Nittany Lions Earn Nine Top Four Seeds for 2017 Big Ten Championships

psu-wrestlingBLOOMINGTON, Ind.– The seeds and brackets have been finalized and released for the 2017 Big Ten Wrestling Championships and No. 1 Penn State (14-0, 9-0 Big Ten) now knows its first round opponents.  The two-day event takes place in Indiana University’s Assembly Hall on Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5.
 
The Nittany Lions have nine of their ten wrestlers with top-four seeds, including three top-seeds. Penn State’s line-up features seven underclassmen as well.  Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team has six first round byes.
 
True freshman Nick Suriano (Paramus, N.J.) is No. 2 seed at 125.  Suriano enters the tournament with a 16-2 record, ranked No. 2 in the final NCAA coaches poll and No. 3 in NCAA RPI.  He will face Purdue’s Ben Thornton in the first round.  Suriano earlier this week had been said to be a “game time decision” relative to participation in the tourney after injuring an ankle in the Oklahoma State match 12 days ago. Red-shirt freshman Triston Law (Windber, Pa.) is the No. 14 seed at 133.  He is 0-2 overall and unranked with no RPI.  He meets third-seeded Cory Clark of Iowa in the first round.
 
Senior Jimmy Gulibon (Latrobe, Pa.) is the No. 2 seed at 141.  Gulibon, 13-7 overall, is ranked No. 11 by the Coaches and has a No. 16 RPI. He gets a first round bye and then takes on the winner of seventh-seed Javier Gasca of Michigan State and No. 10 Alec McKenna of Northwestern.  Defending Big Ten Champion Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) is the No. 1 seed at 149.  Retherford, 19-0 overall, is ranked No. 1 by the coaches with a No. 3 RPI.  He will meet Purdue’s Nate Limmex in the first round.
 
Sophomore Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.) is the No. 1 seed at 157.  Nolf, 19-0 overall, is ranked No. 1 by the NCAA coaches and has a No. 3 RPI.  He gets a first round bye then meets the winner of No. 8 seed Jake Danishek of Indiana and No. 9 TJ Ruschell of Wisconsin.  Red-shirt freshman Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is the No. 4 seed at 165.  Joseph, 14-3 on the year, is ranked No. 4 by the coaches with a No. 2 RPI. He gets a first round bye and then meets the winner of No. 5-seed Joey Gunther of Iowa and Indiana’s Bryce Martin.
 
True freshman Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) is the No. 2 seed at 174.  Hall, 24-2 on the year, is ranked No. 5 by the coaches with a No. 5 RPI.  He gets a first round bye and will meet the winner of No. 7 seed Jacob Morrissey of Purdue and No. 10 seed Chris Pfarr of Minnesota.  Sophomore Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas) is the No. 1 seed at 184.  Nickal, 18-0 on the year, is ranked No. 2 by the coaches with a No. 1 RPI.  He gets a first round bye and will tangle with the winner of No. 8 seed Hunter Ritter of Wisconsin and No. 9 Mitch Sliga of Northwestern.
 
Junior Matt McCutcheon (Apollo, Pa.) is the No. 4 seed at 197.  McCutcheon is 15-3 on the year, ranked No. 7 by the coaches with a No. 4 RPI.  He also receives a first round bye and will meet the winner of fifth-seed Ricky Robertson of Wisconsin’s and Matthew Correnti of Rutgers.  Sophomore Nick Nevills (Clovis, Calif.) is the No. 3 seed at 285.  Nevills is 16-2 on the year, is ranked No. 3 by the coaches and has a No. 2 RPI.  He will take on Michigan’s Dan Perry in the opening round.
 
The Big Ten received 77 total automatic qualifiers to the 2017 NCAA Championships: seven at 125, nine at 133, nine at 141, six at 149, nine at 157, seven at 165, nine at 174, nine at 184, seven at 197 and five at 285.
 
The Nittany Lions, now Big Ten Regular Season (dual meet) Champions and NWCA National Dual Meet Champions, begin the 2017 Big Ten Championships tomorrow, Saturday, with the opening session at 10 a.m.  The two-day event serves as the NCAA qualifier for the conference.  Penn State is the defending Big Ten Champion and has won five of the last six Big Ten crowns.

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