EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern junior Jason Tsirtsis finds himself in familiar territory – ranked No. 1 at 149 lbs., according to the FloWrestling preseason rankings released this week.
 
Tsirtsis is coming off his second straight Big Ten Championship and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He was 39-2 a year ago and his career record after two seasons stands at 71-5.
 
The 2014 national champion spent the majority of the 2014-15 season in the top spot at his weight class during a 40-match winning streak that stretched more than a calendar year from Jan. 17, 2014 to Jan. 23, 2015.
 
Tsirtsis was dominant in duals last season, scoring 73 points for Northwestern while only dropping one match. He scored 76 takedowns to his opponents' five and was 12-0 in bonus point matches.
 
He posted a 10-2 record against ranked foes last season and is 18-3 in his career in ranked matchups.
 
Five other Big Ten wrestlers received spots in the top-10 at 149 lbs., including Penn State's Zain Retherford at No. 2 and Iowa's Brandon Sorensen at No. 3. Both the Hawkeyes (Jan. 10) and Nittany Lions (Jan. 17) make trips to Welsh-Ryan Arena this season.
 
Redshirt freshman Johnny Sebastian also received a spot in FloWrestling's preseason rankings, coming in at No. 19 at 165 lbs. Sebastian was the No. 1 ranked amateur wrestler in the country at 182 lbs. coming out of high school and posted a 23-3 record unattached last season.
 

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