Preview
125lbs - The top 7 in this weight could all be in the hunt to be All-Americans and are all ranked in the top 15. In addition, they have all beaten each other this season. Anyone of the top 7 has a shot at taking this weight. This weight is loaded with a mix of quick, slick wrestlers like Escobedo, Gomez, McKnight, Flores and tough hard nosed guys like Ness, Precin, and Falck. The quarterfinals on are going to be All-American medal round type of matches.
Our Top 3: 1. Ness (MINN), 2. McKnight (PSU), 3. Gomez (MSU)
Darkhorse to place high: Brandon Precin (NW)
133 - Reigning 2x Big Ten Champ Nick Simmons of MSU is the man to beat here. He has beaten all the top guys in the country at 133 and has dominated the #2 seed Kennedy twice this year. Mack Reiter has been out of the lineup much of the year and will be there this weekend, which could throw a little bigger challenge out there for Simmons. Simmons lone loss on the year was to TJ Enright of Ohio State, who he should wrestle in the quarterfinals, will Enright repeat his magic or will Simmons get redemption in his quest for another Big Ten title?
Our Top 3: 1. Simmons (MSU), 2. Reiter (MINN), 3. Kennedy (ILL)
Darkhorse to place high: Hernandez (IN)
141 - Another loaded weight class, Lang (NW), Rivera (MINN), and Andy Simmons (MSU) are all top contenders for a national title this season. Lang and Simmons are returning All-Americans and Rivera has been impressive this season, knocking off Simmons in the dual earlier this season. The rest of this weight is a combination of very tough wrestlers who have beaten each other. #4 seed Pero was an AA 2 years ago and Tsirtis, the #6 seed was an AA last year. The bottom half of the bracket is loaded with 3 all-americans in Simmons, Lang, and Tsirtis, as well as J Jaggers, a very tough wrestler.
Our top 3: 1. Simmons (MSU), 2. Rivera (MINN), 3. Lang (NW)
Darkhorse to place high: Jaggers (OSU)
149 - Dustin Schlatter has been outstanding since making his freshman debut last season. He won Big Tens and NCAAs last season as a true freshman and has been perfect so far this year. There will be a handful of tough wrestlers looking to knock Schlatter off, most notably, Michigan's Josh Churella, who lost 2-1 to Schlatter in the dual this year. OSU's freshman phenom Lance Palmer (#3 seed), Purdue's unorthodox Jake Patascil (#4 seed), and Wisconsin's gritty Tyler Turner (#5 seed) will also be in contention to make some noise here.
Our top 3: 1. Schlatter (MINN), 2. Churella (UM), 3. Patascil (PUR)
Darkhorse to place high: Troy Tirapelle (IL)
157 - The top 4 in this weight are all top contenders for the NCAA title. #1 seed Poeta has been impressive this year after dropping down to his natural weight after wrestling at 165 last year. CP Schlatter is the reigning Big Ten Champ at this weight and Becker/Henning are both All-Americans. The semifinals in this weight will be some great wrestling.
Our top 3: 1. Poeta (ILL), 2. Schlatter (MINN), 3. Henning (WIS)
Darkhorse to place high: Bubba Jenkins (PSU)
165 - After the top 2 in this weight, Tannenbaum & Perry, this is one of the most wide open weights of the tournament. Tann and Perry should both cruise to the finals to set up a great match of two wrestlers that could both be in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
Our top 3: 1. Tannenbaum (UM), 2. Perry (IOWA), 3. Smith-Bergsrud (ILL)
Darkhorse to place high: Max Dean (IN)
174 - The top 4 in this weight are very tough. Luedke, Yonushunis, Dretsch, and Luke are all top contenders to be All-Americans and take a shot at knocking off Missouri's stud Ben Askren in 2 weeks at NCAAs. The rest of the wrestlers in this weight are all very close and capable of beating each other, so it will be a crapshoot for the other 3 qualifying spots.
Our top 3: 1. Yonushunis (PSU), 2. Luedke (IOWA), 3. Luke (UM)
Darkhorse to place high: John Murphy (MSU)
184 - Herbert and Kish is a likely NCAA finals preview. Pucillo and Todd are also very tough and should give the top 2 a tought semifinal match. Bennet (IN) and Williams (MSU) are also talented guys that could make some noise in this weight.
Our top 3: 1. Herbert (NW), 2. Kish (MINN), 3. Todd (UM)
Darkhorse to place high: Joe Williams (MSU)
197 - Phil Davis appears to have this weight locked up and is the favorite to win NCAAs at this weight after placing 2nd last year. Davis can't be looking too far ahead, however, as Tamillow, Bond, Bergman, Moore and the rest of the top guys in this weight will have their sights set on Davis. All the guys after Davis are pretty close with each other and any one of them could come out in 2nd or 3rd.
Our top 3: 1. Davis (PSU), 2. Bond (ILL), 3. Bergman (OSU)
Darkhorse to place high: Roy (UM)
285 - King Cole Konrad is an absolute stud and I dont see anyone in the country, or the Big Ten, beating him this year. PSU's Anspach, NW's Fox, and Iowa's Fields are all top HVYs in the country, but will be probably be battling for 2nd and 3rd here.
Our top 3: 1. Konrad (MINN), 2. Fox (NW), 3. Anspach (PSU)
Darkhorse to place high: Massey (WIS)
State of Michigan Recap
Simmons is once, twice, now three times the Champ
Nick Simmons entered a distuingshed class of 3x Big Ten Champions with his title this weekend. Simmons won the 125lb Big Ten title the last two years before bumping up to 133 this year to win his 3rd and final Big Ten title. All that is left for Nick to do now is win the NCAA title in 2 weeks at The Palace. He has one loss on the year to TJ Enright of OSU, which he avenged this weekend, and will likely be the #1 or #2 seed at nationals. The last 3x Big Ten champ for MSU was 118lber David Morgan in the late 90's.
Churella falls to Schlatter again
Josh Churella finished 2nd at 149lbs after losing to returining NCAA champ Dustin Schlatter in the finals. Churella surrendered a takedown early in the match and that proved to be the difference. Churella was in deep on Schlatter in the third period but failed to finish as Schlatter held on to win 3-2. Churella will likely be seeded just behind Schlatter at the NCAA tournament and may likely meet him again in the finals. The 1 point loss was Churella's second to Schlatter this year.
Herbert too much for Kish
The 184lb weight appears to be a 2 man race for the NCAA title as noone appears to be at the level of Lapeer West native Roger Kish and Northwestern's Jake Herbert. For the second time this season, Herbert beat Kish by a wide margin in their Big Ten Final match. Kish was in deep on Herbert throughout the whole match, however, he couldn't seem to figure out how to finish on the funky Wildcat. Roger now has 2 weeks to find a way to beat this guy as he appears to be the only thing standing between Kish and an NCAA title.
Luke knocks off Yonushunis, Tann falls to Perry
Eric Tannenbaum lost a close match with Iowa's Mark Perry in the 165lbs finals, however, Steve Luke came through at 174 to give UM a Big Ten champ. Luke, who bumped up from 157 last year, proved that he is a contender at his new weight as he looked impressive in beating #2 ranked Yonushunis after beating Iowa's Eric Luedke yesterday in the semis. Luke, Tannenbaum and Churella should all be in the hunt for UM at The Palace in a couple weeks.
Andy Simmons dominates Rivera
After a controversial lost in the quarterfinals yesterday to Alex Tsirtis of Iowa, MSUs Andy Simmons came back with a vengence knocking off Ohio State's J Jaggers yesterday and Minnesota's Manuel Rivera today. Rivera beat simmons handily earlier in the season. Andy lost again to Tsirtis in the 3rd place finals after getting caught for 5 point reversal that proved to be too much to overcome. The win over Rivera should help Andy's seed as he enters the NCAA tournament.
State of Michigan's NCAA Qualifiers:
Nick Simmons (MSU), 1st @ 133
Andy Simmons (MSU), 4th @ 141
Josh Churella (UM), 2nd @ 149
Eric Tannenbaum (UM), 2nd @ 165
Steve Luke (UM), 1st @ 174
Trevor Perry (Indiana, Davison HS grad), 5th @ 174
Roger Kish (Minnesota, Lapeer West grad), 2nd @ 184
Tyrel Todd (UM), 3rd @ 184
Nick Roy (UM), 6th @ 197
