Indiana University Athletics
Final Big Ten Championship Brackets Released
3/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 2, 2007
East Lansing, Mich. - The Big Ten Conference has announced the final brackets for the 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, set to begin on Saturday, March 3, at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University. Brandon Becker, seeded second at 157 pounds, and Angel Escobedo, seeded third at 125, lead the Hoosier grapplers into the postseason.
Becker will have a first-round bye in the 157-pound bracket and will face Purdue's Jake Murphy in the second round. Becker topped Murphy by major decision, 9-1, in the only meeting between the two this season. Escobedo is slated to face Ohio State's Will Livingston in the opening round, and will take on Northwestern's Brandon Precin in the second round should he top Livingston. He has defeated both wrestlers this season.
At 133, sixth seed Andrae Hernandez will take on Michigan's Chris Diehl in the first round. Should he top Diehl, he would take on Minnesota's Mack Reiter in the second round. Hernandez topped Diehl 3-1 during the regular season, but was bested 4-1 by Reiter. Unseeded Scott Kelly will face fourth seed Cassio Pero of Illinois in the opening round at 141.
At 149, eighth seed Matt Coughlin will receive a first-round bye, where top seeded and undefeated Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota will face the redshirt freshman. Schlatter took a 6-2 decision against Coughlin on Feb. 2. Fellow eighth seed Max Dean has no easier a road, as he takes on unseeded Rex Kendle of Michigan State in the opening round. With a victory over Kendle, Dean would take on top seed Eric Tannenbaum, who bested Dean 3-2 in a thrilling matchup on Feb. 9.
In the 174-pound bracket, fifth seed Trevor Perry has a tough road to hoe, as he will face MSU's John Murphy in the opening round. Murphy dealt Perry his only Big Ten loss of the season on Feb. 16. At 184, fifth seed Marc Bennett has a first-round bye, and will face the winner of the match between fourth seed Tyrel Todd of Michigan and unseeded Phil Keddy of Iowa.
At 197, eighth-seeded freshman Nathan Everhart has a bye in the opening round, but will square off with top seed Philip Davis of Penn State in the second round. The two wrestlers have not met this year. In the heavyweight division, senior Josh Buuck will receive a first-round bye where he will await the winner of the match between Northwestern's Dustin Fox and Michigan State's Alan O'Donnell. Buuck defeated O'Donnell by major decision on Feb. 16 and lost a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to Fox on Feb. 11.
The 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships will take place on Saturday, March 3, and Sunday, March 4, at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Session 1 is slated to begin at 11 a.m. EST on Saturday, with Session 2 to begin at 5 p.m.
The Hoosiers finished the 2006-07 season at 13-5-0 with a 4-4-0 mark in Big Ten action. Indiana finished 10th at the 2006 Big Ten Championships with 43.5 points.
