PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference has announced the preliminary seeds for the 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which are set to take place from March 5-6 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University. The pre-seeds, which rank the top eight wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes, are decided based on a vote by the conference coaches. The brackets can be viewed here.

Wrestlers from four schools have been chosen as No. 1 seeds for this year’s championships. Penn State leads the way with five top seeds, while Wisconsin has earned three and Iowa and Michigan have each received one No. 1 seed. Minnesota is the lone Big Ten team to have a seeded grappler in each of the 10 weight classes.

The fourth-ranked Nittany Lions will send five No. 1 seeds to the mat this weekend, as Andrew Long (11-1 overall record at 133 pounds), Frank Molinaro (25-2 at 149), David Taylor (31-0 at 157), Ed Ruth (29-1 at 174) and Cameron Wade (26-4 at 285) have each earned top billing in their respective weight classes. Ruth and Taylor enter the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in their classes by the NCAA Coaches Panel, while Molinaro owns a No. 3 ranking, Long sits at No. 5 and Wade is ranked No. 6.

The Badgers, ranked 15th in the nation, picked up three top seeds in Andrew Howe (18-2 at 165), Travis Rutt (26-1 at 184) and Trevor Brandvold (11-0 at 197). Howe, the reigning national champion at 165, is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. After winning an individual conference title at 197 last season, Brandvold holds a No. 3 ranking entering the weekend, while Rutt is ranked No. 2 at 184.

Reigning national champion Matt McDonough holds a 20-1 record at 125 for Iowa this season en route to the class’ top seed. The Hawkeye sophomore is ranked No. 2 in the country entering the championships. Michigan’s Kellen Russell boasts a 30-0 record this season, earning the top seed at 141. Russell, a two-time Big Ten Champion, enters the weekend as the top-ranked grappler at 141.

Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin will each bring nine seeded wrestlers to the championships, while Penn State boasts eight and Northwestern holds seven. After clinching their fourth-straight conference regular season dual-meet title this season, the Hawkeyes will look to earn their fourth consecutive Big Ten Championships title. The 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships pre-seeds can be found below.

2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds

125 lbs. 
1. Matt McDonough, IOWA 
2. Brandon Precin, NU 
3. Zach Sanders, MINN 
4. Brad Pataky, PSU 
5. Sean Boyle, MICH 
6. Justin Brooks, IND 
7. Camden Eppert, PUR 
8. Tom Kelliher, WIS

133 lbs. 
1. Andrew Long, PSU 
2. Tyler Graff, WIS 
3. Tony Ramos, IOWA 
4. B.J. Futrell, ILL 
5. Levi Mele, NU 
6. David Thorn, MINN 
7. Zac Stevens, MICH 
8. Ian Paddock, OSU

141 lbs. 
1. Kellen Russell, MICH 
2. Montell Marion, IOWA 
3. Mike Thorn, MINN 
4. Jimmy Kennedy, ILL 
5. Andrew Alton, PSU 
6. Kaleb Friedly, NU 
7. Jake Fleckenstein, PUR 
8. Shane McQuade, WIS

149 lbs. 
1. Frank Molinaro, PSU 
2. Andrew Nadhir, NU 
3. Kurt Kinser, IND 
4. Eric Terrazas, ILL 
5. Cole Schmitt, WIS 
6. Eric Grajales, MICH 
7. Dan Osterman, MSU 
8. Danny Zilverberg, MINN

157 lbs. 
1. David Taylor, PSU 
2. Derek St. John, IOWA 
3. Jason Welch, NU 
4. Colton Salazar, PUR 
5. Paul Young, IND 
6. Brandon Zeerip, MICH 
7. Sean McMurray, MSU 
8. Matt Mincey, MINN

165 lbs. 
1. Andrew Howe, WIS 
2. Colt Sponseller, OSU 
3. Cody Yohn, MINN 
4. Aaron Janssen, IOWA 
5. Conrad Polz, ILL 
6. Dan Yates, MICH 
7. Ryan LeBlanc, IND 
8. Kevin Bialka, NU

174 lbs. 
1. Ed Ruth, PSU 
2. Nick Heflin, OSU 
3. Scott Glasser, MINN 
4. Luke Manuel, PUR 
5. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA 
6. Ben Jordan, WIS 
7. Justin Zeerip, MICH 
8. Curran Jacobs, MSU

184 lbs. 
1. Travis Rutt, WIS 
2. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN 
3. Grant Gambrall, IOWA 
4. Ian Hinton, MSU 
5. Tony Dallago, ILL 
6. A.J. Kissel, PUR 
7. Cody Magrum, OSU 
8. Quentin Wright, PSU

197 lbs.
1. Trevor Brandvold, WIS 
2. Luke Lofthouse, IOWA 
3. Logan Brown, PUR 
4. Matt Powless, IND 
5. Sonny Yohn, MINN 
6. Anthony Biondo, MICH 
7. Joe Barczak, ILL 
8. Peter Capone, OSU

285 lbs. 
1. Cameron Wade, PSU 
2. Ricky Alcala, IND 
3. Blake Rasing, IOWA 
4. Tony Nelson, MINN 
5. Ben Apland, MICH 
6. Eric Bugenhagen, WIS 
7. Joe Rizqallah, MSU 
8. Ben Kuhar, NU