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Big Ten Wrestling: Ranking the top three wrestlers at each weight class

By Chris Snyder

Penn State's Roman Bravo-Young, left, celebrates after scoring a decision against Oklahoma State's Daton Fix at 133 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 011 Jpg
Penn State's Roman Bravo-Young, left, celebrates after scoring a decision against Oklahoma State's Daton Fix at 133 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 011 Jpg /
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Wisconsin’s Austin Gomez gets introduced before wrestling at 149 pounds in the finals during the third session of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.220306 Big Ten Wr 022 Jpg
Wisconsin’s Austin Gomez gets introduced before wrestling at 149 pounds in the finals during the third session of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.220306 Big Ten Wr 022 Jpg /

149

1. Austin Gomez (Wisconsin)
2. Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
3. Ridge Lovett (Nebraska)

The Big Ten group at 149 is the first real top-heavy set as they have the second, fourth, and fifth place finishers from the 2022 NCAA Championships.

Gomez, a prior transfer from Iowa State, hit the mat for the first time since 2019 and was nothing short of spectacular. His 23-4 record was capped off with a fourth-place finish and his first ever All-American season. Which is hard to believe considering he started his collegiate wrestling career in 2017.

Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso had a slight dip in performance coming off a runner-up finish in 2021, as he finished fifth this past year. Gomez got the best of Sasso in both the Big Ten Championship finals and a win deep in the wrestlebacks this past March, so it appears he has the slight advantage going into this season. But I wouldn’t count out Sasso just yet.

The surprise member of this trio at 149 is Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett. But don’t get me wrong, Lovett is a highly competitive wrestler and prior to his runner-up finish in the 2022 NCAA’s, he had a respectable 26-11 overall record.

Clearly something clicked for Lovett in both the 2021-2022 season and the 2022 NCAA Championships as he rode a wave of confidence on his way to a 24-4 record and the aforementioned runner-up finish to Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis. And just like with Sasso, Lovett also lost to Austin Gomez in each of his matches last year, so the pecking order is pretty much set going into the 2022-2023 wrestling season.

However, we should also throw Iowa’s Max Murin and Northwestern’s Yahya Thomas into the mix. Murin has finished in the round of 12 an incredible three times in the NCAA’s and the stars aligned for Thomas in 2021 as he finished third in the 2021 NCAA Championships. Yahya then followed that up with a round of 12 finish this past year.

Both of those guys are capable of taking the next step forward and breaking into the top three at 149 pounds in the Big Ten. But the head of the class is clearly Austin Gomez. The only question for him is whether or not he can dethrone Diakomihalis.

Only time will tell.

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