Haines

For the most part, there wasn’t much of a problem for Penn State coach Cael Sanderson with the preliminary seeds for this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament, announced Monday by the conference. After all, the Nittany Lions have six wrestlers out of 10 weight classes as the top seed.

But one weight class in particular was a head-scratcher.

PSU 174-pounder Levi Haines is a 3-time Big Ten champion, and is undefeated at 18-0 this season. But he earned the No. 2 seed while Nebraska’ Christopher Minto took the No. 1.

The pre-seeds are produced through WrestleStat’s Tournament Seeder Program utilizing allocation criteria, and was approved by the Big Ten coaches.

Minto is no slouch with an 18-4 record this season and a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships last year as a redshirt freshman, but the common sense should suggest that Haines should be the top seed.

Like most people, Sanderson has no answers.

“I can’t explain it,” Sanderson said. “In the past, our coaches spent a lot of time seeding the tournament. We thought a third-party could do a good job. What happened isn’t going to work. There needs to be a common sense application. I don’t know if it’s too late to re-seed it as coaches, but it just doesn’t make sense.”

Luke Lilledahl (125), Marcus Blaze (133), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Rocco Welsh (184), and Josh Barr (197) secured the top seeds for Penn State.

Along with Haines, PJ Duke (157) also earned a No. 2 seed. Cole Mirasola (285) is seeded fourth, while Braeden Davis (141) is seventh.

It makes for a possible day of interesting matches early in the tournament rather than later.

“You look at the Big Ten and you have multiple guys that are probably hoping to win the national tournament,” Sanderson said. “It’s not anything new. There’s going to be big matches right away. You have to show up and be ready to wrestle.”

Home, sweet home

The tournament may be at home at the Bryce Jordan Center, but in a lot of ways, it’s a lot like a road tournament for the Nittany Lions.

For instance, they will only have the same number of wrestlers available for practice partners, just like any other team would for a travel party.

“It’s great for the community,” Sanderson said. “I’m sure a lot of people come in and fill up the hotels and eat at restaurants. But for us, whether it’s here or somewhere else, it’s kind of the same approach.”

They may be sleeping in their own beds, but otherwise it’s like any other Big Ten Championships for the Lions.

“I kind of enjoy being on the road, too,” Mesenbrink said. “It doesn’t really matter where it is. Either way, it’s a wrestling mat. Throw someone up there and we’re going to wrestle.”

Doesn’t notice it

Mesenbrink said he doesn’t look at the brackets for a tournament, before the tournament starts or even after he competes. Sometimes he knows who he is wrestling in the finals of a tournament, but he certainly does not study his opponents.

He uses tournaments such as the Big Tens to fine-tune what he’s been working on in practice, all in preparation for the NCAA Tournament in two more weeks. It’s evidently working as he still only his one loss for his career as he enters the postseason of his junior year.

“I want to be able to implement them in my competition, and I want to see those techniques come to fruition,” Mesenbrink said.

Time schedule

The Championships begin on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the first round, quarterfinals, and a wrestleback round for the first session. Session 2 begins at 5 p.m. with more consolation matches, followed by the semifinals at 7 p.m.

The action will pick up on Sunday at noon for session 3 with more wrestlebacks, and the final session begins at 4:30 p.m. with the place matches.