Indiana University Athletics
Brackets Unveiled for Big Ten Wrestling Championships
3/2/2018 6:02:00 PM | Wrestling
The first session at the Breslin Center begins Saturday at 10 a.m. ET
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Big Ten Conference announced Friday the finalized brackets for the upcoming Big Ten Wrestling Championships, hosted by Michigan State University at the Breslin Center. The wait is over for the 10 Hoosiers in attendance, who learned their first round pairings for Saturday's opening session.
The 2018 Big Ten Wrestling Championships run from Saturday, March 3 to Sunday, March 4. All action will stream live via BTN Plus on BTN2Go.com and on FloWrestling.
Junior Elijah Oliver (125), seeded 10th, will face 7-seed Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) in the first round. Oliver, on a quest for his third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, topped Foley with an 11-8 decision during dual meet season in January.
Redshirt sophomore Garrett Pepple (133) opens his weekend against Ohio State's Luke Pletcher, one of the more tantalizing first round pairings of the weekend. Pepple and third-ranked Pletcher battled it out in northern Ohio last December, where the Buckeye escaped with a 4-3 decision.
The Hoosier with the highest national ranking, Cole Weaver (141), drew Michigan's Sal Profaci for his first bout of the Big Ten Championships. Profaci edged Weaver by decision, 8-6, in their first career encounter earlier this season.
Alejandro Raya (149) makes his Big Ten postseason debut with a big draw in his opening bout, matching with Northwestern's Ryan Deakin. This will be Raya's second consecutive match against Deakin after ending his regular season in the dual meet against the Wildcats. Deakin took the first meeting with a win by fall.
For the third time in his career, Jake Danishek (157) will begin a postseason tournament against No. 2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa). Danishek paired with Kemerer in the first round of last year's Big Ten Championships before wrestling him again in his first bout at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.
In arguably the toughest bracket of the weekend across the country, Bryce Martin (165) collected the 11th seed in a group that's guaranteed to send 10 grapplers to Cleveland in two weeks. Martin drew No. 10 Nick Wanzek, and the two prepare to grapple for the second consecutive season on the Big Ten's biggest weekend. Saturday's match will be the third all-time encounter between Wanzek and Martin; Wanzek won their most recent bout last season, 5-2.
The highest-seeded Hoosier, Devin Skatzka (174), is also the only Indiana wrestler with a bye in the opening round. Skatzka will await the winner between Myles Amine (Michigan) and Joe Grello (Rutgers). The Hoosier sophomore has yet to meet Grello in his career but wrestled a thriller against Amine earlier this season. Amine left Bloomington with an airtight 4-3 decision win.
A series of top-10 encounters await the upper-weight Hoosiers in East Lansing. Norman Conley (184) matches up with No. 9 Nick Gravina (Rutgers) for the first time in his career, while Jake Kleimola (197) draws Penn State's No. 4 Shakur Rasheed.
Heavyweight junior Fletcher Miller gets the toughest draw of any Hoosier in the field, matching up against two-time NCAA Champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder (Ohio State). This will be Miller's first encounter with No. 2 Snyder, but he's no stranger to a challenging bout after opening last year's Big Ten Championships with eventual NCAA finalist Connor Medbery.
The 2018 Big Ten Wrestling Championships run from Saturday, March 3 to Sunday, March 4. All action will stream live via BTN Plus on BTN2Go.com and on FloWrestling.
Junior Elijah Oliver (125), seeded 10th, will face 7-seed Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) in the first round. Oliver, on a quest for his third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, topped Foley with an 11-8 decision during dual meet season in January.
Redshirt sophomore Garrett Pepple (133) opens his weekend against Ohio State's Luke Pletcher, one of the more tantalizing first round pairings of the weekend. Pepple and third-ranked Pletcher battled it out in northern Ohio last December, where the Buckeye escaped with a 4-3 decision.
The Hoosier with the highest national ranking, Cole Weaver (141), drew Michigan's Sal Profaci for his first bout of the Big Ten Championships. Profaci edged Weaver by decision, 8-6, in their first career encounter earlier this season.
Alejandro Raya (149) makes his Big Ten postseason debut with a big draw in his opening bout, matching with Northwestern's Ryan Deakin. This will be Raya's second consecutive match against Deakin after ending his regular season in the dual meet against the Wildcats. Deakin took the first meeting with a win by fall.
For the third time in his career, Jake Danishek (157) will begin a postseason tournament against No. 2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa). Danishek paired with Kemerer in the first round of last year's Big Ten Championships before wrestling him again in his first bout at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.
In arguably the toughest bracket of the weekend across the country, Bryce Martin (165) collected the 11th seed in a group that's guaranteed to send 10 grapplers to Cleveland in two weeks. Martin drew No. 10 Nick Wanzek, and the two prepare to grapple for the second consecutive season on the Big Ten's biggest weekend. Saturday's match will be the third all-time encounter between Wanzek and Martin; Wanzek won their most recent bout last season, 5-2.
The highest-seeded Hoosier, Devin Skatzka (174), is also the only Indiana wrestler with a bye in the opening round. Skatzka will await the winner between Myles Amine (Michigan) and Joe Grello (Rutgers). The Hoosier sophomore has yet to meet Grello in his career but wrestled a thriller against Amine earlier this season. Amine left Bloomington with an airtight 4-3 decision win.
A series of top-10 encounters await the upper-weight Hoosiers in East Lansing. Norman Conley (184) matches up with No. 9 Nick Gravina (Rutgers) for the first time in his career, while Jake Kleimola (197) draws Penn State's No. 4 Shakur Rasheed.
Heavyweight junior Fletcher Miller gets the toughest draw of any Hoosier in the field, matching up against two-time NCAA Champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder (Ohio State). This will be Miller's first encounter with No. 2 Snyder, but he's no stranger to a challenging bout after opening last year's Big Ten Championships with eventual NCAA finalist Connor Medbery.
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