After a regular season-ending 21-15 loss to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Indiana wrestling heads to the Big Ten Wrestling Championships this Saturday and Sunday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The lineups and seedings for all ten wrestlers in each weight class of the tournament were announced Monday morning. No. 1 Penn State has four No. 1-seeded wrestlers in the tournament, the most of all teams competing.
Indiana will start Saturday off with sophomore Jacob Moran competing as the No. 12 seed in the 125-pound bracket. Moran finished with a 10-9 individual record after winning his final regular season match over then No. 24-ranked Chattanooga senior Fabian Gutierrez.
No. 11-nationally ranked graduate student Brock Hudkins is the highest seeded Hoosier in the tournament as the No. 6 seed in the 133-pound bracket. Hudkins had a 9-0 start to his final season and finished 11-2.
Junior Cayden Rooks will represent Indiana in the 141-pound class as the No. 13 seed. Though he was ranked nationally throughout most of the season, Rooks lost his last five matches.
Junior Graham Rooks comes into the weekend as the No. 9 seed for Indiana in the 149-pound class. Rooks secured the only victory of the match against No. 3 Michigan on Feb. 11, taking down then No. 22-ranked graduate student Kanen Storr. The Rooks brothers combined for a 23-19 record this season.
Sophomore Derek Gilcher, who finished the season 8-5, will take the No. 11 seed in the 157-pound class. Junior Kasper McIntosh, a transfer from Minnesota, will take the No. 13 seed in the same class after finishing with a 7-10 record.
After going 0.500 on the season with a 7-7 record, sophomore Nick South will be ranked No. 12 in the 174-pound class. One of South’s best performances this season came in an overtime win against Michigan State junior Nathan Jimenez.
No. 16-nationally ranked junior DJ Washington secured the No. 9 seed in the 184-pound class. Finishing 13-3 as an individual, Washington finished ninth in the Big Ten with eight takedowns this season.
Junior Nick Willham, who went 10-8 in his bouts, will take the No. 13 spot in the 197-pound class. Willham secured Indiana’s only victory of the match in a 36-3 loss to Illinois. Junior Jacob Bullock will finish off the tournament for the Hoosiers as a No. 10 seed. Bullock went 11-8 this season.
Indiana finished the season with a 3-8 overall record. In the Big Ten, Indiana went 1-7 and finished 13th, above only Maryland. Indiana head coach Angel Escobedo is now 15-34 as head coach and 5-29 in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten Wrestling Championships will be broadcast on both BTN and BTN+ this weekend.
