AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Eleven of the nation's top wrestling journalists took their shots at predicting the champions and runner-ups prior to the 2007 NCAA Championships on March 15-17 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

And similar to the team race between Minnesota and Iowa State, it was a close battle to see whose picks were most accurate.

USA Wrestling's Craig Sesker, who struggled with his picks in 2006, emerged as the expert this year by picking 6 of the 10 champions at the 2007 NCAA meet. He was the only one to pick the champions and second-place finishers correctly at both 165 and heavyweight. He correctly picked Iowa's Mark Perry to beat Oklahoma State's Johny Hendricks at 165 and picked Minnesota's Cole Konrad to beat Penn State's Aaron Anspach at heavyweight.

Sesker also picked correct champions in Penn's Matt Valenti at 133, Iowa State's Trent Paulson at 157, Missouri's Ben Askren at 174 and Northwestern's Jake Herbert at 184.

Defending champion J.R. Ogden, sports editor of the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, tied for second in this year's competition. Ogden was joined in second place by Roger Moore of the Stillwater (Okla.) News Press, Bryan Van Kley of Wrestling International Newsmagazine and Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred.

Journalist picks