ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference released its preliminary seeding for the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, scheduled for March 7-8 at the Rutgers Athletic Center. These seeds will be confirmed and finalized in bracket form by league coaches on Friday, March 6 prior to the start of the tournament. The pre-seeds, as voted on by the conference's coaches, rank 14 starters in all 10 weight classes.

Jaron Smith (197) earned the highest pre--seed and ranks No. 9 in the field. Smith finished the season with a 12-7 record, which included a 9-5 dual mark and a 4-2 record against opponents from the Big Ten. Two of Smith's dual victories came against ranked opponents, the first coming against then-No. 14 Jordan Pagano (W, fall 0:52) and the next against then-No. 16 Lucas Davison (W, fall 2:18).

Kyle Cochran (165) and Jahi Jones (157) earned 10-seeds in their respective weight classes.

To qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships from March 19-21 in Minneapolis, each Terp will have to finish within the threshold listed at his weight. The Big Ten leads the country with 79 of the total 283 automatic bids on the table, with a total conference breakdown below.

2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships Conference Allocations

Conference	125	133	141	149	157	165	174	184	197	HWT	Total
ACC	3	5	3	2	5	4	4	3	1	5	35
Big 12	4	8	5	5	5	4	5	5	6	7	54
Big Ten	8	7	8	10	6	8	9	10	6	7	79
EIWA	7	2	5	4	3	6	4	4	6	3	44
MAC	3	5	5	5	6	2	4	3	4	4	41
PAC-12	2	1	2	1	2	2	1	1	3	1	16
SoCon	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	2	14
Total Qualifiers	28	29	29	29	28	27	29	28	27	29	283

 
After all of the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on March 11. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches' ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.
 
Session I of the Big Ten Championships is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 7.

125 LBS.
1. Spencer Lee, IOWA
2. Devin Schroder, PUR
3. Patrick McKee, MINN
4. Justin Cardani, ILL
5. Jack Medley, MICH
6. Michael DeAugustino, NU
7. Liam Cronin, IND
8. Nicolas Aguilar, RU
9. Eric Barnett, WIS
10. Alex Thomsen, NEB
11. Malik Heinselman, OSU
12. Logan Griffin, MSU
13. Brandon Cray, MD
14. Brandon Meredith, PSU
 
133 LBS.
1. Seth Gross, WIS
2. Roman Bravo-Young, PSU
3. Austin DeSanto, IOWA
4. Travis Piotrowski, ILL
5. Sebastian Rivera, NU
6. Ridge Lovett, NEB
7. Sammy Alvarez, RU
8. Joey Silva, MICH
9. Cayden Rooks, IND
10. Garrett Pepple, MSU
11. Boo Dryden, MINN
12. Travis Ford-Melton, PUR
13. King Sandoval, MD
14. Jordan Decatur, OSU
 
141 LBS.
1. Nick Lee, PSU
2. Luke Pletcher, OSU
3. Max Murin, IOWA
4. Chad Red, NEB
5. Tristan Moran, WIS
6. Mitch McKee, MINN
7. Dylan Duncan, ILL
8. Parker Filius, PUR
9. Cole Mattin, MICH
10. Alec McKenna, NU
11. JoJo Aragona, RU
12. Matt Santos, MSU
13. Eddie Bolivar, IND
14. Hunter Baxter, MD
 
149 LBS.
1. Sammy Sasso, OSU
2. Pat Lugo, IOWA
3. Brayton Lee, MINN
4. Kanen Storr, MICH
5. Graham Rooks, IND
6. Cole Martin, WIS
7. Collin Purinton, NEB
8. Jarod Verkleeren, PSU
9. Yahya Thomas, NU
10. Griffin Parriott, PUR
11. Gerard Angelo, RU
12. Alex Hrisopoulos, MSU
13. Mousa Jodeh, ILL
14. Ryan Garlitz, MD
 
157 LBS.
1. Ryan Deakin, NU
2. Kaleb Young, IOWA
3. Kendall Coleman, PUR
4. Will Lewan, MICH
5. Ryan Thomas, MINN
6. Jake Tucker, MSU
7. Peyton Robb, NEB
8. Eric Barone, ILL
9. Michael VanBrill, RU
10. Jahi Jones, MD
11. Elijah Cleary, OSU
12. Garrett Model, WIS
13. Bo Pipher, PSU
14. Fernie Silva, IND
 
165 LBS.
1. Vincenzo Joseph, PSU
2. Alex Marinelli, IOWA
3. Evan Wick, WIS
4. Isaiah White, NEB
5. Ethan Smith, OSU
6. Shayne Oster, NU
7. Danny Braunagel, ILL
8. Bailee O'Reilly, MINN
9. Drew Hughes, MSU
10. Kyle Cochran, MD
11. Brett Donner, RU
12. Tyler Meisinger, MICH
13. Tanner Webster, PUR
14. Diego Lemley, IND
 
174 LBS.
1. Michael Kemerer, IOWA
2. Mark Hall, PSU
3. Dylan Lydy, PUR
4. Devin Skatzka, MINN
5. Mikey Labriola, NEB
6. Kaleb Romero, OSU
7. Joey Gunther, ILL
8. Layne Malczewski, MSU
9. Tyler Morland, NU
10. Willie Scott, RU
11. Jared Krattiger, WIS
12. Philip Spadafora, MD
13. Max Maylor, MICH
14. NO ENTRY, IND
 
184 LBS.
1. Aaron Brooks, PSU
2. Cameron Caffey, MSU
3. Abe Assad, IOWA
4. Taylor Venz, NEB
5. Billy Janzer, RU
6. Rocky Jordan, OSU
7. Zac Braunagel, ILL
8. Owen Webster, MINN
9. Johnny Sebastian, WIS
10. Jelani Embree, MICH
11. Max Lyon, PUR
12. Jack Jessen, NU
13. Jake Hinz, IND
14. Kyle Jasenski, MD
 
197 LBS.
1. Kollin Moore, OSU
2. Eric Schultz, NEB
3. Jacob Warner, IOWA
4. Christian Brunner, PUR
5. Lucas Davison, NU
6. Shakur Rasheed, PSU
7. Jordan Pagano, RU
8. Jackson Striggow, MICH
9. Jaron Smith, MD
10. Hunter Ritter, MINN
11. Matt Wroblewski, ILL
12. Nick May, MSU
13. Taylor Watkins, WIS
14. Nick Willham, IND
 
285 LBS.
1. Mason Parris, MICH
2. Gable Steveson, MINN
3. Tony Cassioppi, IOWA
4. Trent Hillger, WIS
5. David Jensen, NEB
6. Gary Traub, OSU
7. Seth Nevillis, PSU
8. Thomas Penola, PUR
9. Luke Luffman, ILL
10. Alex Esposito, RU
11. Christian Rebottaro, MSU
12. Jake Kleimola, IND
13. Jack Heyob, NU
14. Parker Robinson, MD