If you read my Midwest Classic Preview for 125 lbs, then you already know that this tournament held in Indianapolis, Indiana is one of the best and one of the toughest NCAA Division II tournaments in the nation. 125 lbs was crazy and 133 lbs is no different! We're talking 10 top 15 ranked wrestlers, including three returning NCAA DII All Americans.
Whoa! What another tough bracket. Led by NCAA DII 3rd place All American Tanner Cole of Central Oklahoma, who took 5th at the Midwest Classic back in 2020. He'll have plenty of challengers in Patrick Allis of Western Colorado who was 5th in the NCAA DII tournament, Eric Bartos of Mercyhurst, Jonathan Andreatta of Adams State & Tanner Hitchcock of Lindenwood who was 7th at the NCAA DII's last season, and who he beat for 5th at the Midwest Classic in 2020. A guy that I'm anxious to see is Colorado Mesa's Collin Metzgar who could very well propel himself up the rankings with a good showing here. He's already proven that he can beat Allis, although he has struggled with Andreatta. Another example of the vast amount of parity in our sport.
Two others to keep an eye on here are Corey Gamet of Lake Erie and Ryan Ripplinger of McKendree, who are both ironically enough transfers from North Dakota State. Gamet owns a 3-2 victory over South Dakota State's Tanner Jordan & Ripplinger put together 9 varsity victories when he competed for the Bison. Add in Upper Iowa's Kaden Anderlik and Lander's Elijah Lusk & we're looking at the 10 guys who will fight for a top 8 showing at this year's Midwest Classic.
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