Midland Preseeds Announced

UPDATE: Pre-seeds have been updated and provided from Jason Bryant’s Mattalkonline.com

Today, the pre-seeds for the 52nd Ken Kraft Midlands Tournament were announced. Since these are just pre- seeds it’s important to remember that the order that wrestlers are listed in now can very much change by this time next week

125:
1 Thomas Gilman, Iowa
2 Joey Dance, Virginia Tech
3 Josh Martinez, Air Force
4 Josh Rodriguez, North Dakota State
5 Brandon Jeske, Old Dominion
6 Kory Mines, Edinboro
7 Shayne Wireman, Eastern Michigan
8 Barlow McGhee, Missouri UNATT
9 Stevan Micic, Northwestern UNATT
10 Ryak Finch, Grand View
11 Gerald Huff, Adams State
12 Lucas Malmberg, Messiah College

UPDATE: The big story here is that Gilman moves from the second seed up to the #1 seed. It should be interesting to see if Gilman reclaims his title.

Returning Midland champion Thomas Gilman checks in as the #2 seed at this weight and NAIA national champion is the #12 seed. This will be a very interesting weight as three of the top four pre-seeds are All-Americans (except Gilman, who I mentioned won the tournament last year).

133:
1 AJ Schopp, Edinboro
2 Jarrod Garnett, Lehigh Valley Athletic Club
3 Cory Clark, Iowa
4 Zane Richards, Illinois
5 Geoffrey Alexander, Maryland
6 Ryan Taylor, Wisconsin
7 Danny Sabatello, Purdue
8 Kevin Norstrem, Virginia Tech
9 Robert Deutsch, Rider
10 Caleb Richardson, U Penn
11 Ian Nickell, CSU Bakersfield
12 TBD based on entries
Dom Malone, Northwestern
Josh Alber, UNI UNATT
Jered Cortez, Illinois UNATT

UPDATE: Clark drops down a spot as he is jumped by Garnett. It probably won’t be too much of a change as Ryan Taylor moved up a spot as well so his potential quarterfinals opponent remains the same.

This will be the first big test for true freshman Josh Alber of UNI this weekend and he will be coming into a weight class that features two wrestlers who were preseason ranked #1 and #2 (AJ Schopp and Mason Beckman), a former All-American and Midland runner-up last year Jarrod Garnett. Then there is the #2 seed Cory Clark who was an All-American at 125 for Iowa last year, and former Hawkeye Tyler Clark in the mix as well.

141:
1 Mitchell Port, Edinboro
2 Devin Carter, Virginia Tech
3 Josh Dziewa, Iowa
4 Chris Mecate, Old Dominion
5 Todd Preston, Harvard
6 Shyheim Brown, Maryland
7 Mitch Bengston, North Dakota State
8 Stephen Rodrigues, Illinois
9 Alex Kocer, South Dakota State
10 Joey McKenna, Lehigh Valley Athletic Club
11 Brandon Wright, Grand View
12 Alfred Bannister, Maryland
Jesse Thielke, Wisconsin
Nick Lawrence, Purdue
Jordan Laster, Princeton
Chuck Zeisloft, Rider
Jameson Oster, Northwestern

UPDATE: Looks like Durso has bumped so Dziewa moves from #4 to #3 which is a big deal. Sure there isn’t much difference from wrestling Port or Carter, but we have already seen a Port-Dziewa match last year, and we already know it wasn’t pretty.

Josh Dziewa looks to be in for a rough tournament with Port and Carter in his bracket, and if he reaches the semis it is Port he will most likely face. All-American and #3 seed Richard Durso is a wrestler we saw Dziewa beat at this very tournament last year, so it’s still possible Dziewa wrestles above seed. Grand View’s Brandon Wright will also look to make some noise at the #12 seed.

149:
1 Jason Tsirtsis, Northwestern
2 David Habat, Edinboro
3 Brody Grothus, Iowa
4 Richard Durso, Franklin & Marshall UNATT
5 Brandon Sorensen, Iowa
6 Alexander Richardson, Old Domnion
7 CJ Cobb, U Penn
8 Adam Krop, Princeton
9 BJ Clagon, Rider
10 Laike Gardner, Lehigh UNATT
11 Sal Mastriani, Virginia Tech
12 Rylan Lubeck, Wisconsin
Kyle Langenderfer, Illinois
Kevin Birmingham, Davidson
Nick Barber, Eastern Michigan
Gustavo Martinez, Grand View

UPDATE: Sorensen goes up from #8 to #5 so we see some significant change here. Sorensen goes from seeing Tsirtsis in the quarters to maybe facing him in the semifinals with an upset over Durso.

Hawkeye fans are hoping for some kind of answers on the 149 battle between Brody Grothus and Brandon Sorensen. They will be on opposite sides of the bracket with Sorensen pre-seeded to meet NCAA champ Tsirtsis in the finals.

157
1. Isaiah Martinez, Illinois
2. Cody Pack, South Dakota State
3. Markus Scheidel, Columbia
4. Justin Staudenmayer, Brown
5. Mike Kelly, Iowa
6. Chad Welsh, Rider
7. Brandon Zeerip, Eastern Michigan
8. Doug Welch, Purdue
9. Edwin Cooper, Iowa
10. Andrew Morse, Northern Illinois
11/12. TBD based on entries

This is a weight begging to be won by someone with Intermat’s #9 Isaiah Martinez as the best wrestler in the bracket. Iowa’s Cooper and Kelly will be on the same side of the brackets, though both would need upsets to face each other on the championship side of the bracket.

165
1. Isaac Jordan, Wisconsin
2. Taylor Walsh, Indiana
3. Nick Moore, Iowa
4. Pierce Harger, Northwestern
5. Jackson Morse, Illinois
6. Nestor Taffur (Unattached)
7. Tristan Warner, Old Dominion
8. Adam Fierro, CSU Bakersfield
9. Jesse Stafford, Air Force
10. Jon Schleifer, Princeton
11. Connor Brennan, Rider
12. Pat Robinson, Purdue
Pat Smith, Minnesota
Connor McMahon, SIU-Edwardsville

Nick Moore is the lone Iowa wrestler seeded at this weight, he is more than capable of finding his way through this tournament field and winning a Midland title in his final attempt as a collegian.

174
1. Mike Evans, Iowa
2. Zac Brunson, Illinois
3. Zach Epperly, Virginia Tech
4. Bryce Hammond, CSU Bakersfield
5. Kurtis Julson, North Dakota State
6. Alex Meyer, Iowa
7. Brock Gutches, Southern Oregon
8. Nate Jackson, Indiana
9. Burke Paddock, Iowa
10. John Sebastian, Northwestern (Unattached)
11. Chad Welch, Purdue
12. Connor Lefever, Wabash

This could be interesting as #9 seed Burke Paddock only needs a minor upset over #8 seed Nate Jackson to set up an all Iowa quarterfinal between Mike Evans. This weight looks like Evans to lose, although Epperly showed flashes of being a tough out when he beat Matt Brown of Penn State last weekend.

184
1. Lorenzo Thomas, Penn
2. Jack Dechow, Old Dominion
3. Sammy Brooks, Iowa
4. Hayden Zillmer, North Dakota State
5. Ophir Bernstein, Brown
6. Vic Avery, Edinboro
7. Nikko Reyes, Illinois
8. Ricky Robertson, Wisconsin
9. Austin Gabel, Virginia Tech
10. Clint Morrison, Rider
11. Brett Harner, Princeton
12. Zach Hernandez, Columbia
Patrick Kissel, Purdue
Riley Lefever, Wabash

This is a perfect opportunity for Sammy Brooks to show everyone that he is indeed a top wrestler at this weight. With Gabe Dean going down in Las Vegas, Thomas and Dechow are two of the highest ranked wrestlers in this weight class. A win over either of those two should boost his ranking and help him in terms of seeding come March.

197:
1 Nathan Burak, Iowa UNATT
2 Alex Polizzi, Northwestern
3 Abram Ayala, Princeton
4 Braden Atwood, Purdue
5 Nathan Rotert, South Dakota State
6 Timmy McCall, Wisconin
7 Joe Rau, Minnesota Storm
8 Jared Haught, Virginia Tech
9 Lucas Sheridan, Indiana
10 Pat Downey, Iowa Central
11 Shawn Scott, Northern Illinois
12 Jeff Koepke, Illinois
13 Vince Pickett, Edinboro
14 Kevin Beazley, Old Dominion
15 Anthony Abro, Eastern Michigan
16 Matt Williams, CSU Bakersfield
Canaan Bethea, U Penn
Shane Siefert, UW Whitewater
Frank Mattiace, U Penn UNATT

UPDATE: Here we see that Patrick Downey has moved into the top seeds at this weight.

Burak has had a pretty quiet season to this point, but he enters as the second Iowan to receive a #1 pre-seed. A healthy Burak will be challenged, but is still the best wrestler in this bracket.

285
1. Mike McMullan, Northwestern
2. Bobby Telford, Iowa
3. Connor Medbery, Wisconsin
4. Ty Walz, Virginia Tech
5. Evan Knutson, North Dakota State
6. Tyler Deuel, Binghamton
7. Jacob Henderson, Old Dominion
8. J.J. Everard, South Dakota State
9. Ray O’Donnell, Princeton
10. David Ng, Harvard
11. Garrett Ryan, Columbia
12. Brooks Black, Illinois
Marcus Malechek, Air Force

Bobby Telford will have to defeat his nemesis Mike McMullan to capture his Midland title, but that’s only if McMullan can get through Ty Walz who is having a strong season thus far.