the top seed.
165 is Loaded
There are three former national champions and a returning national runner-up in the 165-pound weight class.
David Carr of Iowa State, who won at 157 pounds, is the top seed after pinning Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, the 2022 national champion at 165 pounds, in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. O’Toole is the number two seed.
Shane Griffith of Stanford is the third former national champion, as he won at 165 in 2021 and was runner-up at 165 last season. After losing the Pacific 12 Conference championship, he is seeded ninth and is in the same quarterfinal bracket as Carr.Berg Catholic’s Griffith was a three-time NJSIAA champion.
Also in the top half of the bracket is last year’s runner-up at 157 pounds, Princeton’s Quincy Mondey. Monday is the fifth seed due to two losses to Cornell’s Julian Ramirez, including the EIWA championship. He may face Ramirez in the quarterfinal round.
197 is wild
The 197-pound weight class has been one of the most competitive and competitive this entire season.
The seeds have made the situation even more intriguing.
The defending champion, Penn State’s Max Dean, is seeded ninth after losing to Nebraska’s Silas Allred in the Big Ten final. These two may face off in the pre-quarterfinal round.
In December, Dean was also defeated by Rider’s Ethan Laird and Lehigh’s Michael Beard. Laird and Beard, who transferred from Penn State to Lehigh after last season, are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, and could meet in the quarterfinals.
Dean and Laird are in the same semifinal bracket. The top seed is unbeaten Atlantic Coast Conference champion and 2021 finalist Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt.
Mekhi Lewis faces familiar adversaries.
Former Bound Brook High School state champion and 2019 national champion at 165 pounds, Mekhi Lewis is seeded third at 174 pounds behind Penn State’s Carter Starocci and Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola.
Starocci defeated Lewis in a tiebreaker period in the national championship last year. Labriola defeated him during the season.
In the first round, Lewis will face Jackson Turley of Rutgers, who placed eighth at his weight in 2021. The 30th-seeded Turley earned the seventh and final automatic bid from the Big Ten Conference.
Rutgers Seeds and Draws
Rutgers, which has seven wrestlers in the tournament and a chance for an eighth if Joey Olivieri qualifies as the 141-pound alternate should someone drop out, received some difficult draws.
The best finish for the Scarlet Knights at the Big Ten Championships was a sixth-place finish at 184 pounds by freshman Brian Soldano. The Scarlet Knights have no wrestlers seeded among the top 12.
Dean Peterson, a redshirt freshman ranked 13 at 125, is the highest seed for Rutgers. He is in the same pre-quarterfinals bracket as No. 4 seed Matt Ramos of Purdue. In a match this season, Ramos pinned Peterson in a Big Ten Tournament wrestleback and led Lee 8-1.
Graduate student Joe Heilmann is seeded seventeenth at 133 and is in the same pre-quarterfinal bracket as Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young, a two-time national champion.
Soldano is seeded 18th and will face Layne Malczewski of Michigan State in the first round. Malczewski majored Soldano on Jan. 20.
At 157 pounds, the 21st-seeded Andrew Clark will face Purdue’s Kendall Coleman in the first round.
As mentioned previously, Turley is paired with Lewis. Heavyweight Boone McDermott is seeded 24th and is in the same section of the bracket as Michigan’s No. 1 seed Mason Parris. McDermott will face Lucas Davison of Northwestern in the first round. Anthony White, a redshirt freshman seeded 32nd at 149, will face No. 1 seed and three-time national champion Yianni Diakomilhalis of Cornell in the first round if he wins his preliminary-round bout.
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