Another fun, extremely tough weight class at the Midwest Classic. 165 lbs features 14 ranked wrestlers with four returning NCAA Division II All Americans. If you enjoy unpredictability where the stakes are high this is definitely the weight class for you. A lot of these wrestlers have met multiple times in the past & many have defeated and lost to the same wrestlers. Makes predicting what might happen quite the challenge.
#1 ranked 2021 NCAA DII Runner-Up Alex Farenchak of Gannon looks to be our #1 seed here. While the rankings & potential seeds may not suggest it, I believe that his greatest challenge could very well come from Corey Peterson of McKendree. The Bearcat took the Dragon into sudden victory at the NCAA DII's last season before coming back to place 4th himself. Peterson also owns victories of Mitch Dean of Belmont Abbey (6th in DII's last season), Shane Gantz of UW-Parkside & Kameron Frame of Newman (6th at DII's in 2019) who are all currently ranked ahead of him. With that said he has a loss to Jack Eiteljorge of Indianapolis who he is ranked ahead of.
This is the type of weight class where a deep study into who beat who can really give you a headache. If you look through the results provided above you'll discover that not only have many of these wrestlers met before, they have split with one another. Sometimes a ranking is a clear indication of who is better. Other times, it is just a number. I think for the most part in this weight class, it is the latter.
I truly believe that 165 lbs as far as who the top 8 will be by the end of the Midwest Classic is wide open. Honestly, while a tad more narrow, who the champion will be is rather wide open too. If you are placing any bets on this tournament, this is a game of absolute chance as far as I'm concerned. Pure luck. This is anyone's bracket.
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