Penn State Wrestling: 5 Bold Predictions for Big Ten Wrestling Championships

Bold Prediction No. 2: Beau Bartlett will avenge a loss from earlier this season

I’m not going to beat around the bush here.

The reason this is potentially a bold prediction is based on the seedings, Bartlett wouldn’t have the opportunity to avenge a loss in the Championship Bracket until the semi-finals. Assuming he’s able to get past No. 10 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) and No. 2 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin).

Now I’ve seen enough of Beau’s matches to know he’s hardly ever going to get blown out. And he always seems to wrestle top-ranked guys very tough. But even I know he has a slim opportunity to knock off the second-best grappler at 149 in the Big Ten.

The two have never faced each other in their careers, which doesn’t really mean anything. So maybe it’s possible?

Probably not.

I’m going to say Bartlett gets past Blockhus but then falls to Gomez to get relegated to the wrestle backs bracket. And this is exactly where Beau is going to get to work and start to knock off grapplers one by one.

This is also where there’s a good chance Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) or Max Murin (Iowa) or Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) stand in Bartlett’s way for a top-seven finish. Why top seven? More on this later …

So here’s my final prediction for Bartlett; he’s going to avenge a loss from earlier this season and finish in the top five.