A weight class where I feel eight wrestlers have wrestled well enough this season to have earned allocations. I feel at least on paper these eight wrestlers ought to be the eight that end up on the award stand in New Brunswick.
What's really fun here is that no one in this weight class has won a BIG 10 title yet. Penn State's Nick Lee who will obviously take the #1 seed has finished third twice. Luke Pletcher of Ohio State has finished as the runner up twice & Nebraska's Chad Red also has a runner-up finish to his credit.
The wrestler here that gives me a migraine with his unpredictability & inconsistency is Tristan Moran of Wisconsin. Talent and ability wise, I could see him upsetting his way to a phenomenal tournament. Yet I can also see him placing much lower than his seed. I'm anxious to see what happens between him and Iowa's Max Murin. Their last match was a tight one, in favor of Murin 3-2.
Who I think might take the seedings/rankings & throw it all to the wind is Minnesota's Mitch Mckee. The peculiar thing about it, is that McKee has had a rather good season accumulating 23 victories against six losses. It's simply that he's wrestled well OUTSIDE of the BIG 10 & not so well within it. All six of his losses have been to BIG 10 opponents. A returning All American from last season who looks to add a second medal to his resume, if anything consider this a testament to how tough the BIG 10 conference is.
Lastly I see Purdue's Parker Filius & Illinois's Dylan Duncan filling up the seventh & eighth place slots.
How I would seed?
#1 Nick Lee junior Penn State
# 2 Luke Pletcher senior Ohio State
# 3 Chad Red junior Nebraska
#4 Max Murin sophomore Iowa
#5 Tristan Moran senior Wisconsin
#6 Mitch McKee senior Minnesota
#7 Parker Filius sophomore Purdue
#8 Dylan Duncan junior Illinois
On the money here. Thought 8 allocations and 8 is exactly what was given.
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