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2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds Announced
March 4, 2008
PARK RIDGE, Ill. - Conference officials announced the preliminary seeds for the 2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Monday. The pre-seeds are determined by a vote amongst the conference's head wrestling coaches after consideration of regular-season results. This year's Big Ten Wrestling Championships will take place on the campus of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. at Williams Arena on March 8-9. The official Big Ten Championships bracket will be set on Friday, March 7. Six different schools are represented as No. 1 seeds in the 10 weight classes. Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State all lead the way with the most top seeds at two each. Illinois' James Kennedy (25-4 at 133) and Mike Poeta (26-2 at 157) represent the Illini as top pre-seeds for this year's event. Kennedy is currently ranked No. 3 nationally at 133, and Poeta is No. 2 at 157, which is best in the conference in both classes. Brent Metcalf (30-1 at 149) and Mark Perry (18-2 at 165) earned top-billing for Iowa. The Hawkeyes were Big Ten regular season dual champions and are currently the No. 1 nationally-ranked team. Metcalf is the top-ranked wrestler in the land at 149. Perry is the defending Big Ten champion at 165 after defeating this year's No. 2 seed Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan in the 2007 finale. Perry is also ranked No. 1 in the nation at 165. Michigan's top seeds consist of Kellen Russell (26-5 at 141) and Steve Luke (27-3 at 174). Russell is ranked fourth in the country and finished with a 9-1 record in Big Ten matches. Luke will defend his 174 lbs. title this year after winning the Big Ten crown with a 5-2 decision over Penn State's James Yonushonis in last year's championship bout. Mike Pucillo (25-1 at 184) and J.D. Bergman (27-1 at Hwt.) represent Ohio State as No. 1 pre-seeds. The Buckeyes finished second in the Big Ten regular season dual standings this year. Pucillo's only loss this season came to Michigan's Tyrel Todd. Todd was voted as the No. 2 pre-seed for this year's event. Bergman's lone loss also came to the No. 2 seed at Hwt. in Northwestern's Dustin Fox.
Rounding out the top seeds are Minnesota's Jayson Ness (33-0 at 125) and Northwestern's Mike Tamillow (27-2 at 197). Ness hopes to lead the Golden Gophers to their third consecutive Big Ten Championship and repeat as individual champion at 125. Tamillow is in search of his second consecutive 197 lbs. title after winning at last year's competition. Last year Minnesota won the conference championship with a score of 156 points and had four wrestlers win individual titles. Wisconsin (100.5) placed second and Iowa (91), Penn State (90.5) and Indiana (85) rounded out the top five. The complete list of pre-seeds follows. 2008 BIG TEN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS PRELIMINARY SEEDS 125 lbs. 141 lbs. 149 lbs.
184 lbs. 197 lbs. HWT |
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