Champaign,
Ill. - The Big Ten Conference released brackets on Friday for
all 10 weight classes of this weekend's wrestling championships at Assembly
Hall.
Nine Husker wrestlers earned pre-seedings by the
conference: Shawn Nagel (No. 8 at 133), Ridge Kiley (No. 6 at 141), Jake
Sueflohn (No. 4 at 149), James Green (No. 4 at 157), Austin Wilson (No. 8 at
165), Robert Kokesh (No. 3 at 174), Josh Ihnen (No. 3 at 184), Caleb Kolb (No.
11 at 197) and Spencer Johnson (No. 9 at HWT). Kiley, Sueflohn, Green and
Kokesh earned first-round byes in their respective weight classes.
At 125 pounds, Eric Coufal will face No. 3-seed Jesse
Delgado of Illinois in the first round. Nagel will take on Michigan's Rossi
Bruno at 133 pounds for a spot against Ohio State's Logan Stieber in the
quarterfinals. At 165 pounds, Wilson battles No. 9-seed Mark Martin of Ohio
State and the winner will meet Penn State's David Taylor in the quarterfinals.
Ihnen (184) is matched up against Michigan's Chris Heald
in the first round, with the winner facing No. 6-seed Tony Dallago of Illinois.
At 197 pounds, Kolb is set to wrestle No. 6-seed Nathan Burak of Iowa in the
first round for a spot against No. 3-seed Mario Gonzalez of Illinois. Johnson
will meet No. 8-seed Ben Apland of Michigan at heavyweight for a chance to
grapple with Minnesota's Tony Nelson in the quarterfinals.
Full brackets can be downloaded above and the tournament
website is at: http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/ill-big10-12-wrestl-championships.html.
Saturday's first session starts at 10 a.m. CT and will be available on Big Ten
Digital Network with a subscription required. Check Huskers.com and the
tournament website for updates throughout the Big Ten Championships.
