Big Ten Championships Preview

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(Big Ten Sports Information)
03/04/2005


125 Pounds  Kyle Ott is one of four Illinois wrestlers to hold the top spot in the Big Ten's pre-seeds for the 2005 wrestling championships. Ott is also ranked second in the NWCA/InterMat Division I Coaches' Poll in the 125-pound weight class. In all, six wrestlers in the pre-seeds of the 125-pound weight class can be found in the top 20 of the InterMat rankings.     With an overall record of 20-1 in 2004-05, Nick Simmons received the number two ranking in this year's pre-seeds. The Michigan State wrestler is also tabbed third in the InterMat poll. Other wrestlers who are ranked in the pre-seeds and by InterMat include Joe Dubuque from Indiana ranked third in the pre-seeds, John Velez of Northwestern fourth, Bobbe Lowe of Minnesota fifth and Brandon Tucker of Minnesota seventh. The wrestlers are ranked fifth, ninth, seventh and twentieth in the coach's poll respectively. During the regular season, one of Ott's two losses came at the hands of the Wildcat's Velez while Simmons lone defeat of the season was to Dubuque of Indiana.        133 Pounds  In the regular season the championships top pre-seed - Illinois' Mark Jayne - lost twice to the championships number two pre-seed - Minnesota's Mack Reiter. The InterMat rankings have Reiter fourth with Jayne fifth. A rematch between these two wrestlers is entirely possible at some point during the championships. At records of 25-2 for Jayne and 31-4 for Reiter a third face-off this season could lead to a Big Ten title for one of them.    A record of 19-3 got Tom Clum of Wisconsin a third slot in the pre-seeds, however, the junior is ranked above Jayne and Reiter in the InterMat standings at third. During the regular season, Clum lost to Jayne but defeated Reiter to close out the season. Rounding out the pre-seeds at 133-pounds are Mario Galankis of Iowa third (10th in the Coach's Poll), T.J. Enright of Ohio State fifth (16), Mark Moos of Michigan sixth (18) and Bryan Heller of Penn state seventh (19).       141 Pounds  As a team, Michigan tied for the regular season Big Ten dual meet title with Illinois, individually the Maize and Blue boast four wrestlers at number one in the pre-seeds starting at 141-pounds. Josh Churella of Michigan enters the championships as the top 141-pound wrestler according to the pre-seed rankings. With a record of 16-1, Churella is third in the InterMat rankings released March 1st.     Michigan State's Andy Simmons tallied 24 wins during the 2004-04 season which garnered him the number two spot in the pre-seeds. In addition, Simmons only defeats came at the hands of non-conference opponents. Simmons did not face Churella during the regular season or the third seed, Cassio Pero if Illinois. Pero did lose to Churella late in the regular season. Mike Simpson of Indiana, Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa, Ryan Long of Northwestern, DeWitt Driscoll of Penn State and Ed Gutnik of Wisconsin round out the pre-seed rankings in the 141-pound weight class.       149 Pounds  Twenty-nine wins on the season earned Eric Tannenbaum the top pre-seed at Iowa this weekend. Ranked fifth in the InterMat Coach's Poll, Tannenbaum went through the Big Ten Conference season undefeated including a win over the championships' co-second-seed, and seventh ranked Ty Eustice. Eustice will have the advantage of wrestling on his home mats this weekend as the Hawkeye will seek a Big Ten title after going 21-4 in 2004-05.     Doug Withstandley of Purdue is the other second pre-seed in the 149-pound bracket. In the regular season the junior won 25 matches against eight losses. Despite a loss to Eustice in the latter part of the season, Anton Dietzen of Illinois received the fourth pre-seed entering the championships after a 19-9 record. In the fifth position is Darren McKnight with a 25-9 mark with Craig Henning of Wisconsin, Steven Wolery of Ohio State and Jack Decker of Penn State sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.       157 Pounds  A perfect record in 2004-05 made Ryan Bertin an easy choice to be the top seed at this weekend's championships. It also was good enough to keep Bertin ranked first in the coach's poll. Among Bertin's 24 wins was a February sixth victory over Alex Tirapelle of Illinois - the second seed in the Big Ten. Tirapelle lost only one additional match on the season and will look for a rematch with Bertin to win the Big Ten title.     Bertin was also responsible for tagging a loss on Iowa's Joe Johnston. The third seed in the championships, Johnston went 19-6 during the regular season. Nathan Galloway of Penn State wrestled 37 matches this season and has a record of 26-11. The Nittany Lion sophomore enters the weekend as the fourth seed. With a record of 25-9, Brandon Becker of Indiana is the fifth seed followed by Tyler Turner of Wisconsin (19-6), C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota (11-5) and Mike Kimberlin of Northwestern (22-9).      165 Pounds  Another Wolverine can be found at the top of the rankings, this time in the 165-pound weight class. Ryan Churella, the brother of fellow U-M wrestler Josh - is ranked second in the InterMat poll after a 28-1 campaign. Mark Perry of Iowa is second with a record of 30-2 and 7-1 in the Big Ten this season. Perry's lone Big Ten loss came against Churella to close out the regular season. At 20-3 overall, Perry will look for a rematch versus Churella on his way to a Big Ten title.     The third pre-seed with a record of 21-12 is Minnesota's Matt Nagel. The junior held a 6-2 league ledger this season. Jake Donar of Wisconsin and Donny Reynolds of Illinois are tabbed fourth and fifth with overall records of 14-10 and 18-6, respectively. The sixth through eighth seeds for the championships are Max Dean of Indiana (20-11), Nick Hayes of Northwestern (11-10) and John DeCeault of Purdue (17-12).      174 Pounds  With 30 wins under his belt this season, Pete Friedl will look to cap off an amazing 2004-05 campaign with a Big Ten title. The Fighting Illini wrestler went 12-1 in the Big Ten this year with his lone loss in the conference against Northwestern's Jake Herbert. The Wildcats entry at 174 pounds is ranked second entering this weekend's championships and has only lost once this season, to Friedl of Illinois. Friedl and Herbert are ranked third and fourth in the InterMat rankings respectively.    R.J. Boudro will represent the Spartans of Michigan State as the third seed in the bracket after a 2004-05 record of 12-5 and 4-1 in the league. He is currently 15th in the coach's poll. With 20 wins a piece, Nick Roy of Michigan and Brady Richardson of Indiana are ranked fourth and fifth in the pre-seeding and 13th and 17th in the InterMat rankings respectively.       184 Pounds  Brian Glynn is the fourth Illini wrestler to enter the Big Ten Conference meet ranked first in his respective weight class. Tabbed fourth in the InterMat rankings, Glynn held a 28-3 record during the regular season. However, one of Glynn's losses and his only conference loss was to Eric Bradley of Penn State. Bradley is ranked second in the pre-seeds and fifth in the nation according to the NWCA/InterMat polls.    Big Ten wrestlers occupy the next two spots in the coaches poll with Brady Reinke if Wisconsin sixth and Ben Wissel of Purdue seventh. Reinke is undefeated on the year at 11-0 and is the third seed this weekend while is 15-11 and the fourth seed. Paul Bradley of Iowa went 15-5 this year and will wrestle as the fifth seed in the conference and ninth in the InterMat poll. Roger Kish of Minnesota and Mike Tamillow of Northwestern are both seeded sixth with Kish seventh in the coach's poll and Tamillow 17th. Andy Rios of Indiana closes out the seeded wrestlers in the eighth slot with a record of 23-12 this year.      197 Pounds  Thirty-three wins gives Ohio State's J.D. Bergman the most wins in the Big Ten this season and the top seed in the 197-pound bracket. Bergman is ranked sixth in the InterMat polls and lost six matches this season. In the Big Ten he went 11-2 at 197-pounds. The second seed will be Nathan Moore of Purdue who is ranked 15th in the nation with a record of 22-9 overall.    Two additional wrestlers with