HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Alfred Bannister, Ryan Diehl and Youssif Hemida earned seeds ahead of the 56th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, the event announced Friday evening. 

Hemida led the way, earning the second overall seed in the 285-pound bracket. He'll face Ian Butterbrodt (Brown) after a first-round bye. Bannister and Diehl were seeded eighth and 12th respectively in the 149-pound flight. Bannister will meet Chris Martorello (Franklin & Marshall) in the first round, while Diehl will battle Luke Raczkowski (Central Michigan) after a first-round bye. 

Hemida enters the Midlands following a third-place finish in last year's event. He became the highest-placing Maryland wrestler in the event since Jimmy Sheptock and Christian Boley each won the event in 2013. Hemida became the 31st Maryland wrestler to place in the event and continued Maryland's streak of having at least one wrestler place at the tournament. 

Bannister has also placed at the Midlands earlier in his career, finishing eighth in 2016. 

Maryland has had three wrestlers win their respective weight classes all-time, including both Jimmy Sheptock (184) and Christian Boley (197) during the 2013 season. Alex Krom took the 141 pound crown in 2009. The Terps are coming off a 13th-place finish in 2017, four spots higher than their 2016 slot. 

To view the first bout for each Maryland wrestler competing this weekend, please see below. Full bracket information can be found here. 
 

125 POUNDS

Brandon Cray
Round 1 -- Bye
Round 2 -- Brandon Cray (MD) vs. No. 15 Carlos Fuentez (Unatt. - Wheaton) 

Kind Sandoval 
Round 1 -- King Sandoval (Unatt. - MD) vs. No. 4 Pat Glory (Princeton) 

133 POUNDS

Orion Anderson
Round 1 -- Orion Anderson (MD) vs. No. 6 Colin Valdivez (Northwestern)

141 POUNDS

Danny Bertoni
Round 1 -- Danny Bertoni (MD) vs. Pat D'Arcy (Unatt.) 

149 POUNDS

Alfred Bannister
Round 1 -- No. 8 Alfred Bannister (MD) vs. Chris Martorello (Franklin & Marshall)

Ryan Diehl
Round 1 -- Bye
Round 2 -- No. 12 Ryan Diehl (MD) vs. Luke Raczkowski (Central Michigan)

157 POUNDS

Jahi Jones 
Round 1 -- Jahi Jones (MD) vs. Jon Murphy (Omega)

Adam Whitesell 
Round 1 -- Adam Whitesell (MD) vs. Matthew Dallara (Campbell)

165 POUNDS

Philip Spadafora
Round 1 -- Philip Spadafora (MD) vs. Jake Allar (Minnesota) 

174 POUNDS

Josh Ugalde 
Round 1 -- Bye
Round 2 -- Josh Ugalde (MD) vs. No. 14 Andrew Morgan (Campbell)

184 POUNDS

Niko Cappello 
Round 1 -- Bye
Round 2 -- Niko Cappello (MD) vs. Jacob Gray (Central Michigan)

Kyle Jasenski 
Round 1 -- Bye
Round 2 -- Kyle Jasenski (MD) vs. Robert Ng (Penn)

285 POUNDS

Youssif Hemida 
Round 1 -- No. 2 Youssif Hemida (MD) vs. Ian Butterbrodt (Brown)