2022 NCAA Championship seedings give Penn State Wrestling tough title road
By Chris Snyder
Taking a look at the recently released seedings for the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships and how it impacts Penn State Wrestling
The dust has barely settled on the incredible wrestling action from this past weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska. The 2022 Big Ten Wrestling Championships was a mixture of disappointment, triumph, grit, and a sprinkling of medical forfeits.
But now all of the powerhouses in the world of college wrestlers turn their gaze towards the ultimate pinnacle of the sport. The NCAA Championships.
So let’s take a look at the seedings and see where the Nittany Lions landed in the pecking order.
2022 NCAA Championships Seedings – Penn State Wrestling
125 – Drew Hildebrandt
No. 16 seed
Not a great start.
You have to be absolutely kidding me. Hildebrandt as a 16 seed?
Based on what? One poor performance at the Big Ten Championships most likely due to being under the weather?
This makes zero sense to me and there’s no way anyone from that selection committee, with a straight face, can possibly explain there are 15 wrestlers better than Drew Hildebrandt.
Drew gave the No. 1 seed (Nick Suriano – Michigan) all he could handle in a 2-1 loss and Hildebrandt beat the No. 12 seed (Malik Heinselman – OSU) 2-0.
So Hildebrandt’s prize for being one of the best in the nation is a match against the No. 1 seed in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Cue troll face.
133 – Roman Bravo-Young
No. 1 seed
144 – Nick Lee
No. 1 seed
No surprises here for obvious reasons.
149 – Beau Bartlett
No. 13 seed
I honestly wasn’t expecting this.
Bartlett has wrestled his tail off this season and his gritty win in the seventh-place match, picking up a huge win during the Big Ten Championships. But, I was expecting anywhere from a 15-20 seed for Bartlett.
But hey, I’ll take it even though it might mean a possible second round match against No. 4 Sammy Sasso (OSU).
157 – Brady Berge
No. 16 seed
“Congratulations on finishing third at 157 in the 2022 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Brady. We are giving you a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Championships based on everything with the exception of what you’ve done on the mat this season. How would you like to come over and mow my yard?”
For context, Iowa’s Kaleb Young is the No. 9 seed. Brady beat him two times in the Big Ten Championships. Michigan’s Will Lewan is the No. 8 seed and Berge beat him last season 3-1 and Lewan nipped him this year 3-1 in sudden victory in the semifinals in the Big Tens.
At 165, Michigan’s Cameron Amine is the No. 6 seed. Oh, and Berge beat him 3-1 this year.
What in the actual heck is going on here? And just like Hildebrandt, Brady’s prize for being the No. 16 seed is a possible matchup against the No. 1 seed at 157 (David Carr – ISU).
165 – Creighton Edsell
The Nittany Lions will not have a wrestler at 165 for the 2022 NCAA’s thanks in large part to the selection committee not extending an at-large big to Edsell.
Instead, they went with Lehigh’s Brian Meyer and gave him a No. 17 seed with a combined 14-10 record on the season.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, if memory serves me correct, these two toed the line opposite of each other early this year.
And Edsell beat him.
174 – Carter Starocci
No. 1 seed
Moving on.
184 – Aaron Brooks
No. 2 seed
I do realize the No. 1 seed (Myles Amine – Michigan) just beat Brooks in the Big Ten finals. But it’s not like Brooks didn’t beat him earlier in the year.
Whatever.
197 – Max Dean
No. 1 seed
285 – Greg Kerkvliet
No. 4 seed
No issues here.
The 2022 NCAA Championships kick of next Thursday (March 17) in Detroit, Michigan. So keep your eyes glued to Victory Bell Rings for more updates,
toddler rants
breakdowns, and information heading into next week’s wrestling action!