125 — Thomas Gilman
Junior: 21-0, 9-0 Big Ten
Season in review: Gilman has been one of Iowa’s most effective wrestlers this season, leading the team in bonus-point victories and team points. He has been absolutely ruthless on the mat this year.
Prediction: Big Ten champ. While that might be a bold prediction, very few wrestlers this year have been as dominate as Gilman.
133 — Cory Clark
Junior: 19-1, 8-1 Big Ten
Season in review: Clark, who follows Gilman during most matches, is the second part of the early dual one-two combo Iowa has hit teams with this season. With just one loss (to Illinois’ Zane Richards, in sudden victory) he has been excellent this year.
Prediction: Hard to say, but it isn’t hard to see him as the champion or the runner-up. This is a winnable, albeit tricky bracket for Clark.
141 — Brody Grothus
Senior: 4-4, 2-1 Big Ten
Season in review: Injured for most of the season, Grothus will need to have a very good tournament to even sniff the NCAAs.
Prediction: Bottom-half on the Big Ten. Grothus has had a few good moments this season, but it just feels like he got started too late to have a real impact on the season.
149 — Brandon Sorensen
Sophomore: 17-0, 9-0 Big Ten
Season in review: In just two short years, Sorensen has racked up 63 career wins against six losses. A Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. Sorensen finals might actually blow the roof off Carver.
Prediction: In the championship bout, but who knows after that. Sorensen is 7-2 against the top-5 seeds but has never seen Retherford.
157 — Edwin Cooper Jr.
Senior: 14-7, 7-2 Big Ten
Season in review: A solid force at 157 throughout the season, Cooper is ending his wrestling career on an upswing. While he does have some head-scratching losses this season, he does have four wins against competition that was ranked when he wrestled them.
Prediction: Top-half of the Big Ten, maybe a semifinalist. There’s a lot to like about Cooper this year, but he still has an extremely tough task ahead of him.
165 — Patrick Rhoads
Senior: 10-9, 3-4 Big Ten
Season in review: It has not been an easy season for Rhoads, but he is wrestling far better now than he was at the beginning. He’s 3-3 in his last six matches, with all three losses decided by five points or less.
Prediction: Middle of the Big Ten.
174 — Alex Meyer
Junior: 21-2, 9-0 Big Ten
Season in review: Picking up where Mike Evans left off, Meyer has enjoyed quite a bit of success in his first year as a starter. The definition of grinder, he has just seven bonus point wins. With that said, he’s won his last 11 matches in a row.
Prediction: Semifinalist, perhaps a finalist. As in previous years, 174 is tough class and nine Big Ten wrestlers at the weight will receive bids to the NCAA tournament.
184 — Sammy Brooks
Junior: 20-3, 8-1 Big Ten
Season in review: Brooks has once again been good, pushing the pace as well as anyone and generally being an exciting athlete to watch. Finishing third in the conference last season, he failed to place at the NCAA Tournament — something he wants to rectify this year.
Prediction: Quarter or semifinalist, with the potential to go a lot further. However, he hasn’t done particularly well in championship settings, and it will be interesting to see how he attacks this tournament.
197 — Nathan Burak
Senior: 20-1, 8-1 Big Ten
Season in review: Saving his best for last, Burak has put up the best record of his career this season. While he’s never finished better than fourth at the Big Ten Tournament, this year seems to be shaping up to be the year that he does.
Prediction: Finalist: Burak has had some very frustrating tournaments over the past few years, but he’s healthy and looked good most of this season.
285 — Sam Stoll
Redshirt freshman: 20-3, 9-0 Big Ten
Season in review: The Iowa coaching staff has been singing Stoll’s praises since last season, and the heavyweight has impressed people in his first season. There is, however, a caveat here — Stoll went down with an injury in his last match of the regular season.
Prediction: Quarterfinalist, if he’s healthy. Heavyweight is still a stacked weight class, and while Stoll has been good, it seems reasonable to think his injury will have slowed him down at least a little bit.