TWT - 03-08-2009

Big Ten Championships @ State College, Pennsylvania

Calendar: College Wrestling Schedules

03-07-2009 to 03-08-2009 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM

Conference officials announced the preliminary seeds
for the 2009 Big Ten WrestlingChampionships Monday.
The pre-seeds are determined by a vote amongst the
conference's head wrestling coaches after consideration
of regular-season results. This year’s Big Ten
Wrestling Championships will take place Penn State
University in University Park, Pa., at the Bryce Jordan
Center on March 7-8. The official Big Ten Championships
bracket will be set on Friday, March 6.

Five different schools are represented as No. 1 seeds
in the 10 weight classes. Iowa and Wisconsin lead the
way with the most top seeds at three apiece, while
Northwestern features two wrestlers atop the preliminary
seeding chart. Overall, of the 10 No. 1 seeds, nine
rank among the top three in the nation in the latest
USA Today/NWCA/InterMat Poll.

Iowa’s Daniel Dennis (24-2 at 133), Brent Metcalf
(28-0 at 149) and Daniel Erekson (18-6 at Hwt.) represent the Hawkeyes as top pre-seeds for this year’s
event. The Hawkeyes were Big Ten regular season
dual champions and are currently the No. 1 nationally
ranked team. Metcalf is in search of his second consecutive 149 lbs. conference title after winning at last
year’s competition where his performance also earned
him Wrestler of the Championships honors. Dennis
and Metcalf are the top-ranked wrestlers in the land at
their respective weight classes, while Erekson currently
ranks seventh among the national leaders.

Zach Tanelli (23-3 at 141), Andrew Howe (22-4 at
165) and Dallas Herbst (20-2 at 197) earned top-billing
for Wisconsin. Tanelli, Howe and Herbst currently rank
one, two and three, respectively, in the nation. After
adding a 55th pin to his all-time Wisconsin pin record
last Sunday against Ohio State, Herbst remained at
No. 3 on the national leaderboard. Meanwhile, Tanelli
maintained the No. 1 ranking for the fifth straight week
at 141. Howe's No. 2 ranking currently makes him the
highest ranked freshman in the country.

Northwestern’s top seeds consist of Brandon Precin
(25-2 at 125) and Jake Herbert (26-0 at 184). Precin is
ranked third in the country. Top-ranked Herbert will look
to enter Saturday’s championships coming off an
impressive win over Phillip Keddy of Iowa, who ranks
third on this year’s pre-seed list.

Rounding out the top seeds are Illinois’ Michael Poeta
(10-0 at 157) and Michigan’s Steve Luke (24-0 at 174).
Both Poeta and Luke will be looking to retain their 2008
Big Ten titles at 157 and 174, respectively, joining
Metcalf as the only three defending champions to be
featured among this year’s top seeds.

Last year Iowa won the conference championship with
a score of 127.0 points, headed by 2008 Big Ten
Wrestler of the Year Metcalf, who was the only Hawkeye
to claim an individual title. Minnesota placed second
(112.5) and Michigan (97.5), Illinois (94.0) and
Ohio State (92.5) rounded out the top five.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/...ampsMAR509.pdf