Northwestern University Athletics
Big Ten Championships On Tap for No. 17 Northwestern
3/1/2018 8:01:00 PM | Wrestling
| NORTHWESTERN WRESTLING: MATCH DAY INFORMATION | ||||||
| DATE | EVENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | RADIO | LIVE STATS |
| Saturday, March 3 - Sunday, March 4 | Big Ten Championships | All Day | Breslin Center (East Lansing, Mich.) | BTN2Go (Sessions I-IV) Big Ten Network (Session IV) |
N/A | TrackWrestling |
| Social: Twitter (@NUwrestle and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (@NUwrestle) | Facebook Northwestern Stat Pack |
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EVANSTON, Ill. — No. 17 Northwestern will travel to East Lansing, Michigan, this weekend to take part in the 2018 Big Ten Championships.
BRACKETS BEFORE SESSION I
Action gets underway Saturday, March 3 with Session I at 9 a.m. CT and Session II at 5 p.m. CT. The Championships will continue on Sunday, March 4, starting with Session III at 11 a.m. CT and concluding with the championship round at 2 p.m. CT.
All matches will be available streaming on BTN2Go, while the final session will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Fans who are attending the event at the Breslin Center are reminded about Michigan State's "No Bag Policy."
Competition will be stiff, as the Big Ten boasts more ranked teams than any other conference. Eleven of its 14 members are currently ranked in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches' Poll, including three in the top four and nine in the top 20.
Preliminary seeds for the tournament were released Monday, and the full brackets will be finalized on Friday. Six NU grapplers earned spots in the pre-seeds, led by Ryan Deakin who is third at 149 lbs.
The Big Ten's top eight wrestlers are seeded in seven weight classes (133, 141, 157, 174, 184, 197, 285), while all fourteen are seeded in the other three (125, 149, 165). The number of seeds in each weight class are determined by the number of automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships.
Penn State leads the way with four top-seeded wrestlers, followed by Michigan and Ohio State with two apiece. The Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions each have a wrestler seeded in all ten weight classes.
Chicago's Big Ten Team will enter the weekend with several individuals looking to carry excellent campaigns into the postseason.
Three Wildcats finished the regular season ranked nationally, including two in the top ten of their respective weight classes. Deakin (149) is ranked No. 5 in the country, while fellow first year Sebastian Rivera (125) is slated No. 9. At 174 lbs., junior Johnny Sebastian comes in at No. 17.
Northwestern has had recent success at the conference championships, with champions in two of the last four years. Jason Tsirtsis won his weight class in 2014 and then again in 2015, a year in which current assistant coach Mike McMullan was the champion of the heavyweight division.
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