Preliminary Seeds Announced for Big Ten Tournament

After its first regular season as a member of the Big Ten Conference, the Nebraska wrestling team will enter its first Big Ten Conference tournament with a total of nine wrestlers who earned preliminary seeds, after the conference announced the seeds on Monday. The 2012 Big Ten Championships will take place in Mackey Arena on the campus of Purdue University on March 3-4.

The pre-seeds were voted on by the 12 league coaches and rank the top eight wrestlers at each weight class. At 149, 174 and 285 pounds, the Big Ten awarded 12 seeds because the NCAA allotted the conference nine or more NCAA qualifiers at each of those weights.

The Huskers earned five top-5 seeds, including James Green (157), Robert Kokesh (165) and Josh Ihnen (184), who were all placed as the No. 3 seed at their respective weight classes. Coming off a 20-7 regular season, true freshman Jake Sueflohn was awarded with the No. 5 seed at 141 pounds. Senior Tucker Lane (Hwt) earned the No. 4 seed, while Ridge Kiley (133), Tyler Koehn (174) and James Nakashima (197) all earned No. 7 seeds. Redshirt freshman Skylar Galloway is the No. 11 preliminary seed at 149 pounds.

A total of six schools represented the No. 1 preliminary seeds, including Penn State and Minnesota, who each had three top seeds. Last week, the NCAA allotted the Big Ten Conference a record 74 qualifying spots for the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo., on March 15-17. Final seeds and brackets will be released on Friday, March 2.

The 2012 Big Ten Championships will kick off from Mackey Arena at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 3. For more information on the tournament, visit Purdue's championship page by clicking at the link at the top of the page. For a preview of the Huskers first Big Ten Championships, continue to check back to Huskers.com.

2012 Big Ten Championships Pre-Seeds
125 lbs.
1. Matt McDonough, IOWA
2. Zach Sanders, MINN
3. Nico Megaludis, PSU
4. Jesse Delgado, ILL
5. Levi Mele, NU
6. Johnni DiJulius, OSU
7. Camden Eppert, PUR
8. Brenan Lyon, MSU

133 lbs.
1. Logan Stieber, OSU
2. Tony Ramos, IOWA
3. B.J. Futrell, ILL
4. Chris Dardanes, MINN
5. Cashe Quiroga, PUR
6. Zac Stevens, MICH
7. Ridge Kiley, NEB
8. Frank Martelotti, PSU

141 lbs.
1. Kellen Russell, MICH
2. Hunter Stieber, OSU
3. Montell Marion, IOWA
4. Nick Dardanes, MINN
5. Jake Sueflohn, NEB
6. Daryl Thomas, ILL
7. Matt Ortega, IND
8. Bryan Pearsall, PSU

149 lbs.
1. Frank Molinaro, PSU
2. Eric Grajales, MICH
3. Dylan Ness, MINN
4. Ivan Lopouchanski, PUR
5. Cam Tessari, OSU
6. Taylor Walsh, IND
7. Eric Terrazas, ILL
8. Kaleb Friedley, NU
9. Dan Osterman, MSU
10. Mike Kelly, IOWA
11. Skylar Galloway, NEB
12. Frank Baer, WIS

157 lbs.
1. Jason Welch, NU
2. Dylan Alton, PSU
3. James Green, NEB
4. Anthony Jones, MSU
5. Josh Demas, OSU
6. Derek St. John, IOWA
7. Tommy Churchard, PUR
8. Jackson Morse, ILL

165 lbs.
1. David Taylor, PSU
2. Mike Evans, IOWA
3. Robert Kokesh, NEB
4. Ben Jordan, WIS
5. Conrad Polz, ILL
6. Dan Yates, MICH
7. Cody Yohn, MINN
8. Derek Garcia, OSU

174 lbs.
1. Ed Ruth, PSU
2. Logan Storley, MINN
3. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA
4. Justin Zeerip, MICH
5. Nick Heflin, OSU
6. Curran Jacobs, MSU
7. Tyler Koehn, NEB
8. Jordan Blanton, ILL
9. Lee Munster, NU
10. Ryan LeBlanc, IND
11. Drake Stein, PUR
12. Frank Cousins, WIS

184 lbs.
1. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN
2. Quentin Wright, PSU
3. Josh Ihnen, NEB
4. Grant Gambrall, IOWA
5. C.J. Magrum, OSU
6. Braden Atwood, PUR
7. Tony Dallago, ILL
8. Ian Hinton, MSU

197 lbs.
1. Sonny Yohn, MINN
2. Matt Powless, IND
3. Morgan McIntosh, PSU
4. Max Huntley, MICH
5. Mario Gonzalez, ILL
6. Andrew Campolattano, OSU
7. James Nakashima, NEB
8. A.J. Kissel, PUR

285 lbs.
1. Tony Nelson, MINN
2. Cameron Wade, PSU
3. Ben Apland, MICH
4. Tucker Lane, NEB
5. Mike McMullan, NU
6. Bobby Telford, IOWA
7. Adam Chalfant, IND
8. Roger Vukobratovich, PUR
9. Peter Capone, OSU
10. Steve Andrus, MSU
11. Pat Walker, ILL
12. Cole Tobin, WIS