Iowa’s Spencer Lee and Real Woods, Iowa State’s David Carr, UNI’s Parker Keckeisen top seeds in NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships

The brackets for the 2023 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships were released Wednesday night.

All three D-I programs in the state boasted at least one top seed for the upcoming national tournament March 16-18 at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Iowa duo Spencer Lee and Real Woods, Iowa State’s David Carr and Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen earned No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament. See the NCAA Division I brackets here.

Lee and Woods each won Big Ten titles last weekend, leading the second-ranked Hawkeyes to a runner-up team finish. Lee (125) and Woods (141) are both 16-0.

Lee, the two-time Hodge Trophy and AAU James E. Sullivan award winner, was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Big Ten Championships and was conference Wrestler of the Year. He is attempting to become the first Hawkeye and just the fifth all-time to win four NCAA titles.

Woods is a three-time NCAA qualifier, placing sixth last season for Stanford. He is one of 10 Iowa qualifiers. Only five, however, are projected to reach All-America status. Heavyweight Tony Cassioppi (21-3) is seeded fourth, while Big Ten finalist Patrick Kennedy (19-3) is sixth at 165. Senior Max Murin (19-4) is seeded eighth at 149.

Carr is a two-time All-American and 2021 NCAA champion. Carr is unbeaten, owning a 22-0 mark at 165. He is coming off a Big 12 title, earning Outstanding Wrestler honors at the tournament. Carr has beaten Missouri 2022 NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole in their last two meetings with a pin in sudden victory in the Big 12 finals.

Carr was the lone Cyclone in the top five of their weights. Fellow Big 12 champion Paniro Johnson (149) and conference finalist Marcus Coleman (184) are No. 5 seeds. Johnson is 17-4 and Coleman is 19-3.

Iowa State heavyweight Sam Schuyler (17-3) is seeded eighth, while returning All-American Yonger Bastida (16-7) is 13th.

Keckeisen became the Panthers’ first three-time Big 12 Conference titlist. He claimed the 184-pound crown at the qualifier and can become UNI’s first No. 1 seed at the national tournament to take the mat since Joe Colon was the top seed at 133 in 2014. UNI’s Taylor Lujan received the top seed at 184 in 2020 but that tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Keckeisen (22-1) will be on the opposite side of the bracket of Penn State NCAA champion Aaron Brooks, who is the No. 3 seed with a 12-1 record, and North Carolina State’s second-seeded Trent Hidlay (20-1). Interestingly, Keckeisen and Hidlay have beaten each other with Keckeisen winning by pin in their latest meeting in December. Brooks lost to Coleman at that same dual tournament. Keckeisen has beaten Coleman twice.

The Panthers’ two-time All-American placed third each of the last two seasons.

Heavyweight Tyrell Gordon owns the next best seed among Panthers. Gordon is No. 13 with an 18-11 record. Former Lisbon four-time state champion Cael Happel (16-6) received an at-large berth and is the No. 14 seed at 141.

UNI’s Kyle Biscoglia (19-9) and Colin Realbuto (19-6) are 16th seeds at 133 and 149, respectively.

South Dakota State 197-pounder and former Alburnett two-time state champion Tanner Sloan is the No. 7 seed. Sloan (23-2) was runner-up at the Big 12 Championships on Sunday.

Below are the seeds at each weight for Iowa, Iowa State, UNI and former Iowa preps at out-of-state programs.

125 pounds — No. 1 Spencer Lee (Iowa, 16-0), No. 26 Jack Wagner (North Carolina/former UNI/Iowa/Bettendorf, 22-8)

133 — No. 15 Zach Redding (Iowa State, 15-10), No. 16 Kyle Biscoglia (UNI/Waukee, 19-9), No. 24 Brody Teske (Iowa/Fort Dodge, 9-4), No. 33 McGwire Midkiff (North Dakota State/Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 15-11)

141 — No. 1 Real Woods (Iowa, 16-0), No. 14 Cael Happel (UNI/Lisbon, 16-6), No. 24 Casey Swiderski (Iowa State, 11-10)

149 — No. 5 Paniro Johnson (Iowa State, 17-4), No. 8 Max Murin (Iowa, 19-4), No. 11 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota/former UNI/Crestwood/New Hampton, 17-5), No. 16 Colin Realbuto (UNI, 19-6)

157 — No. 14 Cobe Siebrecht (Iowa/Lisbon, 13-6), No. 22 Derek Holschlag (UNI/Union Community, 15-7), No. 25 Jason Kraisser (Iowa State, 17-13)

165 — No. 1 David Carr (Iowa State, 22-0), No. 6 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa, 19-3), No. 17 Austin Yant (UNI/Waverly-Shell Rock, 18-6)

174 — No. 11 Nelson Brands (Iowa/Iowa City West, 10-6), No. 13 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State/Southeast Polk, 25-7)

184 — No. 1 Parker Keckeisen (UNI, 22-1), No. 5 Marcus Coleman (Iowa State/Ames, 19-3), No. 12 Abe Assad (Iowa, 18-4)

197 — No. 7 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State/Alburnett, 23-2), No. 13 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State, 16-7), No. 14 Jacob Warner (Iowa, 15-6)

Hwt. — No. 4 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa, 21-3), No. 8 Sam Schuyler (Iowa State, 17-3), No. 13 Tyrell Gordon (UNI/Waterloo East, 18-11), No. 24 Boone McDermott (Rutgers/Iowa Central/Dubuque Wahlert, 16-5)