Northwestern University Athletics
Pre-Seeds for 2012 B1G Championships Announced
2/27/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 27, 2012
2012 Big Ten Championships Website
2012 Big Ten Championships Pre-Seeds 
EVANSTON, Ill. - Five Northwestern wrestlers received pre-seeds for the 2012 Big Ten Championships as announced today by the conference. After posting a perfect 21-0 record, including an 8-0 mark against the Big Ten championships field, redshirt junior Jason Welch enters the championships as the top-seeded wrestler for the 157 lbs. weight class
Four others received pre-seeds, including two at No. 5. Junior Levi Mele is the No. 5 seed at 125 lbs. He has a win over fourth-seeded Jesse Delgado of Illinois and went 6-3 during the regular season against the 125 lbs. field.
Redshirt freshman Mike McMullan is competing in his first Big Ten championships and enters the tournament as the No. 5 pre-seed at 285 lbs. McMullan posted a 20-8 overall record this season and is 4-4 against his fellow heavyweight competitors.
Sophomore Kaleb Friedley finished sixth at 141 lbs. during last year's Big Ten championships and this year he is pre-seeded eighth at 149 lbs. Redshirt freshman Lee Munster received the final NU pre-seed and he enters the tournament at No. 9 for 174 lbs. Munster went 5-6 against the field this year, including a win in the Midlands title match over the No. 3 seed, Ethen Lofthouse of Iowa.
The pre-seeds, as voted on by the conference's coaches, rank the top eight wrestlers in seven weight classes, along with all 12 schools' starters in three weight classes due to the Big Ten receiving nine or more NCAA championships qualifier allocations in those classes. Each team enters the championships with a seeded wrestler in the 149-, 174- and 285-pound weight classes. Seeds are subject to change following the coaches' seeding meeting on the eve of the tournament.
This is college wrestling's fourth season under the new system for earning automatic bids to the NCAA championships in which the NCAA allocates each weight class in each conference a certain number of automatic bids. The Big Ten breakdown for automatic bids is as follows: six for 125, seven for 133, five for 141, nine for 149, six for 157, eight for 165, nine for 174, seven for 184, seven for 197 and 10 for heavyweight.
Final seeds will be announced following the coaches' seeding meeting on Friday.
The 2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships begin at 9 a.m. CT Saturday, March 3 and run through Sunday, March 4 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.
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